HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The Time We Thought We Knew
January 1, 2004 / N.Y. Times
By Brian Greene
"...my presence in Times Square that rainy morning - losing sleep to mark an arbitrary moment in the passage of what I
truly believe to be a derivative concept - attests to the power of convention and experience. Regardless of our
scientific insights, we will still mourn the evanescence of life and be able to thrill to the arrival of each newly
delivered moment. The choice, however, of whether to be fully seduced by the face nature reveals directly to our
senses, or to also recognize the reality that exists beyond perception, is ours."
~~~
USA Today: Freewheeling Bloggers Are Rewriting Rules of Journalism
"....There are liberals, conservatives, libertarians and near-anarchists. The one thing they all agree on: blogging. Bloggers discuss the new medium with proselytizing fervor. They know each others' Web handles (AngryLiberal, Atrios, Instapundit). They use links, which enable Internet users to jump from one Web page to another, to publicize each other's work. Bloggers feel so strongly about blogging, they even promote bloggers they don't agree with..."
**Which reminds me, I am linking Sgt Stryker's 'Team Stryker' blog this week. ;)**
Internet muse.
Daring, bold, never sold.
My daily weblog of politics, humor, philosophy...and a constant and nagging reminder of the existence of universal love....
Thursday, January 01, 2004
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Unresolved New Year Resolutions
Unresolved New Year resolutions
Abhishek Singhvi/Hindustan Times/December 31, 2003
Excerpts:
Abhishek Singhvi/Hindustan Times/December 31, 2003
Excerpts:
"---On New Year’s Day, my personal resolutions remain the same and as unachieved as a decade ago...By any yardstick, I am a dismal failure, since I have achieved none of these...Let me see if I can do better by itemising some New Year resolutions for others....At the most important level of the nation, let us collectively adapt Gandhiji’s simple test before evaluating any act or omission: does it improve the lot of this nation or does it diminish it?.....Every year in the last week of December, I try to dedicate myself to the laudable activity of ‘doing nothing’.....
.....Robert Louis Stevenson..wrote a forceful apology for idlers:
“Idleness... has as good a right to state its position as industry itself... Many make a large fortune who remain underbred and pathetically stupid to the last... Extreme busyness, anywhere, is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity... As if a man’s soul were not too small to begin with, they have dwarfed and narrowed theirs by a life of all work and no play...”
Iraq Quake
Good News Can Come From Bad-
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting: Global sense of solidarity with quake victims has 'injected spirituality' into the world
Note: The translation here is certainly not perfect, but the universal message is clear.
"Of one Essence is the human race,
Thusly has Creation put the Base;
One Limb impacted is sufficient,
For all Others to feel the Mace."
Saadi poem
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting: Global sense of solidarity with quake victims has 'injected spirituality' into the world
Note: The translation here is certainly not perfect, but the universal message is clear.
"--The touching situation of the quake victims and the tears shed over the loss of the beloved ones by the grief-stricken survivors deeply impresses anyone, whether present in the scene or anywhere else watching footage on the disaster.
--The catastrophe almost left the entire world in deep grief, touched the hearts of human beings around the world and materialized the most touching poem of the renowned Iranian poet Saadi quite applicable to the current situation as if versed particularly to this same occasion.
According to the poem composed by Sheikh Mosleh al-Din Saadi Shirazi, the 13th century Iranian poet,
`The sons of Adam are the limbs of one another, having been created of one essence.'
When the calamity of time afflicts one limb, the other limbs cannot remain at rest.'
"Of one Essence is the human race,
Thusly has Creation put the Base;
One Limb impacted is sufficient,
For all Others to feel the Mace."
Saadi poem
Top News 2003
Scripps News Service: Top News Stories of 2003
TOP 10 NATIONAL STORIES
1. The United States attacks Iraq with shock and awe weapons, easily overpowering Saddam Hussein's troops.
2. The space shuttle Columbia crashes as it returns to Earth, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
3. A huge blackout spreads across the Northeast and some Midwest states, leaving 50 million people in the dark.
4. California recalls its Democratic governor and elects Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.
5. Hurricane Isabel knocks out power to 6.5 million households and causes damage in excess of $2 billion. The hurricane is blamed for more than 30 deaths.
6. Gay rights come front and center: The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down laws in 16 states that criminalized sodomy. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court gives gays and lesbians the right to marry and the Episcopal Church ordains its first openly gay bishop.
7. A jury recommends the death penalty for convicted sniper John Muhammad while his teenage companion Lee Malvo stands trial with an insanity defense.
8. Wildfires in California set a record, burning 989,000 acres and surpassing the last record set in 1987 when 780,000 acres burned.
9. The U.S. Supreme Court upholds affirmative action in college admissions.
10. The U.S. Catholic Church agrees to pay millions of dollars to victims of sexual abuse and ousts a number of high-ranking individuals.
TOP 10 INTERNATIONAL STORIES
1. Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein is quickly knocked out of power and captured eight months later. Hundreds of soldiers are killed by guerrilla attacks following the major battles.
2. Al Qaeda-linked terrorist bombings strike in Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.
3. The White House's "road map to peace" in the Middle East collapses as violence escalates.
4. An outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) spreads from China to more than 30 countries, infecting 8,000 people and killing more than 800.
5. A heat wave in Europe kills an estimated 35,000 people.
6. North Korea and Iran are found to be far ahead on making nuclear weapons.
7. China launches a manned spacecraft into Earth orbit in October, becoming the third country to put humans in space.
8. Strongman Charles Taylor is forced out of Liberia after 25 years of bloodshed.
9. Canada confirms a case of Mad Cow disease in a slaughtered animal, triggering a quarantine of Canadian beef and soaring beef prices at U.S. supermarkets.
