Servant of the Secret Fire

Review: A Flutter in the Dovecote by Jemima Norton ***1/2

2011-12-10T18:34:00.004-05:00

A Flutter in the Dovecote is an entertaining introduction to a mystery series set in what I've always thought was a surprisingly neglected historical period - the Restoration. The English Civil War is over and the monarchy has been restored in the person of Charles II, but neighbors who were on different sides, as well as members of the same family who have been physically separated by the conflict, are still unsure of each other. Hal Westwood, whose father supported the Royalists with the result that he has been mostly raised in France, has just married the daughter of a wealthy family that stood with Cromwell, and has brought her to his ancestral home. His uncle, who owns the property and intends to leave it to Hal, is missing, as is a tapestry that has been in the family for generations. The whereabouts of both are soon discovered, but this complicates the situation even more, as the crime is now not theft but murder.

This is a promising start to the series but it still has quite a few weaknesses. I saw the solution fairly early on, and felt that it was pretty obvious. Also, I wasn't too sure how accurate the dialogue was, although the author did provide a glossary at the end and seems to have done a fair amount of research, However, most of the characters, with the exception of Hal's seductive French stepmother, who was a bit of a walking cliché, were well drawn and believable. I will definitely be checking out the other books in this series.

Most beautiful words

2011-08-21T23:04:00.001-04:00

http://worddreams.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/103-most-beautiful-words-you-decide/

Nice. L, S, M and R seem to predominate.

Book Review: Naomi and her Daughters by Walter Wangerin Jr. *****

2011-05-14T16:53:00.002-04:00

In this powerful and original retelling of the story in the book of Ruth, National Book Award winner Wangerin gives Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi, portrayed in the biblical story as an unsympathetic character, embittered by tragedy and grief, a back story and a character that explains and justifies Ruth's devotion to her. The character of Boaz, the man who befriends Ruth and Naomi in their impoverished widowhoods, is also given motivation and a past.

Moving back and forth over some thirty years, Wangerin never loses control of his narrative and paints a vivid portrait of an entire society, effortlessly weaving in other biblical stories and poetry from the Psalms and the Song of Songs, particularly through the chants and musings of Naomi, who is portrayed as a hakamah, a wise woman, healer and storyteller in her native village of Bethlehem.

Naomi and her Daughters is sure to deepen any reader's appreciation of the book of Ruth and the world in which it is set.

My mother and Huck Finn

2011-02-04T21:00:00.019-05:00

Over on the Amazon boards the recent censorsh- uh, "revision"- of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have been a topic of discussion. (So far the consensus seems to be, "Bad idea.") As a result, I've been thinking of the way my upbringing has influenced my thinking about race, and have been appreciating my mother anew.

First of all, on my mother's side (which is really the only one that matters here), I come from a family of dyed-in-the-wool Republicans, though more the virtually extinct Rockefeller variety than the more right-wing type we see today. Momma loved Ronald Reagan, but I think it was more his personality and the general "small government" philosophy than a deeply held agreement with his more extreme (though relatively moderate compared with today's Republicans) policy positions. Beginning with the first Bush administration, she became more and more disenchanted with the party, although she never officially changed her registration. So while I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, she wasn't exactly on the cutting edge in civil rights issues - politically, that is.

Personally, however, she educated us by example. While the small town where we lived had a very small black population (there was one African-American boy in my class in elementary school), we were never allowed to think that there was any difference between us and people of any other race or creed. We never heard the "n-word" from her except in an explanatory sense, and if she had ever heard it from us, there would have been hell to pay. Her supervisor at work, whom I believe she considered a friend, was black, and she and my grandmother also had a friend from Buffalo whom we saw with some regularity until he retired to Florida and with whom we traveled down to Washington, D.C. when I was seven or eight. The respect and affection which they had for him was obvious. They called him Hanks, but he was always Mr. Hanks to us.

The thing that strikes me the most, however, was the shock I felt when she admitted frankly to us that our beloved grandfather, who died when I was five, had held racist views. My mother adored her father, while her relationship with her mother was adversarial to say the least. I never cease to be amazed, at how she was able to break with the parent whom she loved more by far, seeing with clear eyes that he was wrong, yet never relinquishing her love for him. (I can't help but think of people today who refuse to espouse a position if someone they dislike holds it, regardless of whether it's right or wrong.) I know it's not a great story of heroic rebellion - just an ordinary person doing her part to make the world, and the next generation, a little better.

Momma passed away in 2005, and I don't remember if I ever asked her when she thought it would happen, but I think she would have been pleased to see an African-American man elected President only three years later.

In 1985 when I told Momma that I was converting to Judaism, her original reaction was violently negative, mainly because she felt that I was rejecting her and the beliefs with which she had raised me. As I told her then, I was actually embracing what she had taught me, by word and deed, which was to think for myself. She was able to continue evolving in her thinking until the end of her life; if the same can be said about me when my time comes, it will be in no small part due to her.

Coming out of hibernation

2011-01-16T11:35:00.007-05:00

Below are a couple of older reviews that I wrote for the temple newsletter last year, but I just posted them on Amazon and thought I would put them up here as well.

I've also been jolted out of my extended inactivity by the tragic shooting in Tucson last Saturday. Needless to say, my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.

However, I have found the reaction to it interesting and somewhat disturbing, particularly in the media. On the left there has been discussion of the part played by the violent rhetoric of the last election season and, while the feeling is obviously that most of that has taken place on the other side, there has also been introspection and self-examination, most notably by Keith Olbermann. (I personally, would like to apologize for any intemperate language on my part; I'm sure there has been some, although I can't think of specific instances.) In the so-called "mainstream media," there has been a false equivalency; if rhetoric played a part, well, everyone does it in equal measure. On the right, with a couple of exceptions, there has been little but finger pointing at the other side and a hysterical defensiveness.

I find it sad that we can't agree on one thing: painting one's opponent as evil and not just mistaken but malicious, using language such as "take him/her out," "Second Amendment remedies" (which by no stretch of my imagination, at least, can be construed as "metaphorical"), and shooting automatic weapons at campaign events, particularly at cutouts labeled with the opponent's initials, should be beyond the pale - at least as of now. I can only agree with Bill Clinton's remarks on the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing:

"What we learned from Oklahoma City is not that we should gag each other or that we should reduce our passion for the positions we hold - but that the words we use really do matter, because there's this vast echo chamber, and they go across space and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike. They fall on the connected and the unhinged alike," he said.