10. Russian President Vladimir Putin jails a top oil executive and Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze is driven from office by popular demand.
Conservative News 2003
From the Conservative Corner:
Townhall.com readers pick their top stories of 2003
Media Research Center: Best Notable Quotables of 2003
;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moving out of the righthand corner of the room.....
Their Media War and Ours in 2004
A Call to Educate, Organize and Mobilize
2003 -- The Year We Almost Lost Honest News
A Look Back and Ahead at the Year in Media
Townhall.com readers pick their top stories of 2003
Media Research Center: Best Notable Quotables of 2003
;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moving out of the righthand corner of the room.....
Their Media War and Ours in 2004
A Call to Educate, Organize and Mobilize
2003 -- The Year We Almost Lost Honest News
A Look Back and Ahead at the Year in Media
Howard Dean in South Carolina
Howard Dean to Georgetown, S.C.:
"We want jobs in America. If you want jobs in America, you don’t run a $500 billion deficit. You can’t trust the Republicans any more.”
Here's a shame: National [USWA] union leaders told the local chapter it could not let Dean come to its hall since the union has endorsed Democratic presidential rival Dick Gephardt.
Although the national Steelworkers Union has endorsed Dick Gephardt for the Democratic nomination, local union leaders endorsed Dean.
And this is an example of how false media punditry effects real-time electoral processes:
“[Dean's] already been labeled as too liberal,” said Solomon, former director of the state’s Department of Social Services [Gerogetown, S.C.]. “He’s not going to be able to shake that.”
We need to start fighting falsehoods in the media before they have chance to snowball into these iceheaps of ugly fantasy-turned-real.
"We want jobs in America. If you want jobs in America, you don’t run a $500 billion deficit. You can’t trust the Republicans any more.”
Here's a shame: National [USWA] union leaders told the local chapter it could not let Dean come to its hall since the union has endorsed Democratic presidential rival Dick Gephardt.
Although the national Steelworkers Union has endorsed Dick Gephardt for the Democratic nomination, local union leaders endorsed Dean.
And this is an example of how false media punditry effects real-time electoral processes:
“[Dean's] already been labeled as too liberal,” said Solomon, former director of the state’s Department of Social Services [Gerogetown, S.C.]. “He’s not going to be able to shake that.”
We need to start fighting falsehoods in the media before they have chance to snowball into these iceheaps of ugly fantasy-turned-real.
Richard Perle Wants More War
Richard Perle is longing to see more endangered troops, more insecure foreign places, fewer American allies, and far more broken American-family hearts....
His poorly-planned security-disaster in Iraq just isn't enough to sate his gnarly appetite for more of the same. I can't help but think Perle is somehow relieved there will be 50,000 fewer citizens in the city of Bam
to have to worry about when we move in on Iran.
"You're a foul one, Mr.Grinch Perle.
You're a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr.Grinch Perle.
Your soul is an apalling dump heap overflowing
with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable
rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots..."
His poorly-planned security-disaster in Iraq just isn't enough to sate his gnarly appetite for more of the same. I can't help but think Perle is somehow relieved there will be 50,000 fewer citizens in the city of Bam
to have to worry about when we move in on Iran.
"You're a foul one, Mr.
You're a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr.
Your soul is an apalling dump heap overflowing
with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable
rubbish imaginable,
Mangled up in tangled up knots..."
James Zogby Trashed by World Net Daily
World Net Daily Trashes Pollster James Zogby for Giving Straight Facts to Foreigners
They claim the Saudi population never gets the truth from their own media....so, based upon this curiously odd reasoning, why would they deserve the truth from James Zogby?
They claim the Saudi population never gets the truth from their own media....so, based upon this curiously odd reasoning, why would they deserve the truth from James Zogby?
Jimmy Breslin-Our Fallen Troops
Our Fallen Troops-
Jimmy Breslin: Their Photos Tell the Story
Excerpts:
~~~~~~~
ATRIOS blog has more information about the Cher phonecall mentioned in the article.
~~~~~~~
Please see my own Honor Roll website.
Although incomplete at present, I am working so you may see the faces and stories of each man and woman who have given their lives in Iraq.
Jimmy Breslin: Their Photos Tell the Story
Excerpts:
"....The Army Times, a civilian newspaper that is sold mainly on military bases and thus reaches the prime wartime audience, uses eight pages of its year-end review, out now, to run photos of all those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, except 35.....There were 506 killed by the time the newspaper closed last Friday. Since then, another seven have died. The newspaper has said this is the deadliest year for the U.S. military since 1972, when 640 were killed in Vietnam....The chilling photos run at a time when the government tries to describe the war as a civic venture, and nearly all of the news industry doesn't know how to object. This probably is the worst failure to inform the public that we have seen. The Pekingese of the Press run clip-clop along the hall to the next government press conference...."
~~~~~~~
ATRIOS blog has more information about the Cher phonecall mentioned in the article.
~~~~~~~
Please see my own Honor Roll website.
Although incomplete at present, I am working so you may see the faces and stories of each man and woman who have given their lives in Iraq.
Howard Zinn: Logic of Withdrawl
Howard Zinn: The Logic Of Withdrawl
This is in the January 2004 issue of The Progressive. Howard Zinn has written his own speech intended for the hoped-for use of whichever candidate emerges as Democratic Party nominee for President.