"One of the things that the conservatives have always brought to the table in America is a reminder that no law can replace personal responsibility. And the more power you have and the more influence you have, the more responsibility you have."

Book Review: Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg *****

2011-01-16T11:27:00.003-05:00

The starting point of Annie's Ghosts is when journalist Luxenberg hears that his elderly mother, who always claimed to be an only child, has mentioned in a talk with her doctor that she had a disabled sister, who was "sent away" as a young child. Several years after his mother's death he learns the sister's name, Annie, and that far than being a brief presence in his mother's young life, she was actually committed to a mental institution on the eve of her 21st birthday.

The remainder of the book is Luxenberg's account of his attempt to learn more about his aunt, who lived a further thirty-two years after her commitment, and to understand why his caring, loving mother had felt the need to hide the fact of her sister's existence from everyone in her life. Along the way, he interviews many of his parents' old friends and relatives, archivists and psychiatrists, as well as visiting the town in Russia where his family originated. He also weaves in information about the history of mental health care in twentieth-century America, the eugenics movement, and the lives of Jewish immigrants in the early to mid-twentieth century.

Annie's Ghosts is a moving meditation on family secrets; the stigma all too often attached to disability, both physical and mental; and a son's coming to terms with the fears and cultural attitudes that informed his mother's choices in life.

Book Review: The Prophet's Wife by Milton Steinberg ****

2011-01-16T11:12:00.004-05:00

At the time of his premature death in 1950, Milton Steinberg, respected rabbi and author of the acclaimed As a Driven Leaf, left the unfinished manuscript of a second novel. After sixty years, The Prophet's Wife has finally been published.

Set in the days before the Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom of Israel, The Prophet's Wife revolves around the life of Hosea, one of the earliest literary prophets and the one about whose personal life we know the most. Hosea talks in the book named for him about how he married a woman who betrayed him with other men, yet took her back as God would do with unfaithful Israel.

As in his other novel, Steinberg gives us a vivid re-imagining of ancient Israelite life and customs, as well as a very human portrait of Hosea, the scholarly yet unappreciated son of his pious father, and Hosea's erring wife Gomer. Steinberg's stately prose brings to mind the cadences of the Tanakh, yet is never inaccessible to the modern reader.

The editors of The Prophet's Wife have made the bold and unconventional decision to leave it in its unfinished state, ending at a pivotal point in its subject's life, adding two very different essays by modern scholars speculating on how Steinberg would have finished the book if he had lived. The reader, as well, can come up with his or her own ending for Hosea and Gomer's story.

Book Review: The Journal of Hélène Berr ****1/2

2009-10-03T22:23:00.002-04:00

A graduate of the Sorbonne, student of English literature, and talented musician, Hélène Berr began her journal in April 1942 at the age of twenty-one. At that time it was still relatively easy to ignore the increasing restrictions being placed on the Jews by the Nazis, and the first part of the book is taken up with her own personal concerns, her studies, and her love life. Soon enough, however, she is directly touched by the decree that the yellow star must be worn by all Jews, and records her conflicted feelings, humiliation and determination to hold her head up high, as well as the small kindnesses she receives from strangers, which give her comfort and strength.

As things become worse for the city's Jews, deportations, suicides and arrests (including the temporary detention of her own father) become a litany interwoven with Hélène's determination to live as normal a life as she can while maintaining her own humanity and dignity. She becomes engaged but her fiancé flees to Free France to work against the Nazis from there, while she feels bound to remain with her family and continue her work saving Jewish children from deportation and resettling them when their parents have been arrested. After abandoning the journal for a year, she returns to it as a changed, more serious person. The entries become longer and more introspective as this courageous young woman is forced to face the likelihood of her early death and finds comfort in friends, family and the literature that she loves so much.

Hélène Berr was arrested in 1944 and died in Bergen-Belsen only a few days before its liberation, but her journal, which was kept by a friend and given to her fiancé after her death, ensures that her vital, intensely humane spirit lives on.

25 Favorite Books (for now)

2009-09-05T01:21:00.004-04:00

(One has already changed.) We were coming up with lists of our favorites on one of the Amazon discussion boards. These are in no particular order except that mysteries are first, since it's a mystery group. Some are childhood favorites, some are just fun, and others, as Cathy says about her dreams in Wuthering Heights (on the list!) "have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the colour of my mind."

Stone Angel by Carol O'Connell
The Water Room by Christopher Fowler
Die for Love by Elizabeth Peters
Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters (or any of the Peabody/Emerson books where Ramses is young and obnoxious)
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Breakheart Hill by Thomas H. Cook
Streets of Fire by Thomas H. Cook
Past Caring by Robert Goddard
As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
An Interrupted Life by Etty Hillesum
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
Dune by Frank Herbert
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (all of them, but if I had to pick one it would be Deathly Hallows)
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
The Ghosts by Antonia Barber
Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Book Review: The Fate of Katherine Carr ****

2009-07-31T11:46:00.003-04:00

The Fate of Katherine Carr by Thomas H. Cook ****
George Gates is a former travel writer and investigator of historical mysteries who has retreated to safe, superficial newspaper writing after his young son was kidnaped and murdered. He then gets sucked into the mystery of what happened to a local writer (Katherine Carr) who walked out of her house one day in 1987 and vanished, leaving behind a mysterious story that seems to relate to her own life. He also becomes involved (both professionally and emotionally) with a 12-year-old girl dying of progeria (the "aging" disease), with whom he reads through the story, attempting to find clues to what happened to Katherine.

I think of this book as structured like a spiral, going from Gates' telling of the story to a man he meets on a cruise ship, to his investigation of Katherine's disappearance, to Katherine's story from 20 years before, and back. On the way it provides an interesting meditation on the effects of loss and of crime (especially unsolved crime) on its victims; not only has Gates lost his son, but Katherine had become a virtual recluse before her disappearance due to a vicious beating she had suffered a few years before. The ending is rather ambiguous, though, and the whole book seems unfocused - possibly a necessary effect of its structure and content, but that may account for the lack of complete satisfaction on my part.

P.S. As with other books I've seen or read lately, the cover bugs the hell out of me. It appears to be a young (pre-adolescent) girl, though it's hard to tell since the close-up cuts off most of the face. The only character who fits that description is dying of premature aging and wheelchair bound. Why is it considered so unacceptable in some circles to have a cover that bears some relation to the content of the book?

A beautiful tribute, sung by Susan Wehle

2009-03-16T12:20:00.003-04:00

Book Review: The Blood of Caesar ****

2009-03-09T12:45:00.003-04:00

The Blood of Caesar: A Second Case from the Notebooks of Pliny the Younger by Albert A. Bell, Jr. ****

An invitation to dine alone with the princeps (the historically accurate title used by emperors at this period) Domitian is not necessarily a good thing, and Pliny the Younger's friend Tacitus tells him that an astrologer has predicted that it will change their lives forever. As it turns out, Domitian has heard about Pliny's powers of observation and talent for detection, honed at the feet of his uncle, the naturalist and polymath Pliny the Elder, and has a job for him.

Pliny is shown an old letter from Nero's mother to her son taunting him with the fact that other descendants of Augustus, who could be his rivals for power, still live. Domitian, as a representative of a family with no relationship to the Julian-Claudian line whatsoever, is even more concerned, and asks Pliny to ferret out the truth of the matter.

This is the second book in what promises to be an enjoyable, well-written series featuring the historical figures of Pliny the Younger and the historian Tacitus. Pliny soon finds out that the dead man he was shown by Domitian as a test of his deductive abilities not only did not die by accident as he was told, but has a connection to the mystery, as well as to his own family. He also must deal with the domestic issues that come with being the relatively new master of a large household, as well as his mother's increasingly close relationship to two of their Jewish slaves and her apparent interest in their religion.

The central mystery in The Blood of Caesar is not a complicated one to unravel; rather, the enjoyment comes from the author's detailed picture of Roman life in the late first century and anticipation of how what seems like an impossible situation will be resolved. Since I've read about that time period, I'm somewhat familiar with the tortuous complexity of the Julian-Claudian family tree, so I'm not sure how clear it will be to those without such familiarity. There is a helpful glossary and timeline at the back, as well as numerous illustrations scattered throughout the book, but maybe a simplified family tree would also have come in handy.

Book Review: Bone by Bone *****

2009-03-07T21:59:00.006-05:00

Bone by Bone by Carol O'Connell *****

Twenty years ago, at the age of 17, Oren Hobbs left his small California town after the disappearance of his younger brother Josh. Now he has been called home to find that his brother is also returning, one bone at a time being left on the porch of his family home. This is the situation at the beginning of Bone by Bone, Carol O'Connell's first novel after the (presumed) culmination of her incredible Kathy Mallory series, and the absence of Mallory has not hurt her writing one bit.

As in the Mallory series, the solution of the mystery is secondary to O'Connell's brilliant characterizations and her portrayal of the interlocking relationships and tensions that have turned this claustrophobic community into a pressure cooker ready to explode. Even the stock characters in this type of story, such as the family housekeeper, a tiny woman who can quell a grown man with a glance, and Oren's childhood crush, with whom he has never exchanged a word and who appears to harbor homicidal passions toward him rather than the usual kind, are unique and individual human beings.

As Josh's burial place is found and the investigation into his murder proceeds, Oren is drawn more and more deeply back into the secrets and haunted lives of the people in the town - the alcoholic socialite and birdwatcher who has chronicled the life of the town in her journal by portraying them as various types of birds, her controlling attorney husband, the crippled and scarred ex-policeman, and others. Josh was an inveterate shutterbug with a talent for capturing people's secrets with his camera. Could he have exposed one too many? Bone by Bone will keep you reading as it races towards the final confrontations and revelation of the various secrets that have poisoned the town for decades.

Book Review: Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride ***1/2

2009-02-22T14:40:00.005-05:00

Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride by Helen Halstead ***1/2

To me, one of the true tests of a great novel is the involvement of the reader in the lives of the characters, to the extent of not wanting to give them up. How many of us have wondered what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Darcy and their friends and family after the end of Pride & Prejudice! Helen Halstead attempts to provide an answer, and in large part she succeeds.

The Darcys set off to London for the new bride's formal introduction to society, and she captivates many, although Lady Catherine de Bourgh's disapproval still holds sway in some quarters. There is triumph and tragedy, misunderstanding and reconciliation, and of course several characters, including Darcy's sister Georgiana, his cousins Anne de Bourgh and Colonel Fitzwilliam, Kitty Bennet, and even the odious Miss Bingley, find true love.

The main weakness in this book, I feel, is in the editing, or, I suspect, the lack thereof. I suspect that this is a self-published book, which is too bad, since effective editing would have stengthened it enormously. In places it is unfocused, situations such as Miss Bingley's engagement are not handled as well as they could be, and the overall plot could be tightened.

However, while not as polished as many of the P&P tie-ins and sequels, Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride is a worthy entry which manages on the whole to stay true to the characters of most of the people we grew to know and love in the original novel. I give it an A for effort and a B- for execution.

Leahy Lays Out Case For Truth Commission In Time

2009-02-20T10:33:00.002-05:00

Sen. Leahy, I'm sure you think you have a fine idea and your motives are the best, but one of Keith Olbermann's legal experts (Jonathan Turley, I think), pointed out that truth commissions and the like are used in EMERGING democracies - you know, places that don't have properly functioning judicial systems. There is no reason on God's green earth why this country can't investigate and prosecute these crimes as it would any others, and as we would expect any of our allies to do.

At least let's wait a little and find out how many whistleblowers come forth of their own voliition and what Mr. Holder finds in the pit of corruption and iniquity formerly known as the "Justice" Dept., where there are a lot of good people who have been hunkered down and biding their time until the nightmare was over.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Cantor Susan Wehle

2009-02-15T11:49:00.003-05:00

Cantor Susan was one of those lost in the tragic plane crash outside of Buffalo on Thursday night. Of course, each life lost was precious and my heart goes out to all of their loved ones, but Susan was the one whose life touched my own, as well as those of many others. Here are two news stories that examine the wonderful variety of those 50 souls, among them college students with their whole lives ahead of them, an expert on genocide, and, with the most tragic irony, a 9/11 widow.