This is in the January 2004 issue of The Progressive. Howard Zinn has written his own speech intended for the hoped-for use of whichever candidate emerges as Democratic Party nominee for President.
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
David Brooks-On Oakeshott
David Brooks has been "communing with big thinkers".
Brooks has written a rather engaging piece about English philosopher Michael Oakeshott, who was the subject of Andrew Sullivan's dissertation. I especially enjoyed Brooks' reference to the Chuang-tzu tale. It's a wonderful lesson to learn. Oakeshott thought Hobbes' 'Leviathan' was "the greatest, perhaps the sole masterpiece of political philosophy written in the English language". After writing several books and spending five years in the British Army, Oakeshott got wide public recognition upon his return to Cambridge to edit the Cambridge Journal. A former student of Oakeshott commented upon the unforgettable experience of his lectures on the majesty of St. Augustine's "City of God".
What I find enchanting about Oakeshott is that he would have embraced bold, highly creative individualists such as the writer Francois Rabelais.
In Rabelais, I often see much of myself. I see it in the knowlege (or should I say the hope) that language possesses us just as we attempt to harness the same language and use it to turn the tables on the follies of being human. We strive to make our personal sanity known to all others swirling in the same chaotic carnival of the kaleidoscope of time in which we are destined to live together. Through the language that permeated the unique novels of "Gargantua and Pantagruel", Rabelais magically exposed the circus of the life around him in the 16th century. If anything could overthrow orthodoxy, it is surely the arresting language of the satirically colorful individualist.
Oakeshott was bohemian, intuitive and boldly individual himself. His philsophical legacy could not be pinned down like a butterfly on display. He presented and represented a wonderful view of freedom. He understood that politics is about reflective judgement. Personally, I think he would have been raking Tony Blair over the hottest coals with sharpest wit for chiming in with G.W. Bush and making this pre-emptive strike on Iraq. Where was Tony Blair's bold individual courage or color when needed most? It slipped inside Bush's pocket, where it remains shielded from the light to this day.
I believe Oakeshott would have a joyous time playfully attacking the Bush administration's NeoCons for all their social planning to force and cram the Middle East into their Utopian mold of capitalistic democracy. Paul Wolfowitz and Bill Kristol would have been the whipping boys of Oakeshott's knowing admonitions about the dangers of abstract rationalism.
The fullness of one's writings are surely revealed over time.
What I enjoy about blogging is that we can all converse about great men such as Oakeshott without him being here in our presence...and speculate on what he might have said or believed..and none of us can say we've won or lost the debate on the very speculation. Yet we find a common topic..common ground between people who often do not see today's carnival eye-to-eye.
As Oakeshott himself had said:
"In conversation ... thoughts of different species take wing and play round one another, responding to each other's movements and provoking one another to fresh exertions. Nobody asks where they have come from or on what authority they are present; nobody cares what will become of them when they have played their part. There is no symposiarch or arbiter, not even a doorkeeper to examine credentials. Every entrant is taken at its face-value and everything is permitted which can get itself accepted into the flow of speculation. And voices which speak in conversation do not compose a hierarchy..."
Brooks has written a rather engaging piece about English philosopher Michael Oakeshott, who was the subject of Andrew Sullivan's dissertation. I especially enjoyed Brooks' reference to the Chuang-tzu tale. It's a wonderful lesson to learn. Oakeshott thought Hobbes' 'Leviathan' was "the greatest, perhaps the sole masterpiece of political philosophy written in the English language". After writing several books and spending five years in the British Army, Oakeshott got wide public recognition upon his return to Cambridge to edit the Cambridge Journal. A former student of Oakeshott commented upon the unforgettable experience of his lectures on the majesty of St. Augustine's "City of God".
What I find enchanting about Oakeshott is that he would have embraced bold, highly creative individualists such as the writer Francois Rabelais.
In Rabelais, I often see much of myself. I see it in the knowlege (or should I say the hope) that language possesses us just as we attempt to harness the same language and use it to turn the tables on the follies of being human. We strive to make our personal sanity known to all others swirling in the same chaotic carnival of the kaleidoscope of time in which we are destined to live together. Through the language that permeated the unique novels of "Gargantua and Pantagruel", Rabelais magically exposed the circus of the life around him in the 16th century. If anything could overthrow orthodoxy, it is surely the arresting language of the satirically colorful individualist.
Oakeshott was bohemian, intuitive and boldly individual himself. His philsophical legacy could not be pinned down like a butterfly on display. He presented and represented a wonderful view of freedom. He understood that politics is about reflective judgement. Personally, I think he would have been raking Tony Blair over the hottest coals with sharpest wit for chiming in with G.W. Bush and making this pre-emptive strike on Iraq. Where was Tony Blair's bold individual courage or color when needed most? It slipped inside Bush's pocket, where it remains shielded from the light to this day.
I believe Oakeshott would have a joyous time playfully attacking the Bush administration's NeoCons for all their social planning to force and cram the Middle East into their Utopian mold of capitalistic democracy. Paul Wolfowitz and Bill Kristol would have been the whipping boys of Oakeshott's knowing admonitions about the dangers of abstract rationalism.
The fullness of one's writings are surely revealed over time.
What I enjoy about blogging is that we can all converse about great men such as Oakeshott without him being here in our presence...and speculate on what he might have said or believed..and none of us can say we've won or lost the debate on the very speculation. Yet we find a common topic..common ground between people who often do not see today's carnival eye-to-eye.