Fifty Varied Lives, Ended on a Cold, Foggy Night
Passengers and Crew Aboard Flight 3407: Their Stories

My deepest condolences to all who knew and loved Susan. She had a beautiful voice, a joyous heart and a generous soul. She was one of the many who welcomed me when I joined Temple Sinai back in the 90s, and while I was sorry when she left us for Beth Am, I was also happy to see her continuing in her spiritual and professional journey. She taught me haftarah chanting and prayers for my adult bat mitzvah, but watching her on the bimah, giving her heart and soul to the prayers, was an education in itself, as well as a joy and a pleasure. Her life was a celebration of the Divine and of the possibilities inherent in all of us, and the entirety of her life is what should be remembered, more than the tragic manner of its ending.

No man is an island, entire of itself
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
if a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were
any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls
it tolls for thee.

— John Donne

More books

2009-02-09T11:43:00.004-05:00

Since I haven't really felt like doing any full-fledged reviews lately (lazy, lazy, I know), here are a few books that I'm reading or have just finished and some thoughts about them.

The Bone Garden and A Cursed Inheritance by Kate Ellis - intelligent, interesting mysteries with a historical twist, featuring a young black police inspector in Devon (England) named Wesley Peterson. Peterson studied archaeology in college, and in both of these books a murder that he is investigating intersects with an archaeological dig on which his friend Neil Watson is working, and the present day solution, at least in the first book, echoes the past events.

Below the Root by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (I've always loved that name) - in a "perfect" society, ominous rumblings of things gone awry and corruption at the top. I read this when I was a kid and along with some others that I liked, managed to get another copy through paperbackswap.com (a great site, if a little top heavy with romances). Although the setting is pastoral rather than underground, this reminds me a lot (or really, the other way around since this was published first) of The City of Ember. I'd never realized that it was the first of a trilogy, so if I like it as well as I remember I'll have to try and get hold of the other two. I loved her books as a kid, especially The Egypt Game, The Changeling and The Headless Cupid.

Elleander Morning by Jerry Yulsman - a fascinating thought experiment. A copy of the Time-Life History of the Second World War makes it into a parallel universe in which there never was a Second World War, and a nuclear-armed Germany decides to use it as a playbook. This is another one that I read when it first came out in the 80s and picked up again through paperbackswap.com. The personal story of the woman who finds herself hurtled backward in time and uses the opportunity to kill a young Viennese artist named Adolf Hitler, and her granddaughter in the new world she's created, attempting to find out what happened, are in the foreground, but the premise is fascinating. I haven't finished it yet, so don't know if he manages to live up to the expectations he creates.

Autism's False Prophets by Paul A. Offit - I can't recommend this book highly enough - I may even get off my duff and actually review it. An excellent review of the hold vaccines-cause-autism "school of thought" including an examination of the social and cultural forces that allow this kind of bad science, as he terms it, to go mainstream and actually be accepted by large numbers of people. For now, I can't do better than to link to an excellent review over at the ScienceBlogs Book Club.

President Barack Hussein Obama

2009-01-20T13:13:00.004-05:00

Now, get over it, racists and unredeemed right-wingers. Everyone else, break out the champagne before we roll up our sleeves and get to work fixing this mess.

I couldn't help but think, when last week's amazing plane landing on the Hudson River took place, that it was the perfect symbol of our transition to a new era of competence and calm, cool and collected leadership. As I said to a couple of people, imagine if Chesley Sullenberger and crew had had the skills, training and qualifications of John McCain's "quintessential American," Joe the Unlicensed Plumber.

Let's also not forget, as many people have done in the rush to (deservedly) praise Mr. Sullenberger, the co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, and the flight attendants, Sheila Dail, Doreen Welsh, and Donna Dent, who were the ones who actually got the passengers out once the plane had landed.

The dreaded "headless bodice"

2008-12-23T11:54:00.009-05:00

Looking at the list of my "book" pet peeves I see that I've left off the biggest one of all, the one that I really hate with all the heat of a thousand white hot suns but which seems to be ubiquitous. It's what I am told is called the "headless bodice," where a picture (photo, illustration, whatever) of (virtually always) a woman is put on the cover of a book but she is only shown up to the chin or maybe just under the nose. It's as if only the outfit matters, not the person, and, while I suspect that there are quite a few different reasons (easier for the artist if it's an illustration, focus on the historical period if the book is set in the past), it just seems to me like a complete objectification, and I don't even consider myself a raging feminist. Not only do I find them offensive, but, while they may once have been different and eye-catching, by now they've been done to death. Not that the publishers probably care, but while I may get them from the library, I refuse to buy them.

Note: Interestingly enough, the portrait on the cover of Jane Boleyn is actually of Jane Seymour, the woman who replaced Jane B.'s sister-in-law Anne Boleyn on the throne. I guess they just wanted a portrait of a woman from the right period and I think they credit it correctly, but that's just weird.

Book Review: Destined to Choose ****

2008-11-12T12:51:00.003-05:00

Destined to Choose by Sheyna Galyan ****

Rabbi David Cohen is struggling to write a sermon for Tisha b'Av, a fast day commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the observance of which the leaders of his congregation feel is a waste of time. His obligations to his family and his job are in conflict, to the detriment of both. Finally, an elderly Holocaust survivor has turned to him for help in finding the man's eighteen-year-old granddaughter, who has left their home after a furious argument over a philosophy paper she wrote for college. This is the situation at the opening of Sheyna Galyan's Destined to Choose.

Rabbi Cohen's intensive counseling sessions with Avram and his granddaughter Anna, once she is located, are at the center of this promising first novel, and their discussions, as well as his interactions with other characters, range widely over several aspects of Jewish thought, practice and theology, while still remaining relatively accessible to the average reader. A helpful glossary of Jewish terms is also provided at the end of the book.

Are people basically good, or tainted from the start? If they are basically good, how do we explain Hitler and his followers? What are the reasons for the rabbi's refusal to perform a marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew, and how far should he go in attempting to portray Judaism as an attractive option to the non-Jewish partner? How does he reconcile the conflict between the needs of his family and the requirements of his job, and should he stand on principle when it puts his livelihood in jeopardy?

Not all of these questions are answered, but Ms. Galyan, who, according to her website, "identifies herself as Traditional Conservative, with occasional leanings toward both Reform and Feminist Orthodoxy - sometimes simultaneously," gives her readers plenty of food for thought in the course of the book.

Avram and Anna are rounded, sympathetic characters whose positions are occasionally diametrically opposed to what a more stereotyped viewpoint might suggest. The rabbi's loving relationship with his family, as well as his supportive friendship with his colleagues and the secretary at the temple are also well portrayed.

Since this is a first novel, it has some weaknesses. The president of the temple comes off as more of a caricature than a real person, and some might feel that the rabbi's many problems resolve themselves just a little too neatly at the end. However, the story and and the thoughtful way in which the author and her characters wrestle with some serious issues more than compensate for these minor flaws and make Destined to Choose a worthwhile and enjoyable read.

On a lighter note....

2008-11-12T11:03:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking of compiling a list of my pet peeves, but one of them is that I've been trying to do it in my head and so the list never gets very long because I keep forgetting them. Anyway, here are some of my least favorite things in books, things on which, while I may have liked or enjoyed or not been bothered by them at one time, I now feel it is time to put a moratorium.

1) Vampires, at least until someone can do something original with them. The whole S&M-tinged, "vampire as great lover" thing has been done to death. BO-ring.

2) Dragons, except as bit players as in Harry Potter.

3) Women with charming but selfish, usually alcoholic fathers whom they adore no matter how badly the fathers treat them, their siblings and their mothers.

4) Women with irresponsible hippie-type (if not actual hippie) mothers whom they must parent, and for whom they feel a mixture of love and exasperation.

(Note: Neither of these types of parents ever appear to have sons, or at least sons who appear as main characters in novels or memoirs.)

5) Bad puns in the titles of mysteries.

6) Whole mystery series built around crosswords, scrapbooking, gardening, etc., etc.

7) Books written in the present tense - something I have hated since the first one I read.

Well, that's all for now - I'm sure I'll think of more

We have made history

2008-11-05T01:41:00.003-05:00

... and now we move forward. I do not envy President-Elect Obama the task that lies before him, but for now hope has won out over fear and unity over division. And John McCain, in an evident return to sanity, has urged Americans to unite behind the man whom he has called every name in the book except the Antichrist - and some of his supporters have done that (called Obama the Antichrist, that is).

I am proud of us, America. God bless us all, v'al kol yoshvey tevel (and all the rest of the world).

VOTE!

2008-11-04T00:26:00.000-05:00

As if your life and the future of your country depended on it.

A couple more reasons not to vote for McCain

2008-11-02T20:35:00.003-05:00

Just in case you needed any more.

1) The alleged "Joe" the "Plumber" - I never want to hear another word about him (or from him) for the rest of my life, and McCain is threatening to take him to Washington. (Incidentally, I'm a regular working person, and I can't afford to take the time off to travel around with a political campaign.) If Obama wins, "Joe" will, please God, sink back into the well-deserved obscurity from which he came.

2) If McCain wins, it will mean that slander and smears work, and elections for the foreseeable future will turn into ever more vicious mudslinging contests.

Maybe someone can tell me....

2008-10-29T03:49:00.002-04:00

I'm going to try again (yes, again) to do some real postings rather than just my "brilliant" comments on the Huffington Post, although at least that's been something. I haven't really written much about the election lately, but there's something I have been wondering over these past couple of weeks especially. Namely, what is John McCain thinking?

Let's assume that he manages to stir up enough hatred and fear to win, tearing the country apart in the process. How on earth does he imagine that he's going to govern? Is he really delusional enough to imagine that all will be forgiven and forgotten with an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress, after he's used every smear imaginable against both them and their candidate? Of course, I do believe (and the thought isn't original with me) that he still sees himself as an honorable man; ergo, anything he does is justified, however despicable it may be in the eyes of others. A lot of people have the same blind spot regarding the US - since we are "good," nothing that we do, including torture and invading sovereign nations without justification, can be wrong. However, the fact remains that he has thrown every last shred of honor and dignity he ever had to the winds. A similar madness seemed to possess Bob Dole in 1996 - is it something to do with obviously losing and knowing that it's your last chance?

Of course, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Whatever Sen. McCain's flaws, he did serve his country and, I believe, had some admirable traits. That's why it's a tragedy to see his disintegration into just another do-and-say-anything-to-win politician, in the way that it isn't with a George W. Bush, for example.

Colin Powell Endorses Obama

2008-10-20T00:36:00.001-04:00

If Jesus endorsed Obama, the right wing would probably say that it's because Jesus and Obama are both scary Middle Easterners. Incidentally, if it's true that the Iscariot in Judas' name is related to "sicarii," nationalist assassins who stabbed people they saw as collaborators with the occupying Romans in crowds, then guess what! Jesus "palled around with" terrorists. Oh, no!!!!!
About Colin Powell
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

A Yom Kippur Letter to Joe Lieberman's Rabbis: Joe Is McCain's Best Jewish Friend. Please Ask Him To Beg McCain to Stop Encouraging Hate

2008-10-09T22:47:00.001-04:00

A commentary from the Reconstructionist prayerbook Kol Haneshemah (unfortunately, the farthest left branch so something that Lieberman wouldn't be caught dead reading), on the Al Het (public confessional) for Yom Kippur:

"Consider how many of the sins we confess on Yom Kippur are sins of speech. 'Al het shehatanu lefaneha (for the wrong we have done before you':

'by the utterance of our lips'

'by speech'

'by false protests'

'by impure lips'

'by foolish speech'

'BY SLANDER AND INNUENDO'

'by gossip'

'by idle chatter'

'by false promises.'

"When Esau approaches his aged and blind father Isaac in order to receive the birthright blessing, he finds that he has been supplanted by his brother Jacob. isaac can only reply that 'I blessed him; now he must remain blessed' Words cannot be revoked, because words count. As the midrash (rabbinic commentary) teaches: once the arrow has been shot from the bow, it cannot be brought back."
About Joe Lieberman
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Despicable.

2008-09-12T12:08:00.000-04:00

This person should not be allowed anywhere near the corridors of power.

Sarah Palin: Perfect Choice For Hillary Supporters....NOT!