As Oakeshott himself had said:
"In conversation ... thoughts of different species take wing and play round one another, responding to each other's movements and provoking one another to fresh exertions. Nobody asks where they have come from or on what authority they are present; nobody cares what will become of them when they have played their part. There is no symposiarch or arbiter, not even a doorkeeper to examine credentials. Every entrant is taken at its face-value and everything is permitted which can get itself accepted into the flow of speculation. And voices which speak in conversation do not compose a hierarchy..."
VP Clinton?
President Dean
Vice President Clinton?
Secretary of Defense Wesley Clark?
Hey! What about Al?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Terry McAuliffe Virtually Says 'Sorry, Howard...
Can't help--Won't Help. Politics is Dog-Eat-Dog.'
Is it 'Tough Love'? --or 'Making a Wreck of the Democratic base'?
You decide.
This decision will make or break DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe.
Here's my opinion. (You knew you couldn't escape it! ;)
Let's face it...a huge chunk of the old Democratic base began to break away when lily-livered Democrats refused to effectively stand up to Bush and caved in easily to the October, 2002 Iraq Resolution.
And now, we see the lily-livers making brutal attacks upon a strong front-runner who exposed them for what they were every step of the way.
This front-runner has succeeded in motivating the base once again.
What the hell is McAuliffe thinking? I really would like to know.
Terry McAuliffe should think about how this inner-party brutality is sabotaging the already-weakened base.
It may look cute and politically-acceptable in the polifantastic (that's my own word;) world of Washington, D.C., but out here it looks like losers' misery.
Terry McAuliffe needs to act swiftly in the best interests of the party..or risk removal for his negligence.
Hey-look at me..I'm the real angry guy! Howie's a melter!
-->
Monday, December 29, 2003
Lord of the Rings
This Is Not That Day- - Lord of the Rings Trilogy
I thought this was an interesting analysis of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy in light of some saying that Peter Jackson and Hollywood were making a pro-Bushite film.
I thought this was an interesting analysis of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy in light of some saying that Peter Jackson and Hollywood were making a pro-Bushite film.
False Witness
How can prejudice affect a Christian’s witness?
Here's a fine example. This person calls himself 'pastor', yet sets a poor example for true Christian witness.
~~~~~~~~~~
"...a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
John 4:23-24
"Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.
Matthew 7:1-5
~~~~~~~~~~
Is Howard Dean's Sudden Religiousity Sincere or Politically Motivated?
by J. Grant Swank, Jr., Pastor
"Howard Dean may garner the votes of the Unitarian-Universalists and the Jesse Jacksons of the world, but he will never get the votes of sincere Catholics, Evanglicals, and other Christian denominations that actually adhere to the Bible."
To my fellow devout Christians (I beg the pardon and indulgence of secularists reading here):
Who is this man to judge your spirit and mine..or Howard Dean's?
How does this stranger to my soul purport to know about what lies in the very depths of it?
This is as shameful a display of prejudice as I have seen.
Take your false piety and allegiance to Fox News and shove it up your pompous assumptions!
False judgement borne of prideful worldly grandiloquence is against all you have been taught if you are a true follower of the Christ. Your personal relationship with Christ cannot abode piously or truthfully in the same temple with a reliance upon false witness.
While people like this pastor seem to believe they own Christ and consider all other theology (liberal or other) as
something less than Christian, I tell them that Christ's heart bleeds every time they create factions in His loving name.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A recent Bible passage from the Right Christians blog
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While we're on the subject of theology, I saw an interesting piece in the on-line version of the most recent issue of IN THESE TIMES
It deals with Marxism, Christianity, and a new book by Slovenian philosopher [and 'godless theologian'] Slajov Zizek.
"...Zizek’s post-secular theology. Zizek’s Christianity is a Cross without a Resurrection, and I would maintain, as a Christian and a socialist, that this neglect both obscures his theological vision and undermines his political hope. (Here, I ask readers—a mostly secular audience, I’m sure—for their indulgence.) Because he still sees the atonement as a cosmic yet incomplete debt cancellation, Zizek doesn’t fully appreciate [St.] Paul’s point: that we rise as well as die with Christ—that is, all debts are erased in what Zizek calls this “New Beginning.” Moreover, for Christians, the “infinite joy” at which Zizek marvels rests on a belief from which he recoils. Christians’ collective experience of joy in the world is inaugurated by faith in a triumph over death, a victory won by God’s power—a power we share but which we are not. Zizek’s Pauline theology collapses because, to put it squarely, it does not assert the exterior reality of God, on which Christian joy and political commitment must inevitably rest. However empowering Zizek’s formulation seems, it rests on an interiorized—and, Christians must maintain, ultimately empty—space through which we end up pursuing our own shadows."
Here's a fine example. This person calls himself 'pastor', yet sets a poor example for true Christian witness.
~~~~~~~~~~
"...a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
John 4:23-24
"Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.
Matthew 7:1-5
~~~~~~~~~~
Is Howard Dean's Sudden Religiousity Sincere or Politically Motivated?
by J. Grant Swank, Jr., Pastor
"Howard Dean may garner the votes of the Unitarian-Universalists and the Jesse Jacksons of the world, but he will never get the votes of sincere Catholics, Evanglicals, and other Christian denominations that actually adhere to the Bible."
To my fellow devout Christians (I beg the pardon and indulgence of secularists reading here):
Who is this man to judge your spirit and mine..or Howard Dean's?
How does this stranger to my soul purport to know about what lies in the very depths of it?
This is as shameful a display of prejudice as I have seen.
Take your false piety and allegiance to Fox News and shove it up your pompous assumptions!