2008-08-30T17:54:00.002-04:00

Speaking of Rove, the Democrats need to make this into a commercial:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/29/vp-picks-karl-rove-swings-and-misses-big-time/

On August 10, Karl Rove went on "Face The Nation" to argue that Senator Obama would make an "intensely political choice" for Vice President without regard for the "responsibilities of president." At the time, Rove believed Obama would choose Tim Kaine, and argued against him by saying this:

"With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he"s been a governor for three years, he"s been able but undistinguished. I don"t think people could really name a big, important thing that he"s done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it"s smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It"s not a big town. So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I"m really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States?"
About Sarah Palin
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Scott McClellan To Obama: Don't Investigate Us

2008-08-20T10:31:00.001-04:00

And that's what will happen. It'll all be, oh, we've got to move forward, this will cause bad feelings, and the criminals will get away with their crimes. It's a kind of "gentlemen's agreement" - Bill Clinton did it too, and Lord knows he had a lot less to investigate. As someone said, THAT'S why Congress should have done it. And what they SHOULD do next year is take it out of the President's hands and appoint a commission, complete with broad subpoena powers, and please don't put someone like Condi's buddy Zelikow in charge of the information flow like w/ the 9/11 commission.
About Scott McClellan
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Shroud Of Turin Stirs A New Controversy

2008-08-17T18:08:00.001-04:00

Well, they considered starting a "Science" section and consulted the people over at scienceblogs, who, from their posts, appeared to be quite literally ROTFL(Their)AO. Not only did they point out the presence of a lot of pseudoscientific garbage on this site (fine that it's here, but NOT if goes into a section labeled "Science"), but also the fact that this is not a free and open forum, which is one reason I have to put my posts up on my blog, to make sure they don't "disappear."

On the story itself, I suppose Satan must have been behind the "skewing" of the dating by the fire that charred it. (Has anyone ever shown, by the way, that carbon-14 dating IS ever skewed by putting the object involved through a fire?, Somehow, it was "miraculously" skewed, not by 500 years or 1700, but by 1300, which just "happens" to date it to EXACTLY the century during which it first appeared in the historical record. Amazing.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Dear Mr. President

2008-08-17T10:53:00.002-04:00

Amen, Becky. His supporters and surrogates, if not Obama himself, took almost EVERY word that came out of Bill and Hillary's mouth and tried to give it a racial twist. Many of the commenters on this site actually CALLED them racists. And as far as I'm concerned saying, "they're not racists but they're willing to get down in the gutter and use race to win" is even MORE of an insult. Someone who knows better and does something anyway is worse than someone who's just ignorant, in my book.

I particularly remember his mentioning Jesse Jackson after SC - no one seemed to consider that a wonk like Bill who's got all the numbers at his fingertips might have mentioned Jackson because in '88 he got the EXACT same percentage that Obama got, and that since he doesn't SEE color, it might never have entered his mind that he would be accused of trying to Obama the "black" candidate. IMHO, the people who said or implied that Obama can ONLY be compared to white people are showing a certain degree of racism.
About Bill Clinton
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama's Celeb Ad Adopts McCain Line Of Attack

2008-08-11T13:10:00.001-04:00

I don't know - I have mixed feelings, but a lot of things about it are good. It has the advantage over McCain's ad of being, what was that word? Oh yeah. TRUE. The best thing is that it keeps showing McCain and Bush together, which is something we want to hammer home to people. It also shows him doing real "celebrity" type things, like showing up on Leno - doesn't just juxtapose him with two bimbos he's never met or any any connection with. And there's a solid message stuck there in the middle, about the McCain/lobbyist/Big Oil axis. Finally, you can't look at it in isolation - have to see it in the context of the Britney/Paris ad. It shows McCain as a hypocrite, and people tend to despise hypocrites even more than out-and-out wrongdoers.

I guess we'll have to see how it plays and what the effect is.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

A couple of very interesting blogs...

2008-08-10T20:03:00.002-04:00

...on the anthrax case. I hope that his family takes this blogger's advice and sues. And this one is by a woman who studies this stuff for a living.

(I figured I'd better add an image or this would get lost in the HuffPo comments.)

Edwards Furious With ABC Over Handling Of Interview

2008-08-10T19:43:00.003-04:00

They do have a hobby, Gasparilla - cooking up crackpot conspiracy theories connecting Bill and Hillary Clinton to everything from the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby to this. Oh - and you thought the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD was Nero's doing? Wrong - Bill (or Hillary) Clinton traveled back in time to set it personally.

I don't belong to PUMA - I think they're deluded and a bit pathetic, and I would vote for a potted plant over John McCain - but every drop of vitriol that the Obama supporters throw Hillary's way makes me think less of him and his "new kind of politics." If his supporters are an example of it, then God save us from it. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a "sore winner."
About John Edwards
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
______

Putting this in context - the previous poster(s) was suggesting that Bill and/or Hillary Clinton has sicced the Enquirer on Edwards, seeing as how they're such nice people over there and need someone to send them out after a scurrilous story.

Leaked Clinton Camp Memos

2008-08-10T15:43:00.002-04:00

Funny that people about whom a lot of posters on this site are absolutely gaga (Biden, Hagel) voted exactly the same, as well as John Edwards, who made a very politically calculated (if you ask me) apology and Chris Dodd. But with them, it's NEVER mentioned again. Only with Hillary is it pounded on day after day, week, after week, month after month, year after year. After Obama's FISA vote (made with the exact same rationalizations that were used in 2002, only now knowing that "taking the issue off the table before the election" DOESN'T work), maybe you guys should just shut up about the Iraq vote.
About Hillary Clinton
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
_____

One problem with this Huffington Post "post to Blogger" feature is that if you're answering another poster's comment, yours is out of context and anyone who looks at it here is sitting there scratching his or her head and going "Huh?" The comment I was answering here was one of the usual suspects bashing Hillary for her Iraq vote.

Justice Department Subpoenas Its Former Lawyers In Civil Rights Probe

2008-08-09T02:21:00.005-04:00

Yeah, I'll say it again even though my previous comment was censored, possibly because I DARED to point out what Harvey is saying. Their names "sound" Jewish to you, and of course that explains (to you) why they're sleazeballs.

I'll post this to Blogger since people can say pretty obviously anti-Semitic things on this site and get away with it but if you point it out your post is deleted.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
______

The following is not on the Huffington Post site. I really enjoy reading the posts and participating in the discussions, but now that they tell on your profile how many of your comments have been deleted (about 6 in the past few days for me or about 1/4 to 1/3), I'm really starting to consider abandoning it altogether, because I know that the things I've said have been relatively innocuous. Especially when I remember one (not mine, needless to say) that suggested doing to Hillary Clinton what was done to Mussolini, which was evidently just fine with the moderators, unless they were just too ignorant to realize that the person making the comment was advocating lynching - one of the things that is expressly not allowed, according to their comments policy. Ergo, they're censoring things that either the powers that be or the moderators don't like, or they're just arbitrarily not allowing certain comments. (Interestingly enough, it appears to have been deleted again.)

Incidentally, if the comment I responded to here was not implying that the people named were Jewish, I would love to know that it was implying. Here it is:

"Schlozman, Hans Von Spakovsky, and Torchinsky. Is it me or is there something that seems to be jumping off the page here?"

UPDATE (Sat. 9:24 am): Evidently it's easier to censor something than it is to allow a response and discussion on it. Just out of annoyance and for the hell of it (not because I actually thought it should be deleted), I flagged the comment above as abusive, and now I see that it's gone. I would rather they had left it there and allowed me to respond to it.

In the Wilderness

2008-07-21T11:57:00.004-04:00

Looking at my description at the top of the page and my last few postings in particular, I sense a disconnect. It's not that I don't still care about those things I mentioned, but life seems a little "stale, flat and unprofitable" these days. So I thought that I would post my "confirmation" speech from 2004, the ending of which specifically talks about why we shouldn't allow ourselves to stop caring deeply and feeling strongly. I don't know, though - the life of "quiet desperation" may sometimes be harder to rise above than the kind of shattering experience I talked about in that speech.
_________

B’Midbar – in the wilderness – is the name of the fourth book of the Torah, as well as of this week’s portion. This book covers most of the forty years that the children of Israel wandered between the Exodus and the entry into the Promised Land, with their ups and many, many downs, during which they are transformed from a motley crowd of former slaves into a people worthy of a homeland.

It is no coincidence that so many of the world's spiritual and philosophical traditions place such an emphasis on the retreat or wilderness experience, although Judaism, as is its wont, is unusual if not unique in focusing on the experience of an entire community. From Elijah to the Buddha, from John the Baptist and Jesus to Thoreau, eliminating distractions and confronting the bare bones of life has been seen as essential to spiritual growth.

Like Egypt, however, the wilderness is not only or even usually a physical location. Many of us have gone through traumatic events or devastating periods of our lives in which our psychological and emotional defenses are stripped away and even God seems to have abandoned us. Eventually we have emerged on the other side, stronger if nowhere near being tzaddikim. “What does not destroy me makes me stronger,” wrote Nietzsche, who confronted enormous physical and emotional suffering and was, in the end, destroyed by it. We will never know how many others are destroyed, spiritually, mentally or physically, without leaving the testament that he and others have left.

I cannot claim to have come through anything like what so many others have endured, although to each of us at the time, our “wilderness” seems endless and unspeakably dark. However, at the end of 1997, six months after I celebrated my bat mitzvah, I lost my dearest friend after a short, unexpected illness. Since he was not a close relative, I did not even have the healing rituals of Jewish mourning to ease the transition, except for the Kaddish.

The next four months of what was probably clinical depression and then my own life-threatening physical illness constituted the darkest part of my personal wilderness. On the first night, for one of the only times in my life, I could not even imagine the presence of God. Many of us never find God in that “dark night of the soul”; we are alone, facing only ourselves, with all of our flaws and failures – and emptiness. For us, a sense of the Divine only appears upon our emergence, after we have “bottomed out.”

In my case, it was only near the end of a week-long nightmare of delusion and delirium, caused by medication, illness, emotional distress, or a combination of all three, that I felt an overwhelming sense of love in the cosmos. This was not a generalized, diffuse love, but a deeply personal one, mediated through my close relationship with Carl and what I was starting to perceive as a “benign conspiracy,” as opposed to the malevolent ones that I had been imagining before. It seemed that all those who cared about me were going through an elaborate masquerade designed to help me break out of the place where I felt trapped. The elements of this benign conspiracy, of course, were also part of the delusion, but the fact of it was not. The initial feeling did not last, of course, but I feel that it was transformative.

I do not know if those of us who enter this “wilderness,” which may include most or all of the human race, ever really leave it. Perhaps we only come to the edges and glimpse the Promised Land. Like the journey of the Israelites, our journey is fraught with backslidings, rebellions and returns; as Helen Keller wrote in speaking of conversion: “For a long time we resolve like angels, but drop back into the old matter-of-fact way of life, and do just as we did before, like mortals.”

Perhaps we should not leave the wilderness, even if we could. If we do, we should take part of it with us, as we do with slavery when we celebrate Pesach. To come through and survive is not enough if we end up shutting out feelings and relationships because we are afraid of going through the pain again. Pain is not only a warning symptom that something is wrong, but a necessary prerequisite to empathy. Some children are born with an inability to feel physical pain, and not only can they lose fingers and toes because cuts and scrapes that they cannot feel become infected; they can also have difficulty understanding the pain, physical and emotional, of others.

We must never allow this to happen to us. Of course we must have barriers; we could not bear the pain of the world without either going insane of becoming emotionally paralyzed. But the barriers must be porous. We can neither move on without looking back nor remain mired in the past, In a way we must live on both levels at once, and with its emphasis on remembrance and sensitivity to all suffering, as well as its concrete, this-worldly prescriptions for tikkun olam, repairing the world, Judaism can guide us on this difficult path.

May 22, 2004
Cross-posted on "Turn It and Turn It"

So many books, so little time! (cont'd)

2008-07-07T12:05:00.004-04:00

Now for the ones I'm working on. (It remains to be seen whether my orgy of suspense/thrillers is over, since I still have a couple from the library.)

The Quiet American by Graham Greene. Carol and I saw the movie and the next day I was at the AAUW book sale and there was the book, so I thought I'd get it and compare. So far it seems like Michael Caine was a perfect choice for the reporter, but the title character (Pyle) seems much more naive and vulnerable in the book than Brendan Fraser made him in the movie.

Emma and Knightley by Rachel Billington. Obviously, a sequel to Emma. It seems to read pretty well so far, but I'm not too happy with the fact that the first thing she did was kill off Jane Fairfax. Evidently she doesn't know (or doesn't care) that according to Jane Austen, Jane F.'s marriage to Frank Churchill lasted ten years, not one.

The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf. Perfect reading for the 4th of July weekend, but extremely disturbing, as she outlines the ten steps by which democracies turn into dictatorships.

Dark Cosmos by Dan Hooper. To be fair, I've only read the introduction on this one, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep going. A point in its favor for immediate reading - it's not very long.