False judgement borne of prideful worldly grandiloquence is against all you have been taught if you are a true follower of the Christ. Your personal relationship with Christ cannot abode piously or truthfully in the same temple with a reliance upon false witness.
While people like this pastor seem to believe they own Christ and consider all other theology (liberal or other) as
something less than Christian, I tell them that Christ's heart bleeds every time they create factions in His loving name.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A recent Bible passage from the Right Christians blog
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While we're on the subject of theology, I saw an interesting piece in the on-line version of the most recent issue of IN THESE TIMES
It deals with Marxism, Christianity, and a new book by Slovenian philosopher [and 'godless theologian'] Slajov Zizek.
"...Zizek’s post-secular theology. Zizek’s Christianity is a Cross without a Resurrection, and I would maintain, as a Christian and a socialist, that this neglect both obscures his theological vision and undermines his political hope. (Here, I ask readers—a mostly secular audience, I’m sure—for their indulgence.) Because he still sees the atonement as a cosmic yet incomplete debt cancellation, Zizek doesn’t fully appreciate [St.] Paul’s point: that we rise as well as die with Christ—that is, all debts are erased in what Zizek calls this “New Beginning.” Moreover, for Christians, the “infinite joy” at which Zizek marvels rests on a belief from which he recoils. Christians’ collective experience of joy in the world is inaugurated by faith in a triumph over death, a victory won by God’s power—a power we share but which we are not. Zizek’s Pauline theology collapses because, to put it squarely, it does not assert the exterior reality of God, on which Christian joy and political commitment must inevitably rest. However empowering Zizek’s formulation seems, it rests on an interiorized—and, Christians must maintain, ultimately empty—space through which we end up pursuing our own shadows."
Bob Kerry
Monday Ramblings Which Begin with Bob Kerry
Ex-Senator Bob Kerry on Howard Dean:
"He’s got a big neck; he looks like a wrestler."
Ex-Senator Bob Kerry on Terry McAuliffe:
"I think they [DNC] need a new chairman. I like Terry McAuliffe; he’s a friend.… [but} I think they need a new face at the Democratic Party."
Ex-Senator Bob Kerry on Bush:
"[Bush has] got great political and personal skills; people like him; women like him.."
LINK
Ex-Senator Bob Kerry on Bill Clinton:
"Clinton is an unusually good liar. Unusually good. Do you realize that?"
Esquire/January 1996
"It was not an angry comment. It was actually intended as an off-handed compliment."
Omaha World-Herald (2/5/96) [Senator Kerry commenting on the previous quote]
A Book Review on Bob Woodward's Accounting of A Conversation between Bill Cinton and Bob Kerry:
"What is also amazing about this book, is that Woodward gives you a fly-on-the-wall view of the battle to pass this
budget through both the House and the Senate. It also gives you the word for word account of a bitter phone conversation between Clinton and Nebraska Democratic Senator Bob Kerry, in which Clinton tells Kerry to go f--- himself, when Kerry refuses to vote for his budget, which turned out to be the crucial vote.
As it would turn out, Kerry would vote for it, making it a tie. Gore then gave the over the top vote and the budget was
passed..."
An opinion about Bob Kerry and the 2000 Dem VP slot vs. Sen. Joe Lieberman:
"Senator Lieberman will likely help Gore with moderates (the political middle), but may hurt him with the left. The Gore Campaign probably believes that its support within that constituency is solid, but if Green Party candidate Ralph Nader runs a strong campaign, then the selection of Lieberman could backfire.
Nevertheless, a more socially progressive Vice-Presidential candidate, such as Senator Bob Kerry of Massachusetts, could have weakened Gore's chances with swing voters. Thus, Lieberman remained the safest choice - regardless of the fact that he is an Orthodox Jew."
From the same article, thoughts on why Gore chose Lieberman as running mate in 2000:
"Perhaps it is the inevitable consequence of the Bill Clinton's tumultuous time in office that Al Gore felt compelled to select a candidate based largely upon his moral character. Senator Lieberman may lack personal dynamism, but he is unlikely to offend the sensibilities of the American public."
So...do we want a President who looks like a wrestler?
Do we want a President with no personal dynamism, but is unlikely to offend the sensibilities of the American public?
Do we want a President who'll be an unusually good liar?
Or do we want a President who has got great political and personal skills; people like him; women like him..?
People of America, I submit to you that Bob Kerry would rather see George Bush re-elected than to see
Howard Dean elected. The airing of his public doubts will help Bush in 2004.
WOW!
You GO, Bob!
Ex-Senator Bob Kerry on Howard Dean:
"He’s got a big neck; he looks like a wrestler."
Ex-Senator Bob Kerry on Terry McAuliffe:
"I think they [DNC] need a new chairman. I like Terry McAuliffe; he’s a friend.… [but} I think they need a new face at the Democratic Party."
Ex-Senator Bob Kerry on Bush:
"[Bush has] got great political and personal skills; people like him; women like him.."
LINK
Ex-Senator Bob Kerry on Bill Clinton:
"Clinton is an unusually good liar. Unusually good. Do you realize that?"
Esquire/January 1996
"It was not an angry comment. It was actually intended as an off-handed compliment."
Omaha World-Herald (2/5/96) [Senator Kerry commenting on the previous quote]
A Book Review on Bob Woodward's Accounting of A Conversation between Bill Cinton and Bob Kerry:
"What is also amazing about this book, is that Woodward gives you a fly-on-the-wall view of the battle to pass this
budget through both the House and the Senate. It also gives you the word for word account of a bitter phone conversation between Clinton and Nebraska Democratic Senator Bob Kerry, in which Clinton tells Kerry to go f--- himself, when Kerry refuses to vote for his budget, which turned out to be the crucial vote.
As it would turn out, Kerry would vote for it, making it a tie. Gore then gave the over the top vote and the budget was
passed..."
An opinion about Bob Kerry and the 2000 Dem VP slot vs. Sen. Joe Lieberman:
"Senator Lieberman will likely help Gore with moderates (the political middle), but may hurt him with the left. The Gore Campaign probably believes that its support within that constituency is solid, but if Green Party candidate Ralph Nader runs a strong campaign, then the selection of Lieberman could backfire.
Nevertheless, a more socially progressive Vice-Presidential candidate, such as Senator Bob Kerry of Massachusetts, could have weakened Gore's chances with swing voters. Thus, Lieberman remained the safest choice - regardless of the fact that he is an Orthodox Jew."
From the same article, thoughts on why Gore chose Lieberman as running mate in 2000:
"Perhaps it is the inevitable consequence of the Bill Clinton's tumultuous time in office that Al Gore felt compelled to select a candidate based largely upon his moral character. Senator Lieberman may lack personal dynamism, but he is unlikely to offend the sensibilities of the American public."
So...do we want a President who looks like a wrestler?
Do we want a President with no personal dynamism, but is unlikely to offend the sensibilities of the American public?
Do we want a President who'll be an unusually good liar?
Or do we want a President who has got great political and personal skills; people like him; women like him..?
People of America, I submit to you that Bob Kerry would rather see George Bush re-elected than to see
Howard Dean elected. The airing of his public doubts will help Bush in 2004.
WOW!
You GO, Bob!
Sunday, December 28, 2003
DLC/Howard Dean Squabble
New Democrats: It's time to be optimistic about 2004...time to stop begrudging and lamenting
At the New Republic, writer Jacob T. Levy is disappointed that Joe Lieberman isn't translating well as a viable Presidential candidate these days. He claims that Howard Dean is "distancing himself" from Bill Clinton. In my opinion, the distance has already naturally occurred in the past 3 years
of daily, systematic Clinton-dismantling activities by the Bush Administration. Howard Dean is not Bill Clinton. He is Howard Dean. He respects much of what Clinton did, as we all do. Yet we must remember we are no longer standing on the precipice of a new millenium with the hope that Clinton was afforded. In the late 90s, we could imagine taking flight from that precipice.
We cannot forget Clinton's fall.
It hurt us all so very much.
It was a immense help in the bringing forth of George W. Bush.
Mr. Levy writes:
"....New Democratic moment was a fragile one, and its highlights more than a bit accidental. Welfare reform, NAFTA, and the WTO were all essentially products of the interaction between Clinton, a small minority of moderate Democrats, and a majority (but not an overwhelming majority) of congressional Republicans. The budget surplus was the result of a bitter standoff between Clinton and Newt Gingrich's GOP over fiscal policy; for a brief moment, both sides decided they would rather let accumulating revenues just sit there than let the other side use them.
But the good news is that, accidental or not, some of the most important New Democratic policy triumphs of the '90s are more or less locked into place. And that may contribute to changing the political climate a few years down the road..."
While this may be true, you just cannot change the fact that too much water has run under the bridge.
Clinton was able to snuggle the center during his terms as President. In 1998, the lies about Lewinsky and the ensuing GOP witch-hunt blew the swing-voters, who had been caressed in the GOP-lite center so long by Clinton, back to the old-values right. Gore was damaged goods to swing-voters by 2000, thanks to a tarnished White House and the abandonment of Gore even by the fickle mainstream press (Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich were two of the worst). While many would love to have blamed Gore, we people outside Washington aren't that stupid. We see things for exactly what they have been.
Low, petty journalism and a kick to the stomach of the body of swing-voters by Clinton's ethical fall caused the election to come down to the Supreme Court being able to step in and overtake Florida's right to govern their own electoral process. It will always be one of the lowest points (if not THE lowest point) in the history of true freedom and democracy in America.
The Gingriches and Norquists make it crystal-clear that they want to crush and kill our education system, our unions, our social programs. They do not wish to diminish them....they wish to crush the life out of them.
No, this coming election in 2004 is NOT a time for a DLC/New Democrat centrist.
Not after three years of Bush's destruction and tearing down all the good Clinton tried to do.
It is time to be optimistic about Howard Dean.
The nay-sayers are only sabotaging their own party, which consists of far more than just the "New Democrats".
"....Tendencies are not destiny, to be sure. But, thanks to decisions made in the '90s, the tendencies are good ones. The New Democratic agenda may currently be crushed between union-backed, left-wing Democrats like Gephardt and Dean, and a pro-business but anti-market Republican administration. But perhaps this election will be something of a last gasp for those interest groups on both sides. The foul season may pass..."
I think Levy is being pie-in-the-sky to think the "foul season", as he sees it, will pass anytime soon.
This is war, my fine sir. The GOP started it when Bill Clinton got into office, regardless of how he tried to please
the center. And now we stand looking at a government gone far right and twisting every policy Clinton ever held as dear.
It's time for the toughest, most honest optimism we can summon.
The press will never be on our side while old-school DNC continues to begrudge and lament.
Stand tall...we need to see where it is our party must go to survive.
Let's join together and show one another what it means to be American. Let's use our power to take America back from those who wish to crush every good Clinton ever did for the People.
To "New Democrats":
No tears.
No hoping for something that no longer exists, save in your fond memories of a time that was and is no more.
The People are on the move.
Move with them...or die as the GOP would like you to do.
We can still be a party who can win with a war of ideas.
But the 2004 election will be.. must be war....and certainly not a war with one another.
We have so much to lose.
We can progress only if we progress together.
At the New Republic, writer Jacob T. Levy is disappointed that Joe Lieberman isn't translating well as a viable Presidential candidate these days. He claims that Howard Dean is "distancing himself" from Bill Clinton. In my opinion, the distance has already naturally occurred in the past 3 years
of daily, systematic Clinton-dismantling activities by the Bush Administration. Howard Dean is not Bill Clinton. He is Howard Dean. He respects much of what Clinton did, as we all do. Yet we must remember we are no longer standing on the precipice of a new millenium with the hope that Clinton was afforded. In the late 90s, we could imagine taking flight from that precipice.
We cannot forget Clinton's fall.
It hurt us all so very much.
It was a immense help in the bringing forth of George W. Bush.
Mr. Levy writes:
"....New Democratic moment was a fragile one, and its highlights more than a bit accidental. Welfare reform, NAFTA, and the WTO were all essentially products of the interaction between Clinton, a small minority of moderate Democrats, and a majority (but not an overwhelming majority) of congressional Republicans. The budget surplus was the result of a bitter standoff between Clinton and Newt Gingrich's GOP over fiscal policy; for a brief moment, both sides decided they would rather let accumulating revenues just sit there than let the other side use them.
But the good news is that, accidental or not, some of the most important New Democratic policy triumphs of the '90s are more or less locked into place. And that may contribute to changing the political climate a few years down the road..."
While this may be true, you just cannot change the fact that too much water has run under the bridge.
Clinton was able to snuggle the center during his terms as President. In 1998, the lies about Lewinsky and the ensuing GOP witch-hunt blew the swing-voters, who had been caressed in the GOP-lite center so long by Clinton, back to the old-values right. Gore was damaged goods to swing-voters by 2000, thanks to a tarnished White House and the abandonment of Gore even by the fickle mainstream press (Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich were two of the worst). While many would love to have blamed Gore, we people outside Washington aren't that stupid. We see things for exactly what they have been.
Low, petty journalism and a kick to the stomach of the body of swing-voters by Clinton's ethical fall caused the election to come down to the Supreme Court being able to step in and overtake Florida's right to govern their own electoral process. It will always be one of the lowest points (if not THE lowest point) in the history of true freedom and democracy in America.
The Gingriches and Norquists make it crystal-clear that they want to crush and kill our education system, our unions, our social programs. They do not wish to diminish them....they wish to crush the life out of them.
No, this coming election in 2004 is NOT a time for a DLC/New Democrat centrist.
Not after three years of Bush's destruction and tearing down all the good Clinton tried to do.
It is time to be optimistic about Howard Dean.
The nay-sayers are only sabotaging their own party, which consists of far more than just the "New Democrats".
"....Tendencies are not destiny, to be sure. But, thanks to decisions made in the '90s, the tendencies are good ones. The New Democratic agenda may currently be crushed between union-backed, left-wing Democrats like Gephardt and Dean, and a pro-business but anti-market Republican administration. But perhaps this election will be something of a last gasp for those interest groups on both sides. The foul season may pass..."
I think Levy is being pie-in-the-sky to think the "foul season", as he sees it, will pass anytime soon.
This is war, my fine sir. The GOP started it when Bill Clinton got into office, regardless of how he tried to please
the center. And now we stand looking at a government gone far right and twisting every policy Clinton ever held as dear.
It's time for the toughest, most honest optimism we can summon.
The press will never be on our side while old-school DNC continues to begrudge and lament.
Stand tall...we need to see where it is our party must go to survive.
Let's join together and show one another what it means to be American. Let's use our power to take America back from those who wish to crush every good Clinton ever did for the People.
To "New Democrats":
No tears.
No hoping for something that no longer exists, save in your fond memories of a time that was and is no more.
The People are on the move.
Move with them...or die as the GOP would like you to do.
We can still be a party who can win with a war of ideas.
But the 2004 election will be.. must be war....and certainly not a war with one another.
We have so much to lose.
We can progress only if we progress together.
Dean's Right..Nominate Him or we stay home.
Dean's right....
"Howard Dean said Sunday that the hundreds of thousands of people drawn to politics by his campaign may stay home if he doesn't win the Democratic presidential nomination, dooming the Democratic Party in the fall campaign against President Bush..."
And the Democratic party would deserve it.
This bitterness has gone too far now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And honestly, if THIS happens [Some see Graham as aiming to be Dean's running mate], Dean isn't going to win the 2004 Election.
It's going to have to be Wesley Clark, the most-tasty doughnut-hole.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Brooks: A party unable to deal with rebellion deserves what it gets
"Howard Dean said Sunday that the hundreds of thousands of people drawn to politics by his campaign may stay home if he doesn't win the Democratic presidential nomination, dooming the Democratic Party in the fall campaign against President Bush..."
And the Democratic party would deserve it.
This bitterness has gone too far now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And honestly, if THIS happens [Some see Graham as aiming to be Dean's running mate], Dean isn't going to win the 2004 Election.
It's going to have to be Wesley Clark, the most-tasty doughnut-hole.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Brooks: A party unable to deal with rebellion deserves what it gets
Saturday, December 27, 2003
Howard Dean Makes Fools of Press
PUBLIC STATEMENTS--MEDIA OFTEN FORGETTING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE AMERICAN
***IDDY'S RECOGNITION OF BREACH OF GOOD CHARACTER CODE--
TRAIT: Honesty***
QUESTION FROM NEWSPAPER:
"..wouldn't most Americans feel strongly that bin Laden should be tried in America – and put to death?"
DEAN'S REPLY:
"...I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found," Dean said. "I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials. So I'm sure that is the correct sentiment of most Americans, but I do think if you're running for president, or if you are president, it's best to say that the full range of penalties should be available. But it's not so great to prejudge the judicial system."
WORLD NET DAILY HEADLINE:
" Dean not sure Osama's guilty
Says he has 'old-fashioned' notion about 'jury trials' "
Anyone with half a brain and a professional and fair sense of journalism would fully understand that it is very American to
believe in American justice, even with its flaws. Our Founding Fathers did not intend American justice to mean going out and hacking to pieces or summarily executing someone we suspect of even the worst of crimes.
It is only the bravest American who would maintain that the American justice presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" would apply even to the very worst of defendants. I can understand how an Americans' trust in the American justice system would be destroyed after the O.J. Simpson trial and especially after (S)election 2000.
Hearing a completely civil and American justice-reliant Howard Dean speak of his confidence in American justice is a bold step indeed. We Americans have become quite divided in our feelings and our doubts about the American justice system. The Patriot Act has raised visions of secret trials on American soil and has sent a non-American message to America and the rest of the world. That's a damned pity. The judicial system in the United States has its flaws, but it is by far the most fair and balanced system of justice in the world. The very fact that a defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty and is judged by a jury of peers has made the U.S. justice system of the U.S. more advanced than most of the rest of this world. The Bush administration has direspected and disregarded the system of U.S. justice at nearly every opportunity...and it is the very instrument by which he came to power! There can be no justice unless everyone is treated the same by the system of justice.
Dean's reminder that American justice...a system which has long recognized the fundamental rights of all humanity a la the Founding Fathers... puts him in the picture frame of an American uniter. He creates in us a rekindled hope for a healing of all the damage done to American justice. The People decide upon justice...not the Executive.
Has the ignorant media forgotten that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"?
It didn't say all Americans..it said "all men".
WE--The People-- own America.
If WE choose to put Osama Bin Laden to death, it shall be done.
Let's catch the bastard first, shall we?
The media has lost its collective mind.
World Net Daily gets a big fat zero on intellectual honesty this time.
I wrote them a letter to tell them so.
Mona Charen is Ugly
Complains that the American soldier was not deserving of Time Magazine honor...
Shows total lack of human empathy for the Dean family loss of a beloved son
***IDDY' S RECOGNITION OF BREACH OF GOOD CHARACTER CODE--
TRAIT: Thankfulness, Respect, Empathy***
Charen says:
"....Time magazine has chosen the American soldier as its Person of the Year. Ha! .."
**This is a most ungrateful wretch of a woman**
"...Last August, the Quad-City Times of Davenport, Iowa, circulated a questionnaire to the Democratic candidates for president. The newspaper asked the candidates to complete the following sentence: "My closest living relative in the armed services is - ." Dean wrote: "My brother is a POW/MIA in Laos, but is almost certainly dead." In point of fact, Dean's brother Charles, whose remains have recently been returned from Laos, was not in the armed services. He was a tourist, visiting Laos as part of a one-year world tour. The Quad-City Times editorially expressed dismay at Dean's mendacity. Instead of apologizing for misleading readers, Dean dashed off an indignant letter to the editor....
Dean is more than a liberal, he is a liar and a narcissist."
**This is an antipathetic wretch of a human being**
~~~~~~~~~~
I love revealing ugliness for exactly what it is..and there it is, people.
The same type who have classified any reasoned criticism of Dubya Bush as "hate-speech".
The bloody hypocrites.
Charen will drop any sense of decency to rally around a leader that half of America itself does not trust.
She'd rather see honor given to the proven war-evader from the Viet Nam era who sent so many of our brave loyal men and women into battle in a smotheringly hot and dangerous desert for shady and dubious reasons.
Time Magazine would lose at least 50% of their subscriptions if they gave false honor to this untrustworthy leader whose bravery took him as far as sneaking into the Iraqi desert in the dead of night, donning an Army workout jacket, and holding a decorative turkey for a quick in/out photo op.
Mona Charen should listen to ANDREW GREELEY
"....The administration legitimized the invasion of Iraq as part of the ''war on terrorism'' and deceived the American people into believing that Saddam was involved in the Sept. 11 attack and that he had ''weapons of mass destruction.'' No one, except possibly Vice President Dick Cheney and the Wall Street Journal, believed that Saddam was involved in the attack on the World Trade Center. The weapons of mass destruction have disappeared. The president asks a TV interviewer what difference the mass destruction question makes, now that we have eliminated Saddam from power.
Note how slippery the administration line has been. The purpose of the war now is to get rid of an evil man who had done horrible things to his own people, even if he wasn't a real threat to us. Would those Americans who are willing to settle for that rationale have bought it at the beginning of the war? Such is the slipperiness of the administration's dishonesty that it can get away with a change in motives for the war...."
"....brave and good American men and women continue to die in Iraq, as do good Iraqi men and women. The military tells us that the Army will have to remain for two more years. The war was not only unnecessary, it was unjust by any and all of the traditional canons of an unjust war."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See my comments about the Quad-Cities Times Editorial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is another piece of hateful, partisan, pessimistic, foul-smelling spew which found it's way to this internet site which gives itself a deceiving name. This is surely no news site.
It's more like Pessimism Central.
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