I am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter (library book). I'm not very far into this one so it remains to be seen whether I'll finish it this go round, but what I've read so far is fascinating. It addresses the nature of identity and consciousness, a subject (along with evil) that I've always been a sucker for. (Sorry, Esther - "for which I've always been a sucker" just doesn't cut it.)

A Nation of Wimps by Hara Estroff Marano. Subtitled The High Cost of Invasive Parenting. Need we say more?

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff (library book). On the day that Willie (Wilhemina, I think) Upton returns to her hometown, pregnant by her dissertation adviser, the remains of the town's legendary monster surface in the nearby lake. Her hippie-turned-born again Baptist mother then informs her that Willie's own father isn't some random pickup from the West Coast, but a local man who is somehow related to them, and Willie sets off through the family history to discover who he is, something her mother refuses to tell her.

So many books, so little time!

2008-07-07T01:15:00.003-04:00

Well, at least I have finished a couple of my own, in addition to library books. My brain seems to be fried - maybe that's why you're theoretically supposed to read lighter stuff in the summer. Except for those poor kids - I don't remember ever getting reading lists when I was in school! Not that I didn't read constantly anyway, but I always balked at being told what to read, unless it was actually part of the curriculum. I still remember poor Mr. Arnault trying to get me to do my book report on The Fountainhead in 11th grade English, when I wanted to do it on Gone with the Wind. Guess who won that one.

Anyway, here are some books that I've finished recently:

Rachel, the Possessed by Katheryn Kimbrough - yes, one of the dreaded Phenwick women! I'm so ashamed, but they're like popcorn or chocolate - you know they're no good for you but you keep having another one, and another. I've got three more and just ordered #9 & 10. ** 1/2

Beneath the Skin by Nicci French (library book). This is the third one of hers I've finished and have enjoyed all of them. I like the fact that each of them is completely different from the others. (SPOILER ALERT!) What I was particularly impressed by in this one is that it deals with three victims of a stalker, and you get to know the two who are killed as well as the one who catches the guy and survives. Usually the only one the author allows you to get to know and care about is the one who makes it, and the other victims are just incidental. ****

In a Dark Season by Vickie Lane. An Appalachian mystery. A healthy older woman with (seemingly) everything to live for suddenly attempts to kill herself, and a "newcomer" (only been there 20 years) who has just become friends with her sets out to find out why. Intertwined with her present-day search for connections to a crime that occurred 11 years before is a story of love and betrayal from the 1850s. There's also a hint of the supernatural. Very atmospheric. ****

Dead Guilty by Beverly Connor (library book). Three bodies are found hanging from trees in the Georgia woods, and forensic anthropologist Diane Fallon has to glean as much information from them as she can, as people connected to the find start being killed around her. I thought the plot on this one was a little convoluted and the solution didn't really live up to the buildup. There was also a lot of information presented by various characters to one another in what felt like little mini-lectures. On the other hand, they didn't slow down the pace and it did keep me reading. *** 1/2

Thieves of Heaven by Richard Doetsch (library book). A reformed thief whose wife is dying of cancer accepts an assignment to steal the "keys to heaven" from the Vatican in order to pay for her treatment, and discovers that he's been working for the other side, as it were. A little far-fetched, particularly in some of the details, but very enjoyable. *** 1/2

Saxons, Vikings and Celts by Brian Sykes. An account of a genetic study that attempts to unravel the tangled genetic strands of the four countries making up Great Britain, and to see how well the actual genetics of the Brits matches with the stories told by archaeology and folklore. *** 1/2

Coming up next: What I'm reading now (a bit more edifying than that lot)

Happy Independence Day

2008-07-04T20:54:00.002-04:00

I highly recommend the following for your edification and enlightenment. Please click on the title to read entire article.

Commentary: How dare they rip the Fourth Amendment?
Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

Early next week the U.S. Senate will vote on an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with a few small amendments intended to immunize telecommunications corporations that assisted our government in the warrantless and illegal wiretapping it has grown to love.

That such a gutting of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution even made it out of committee is yet another stain on the gutless and seemingly powerless Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.

...

We are living in a time when the right of habeas corpus — which simply put is your right to be brought before a proper court of law where the government is made to prove that there is good and legal reason to detain you — recently survived by a margin of only one vote at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now these bad actors are prepared to set aside your right to privacy — written into the Constitution as a key part of our Bill of Rights — with hardly a nod in the direction of the true patriots who rebelled against an English king and his army to guarantee those rights.

That they will do this while the last empty phrases of the political windbags at the Fourth of July celebrations are still echoing across a thousand city parks and the bright red, white and blue bunting and blizzard of American flags still flap in the breeze is little short of breath-taking.

How dare they?

...

Somewhere across an ocean and a desert, hiding in his cave, a man of hate named Osama bin Laden is laughing up the sleeve of his dirty robe at the thought that he and a small handful of fellow fanatics could tie a great nation in knots — knots of fear stoked by our own leaders.

...

The questions I pose are these:

How can even one senator on either side of the aisle in good conscience vote in favor of this law that does nothing to enhance our security and everything to diminish our rights as a free people?

How can both men who seek to become our next president cast such a vote when both should be standing shoulder-to-shoulder declaring that they would govern by our consent and with our approval, not by wielding the coercive and corrosive and corrupt powers that King George III and his latter-day namesake from Texas thought are theirs by divine right?

Amen to that!

Stranger in the Shadows

2008-06-15T11:47:00.002-04:00

(For those of us who never had cause to celebrate Father's Day)

Father, Father -
What does that word mean?
It has a sour taste on my tongue.
It jars in my ears.
My mind rejects it –

A father is something other children have.

A father is fear –
a stranger coming in, snatching me up –
angry, yelling at Momma, smelling of sour liquor.
(The smell still makes me sick.)
The police made you go away.

And yet, in my fantasies
I called you "Daddy."
Not often, but sometimes –
testing the word on my tongue,
wondering what it would be like
to really mean it.

I was going to be famous –
When I was rich, or the Queen of England
you would come, begging my forgiveness,
wanting your little girl back –
Would I forgive you, or throw you in the Tower?
Sometimes one, more often the other.
Your chances were slim.

Then one day, it was over.
My sister, getting me out of class - "Our father's dead."
What should it mean to me?
Momma said, "You must go to the funeral."
"Why? I never knew the man."
"He was your father."
What is a father?

We went through the scattered remnants of your life.
Pictures of a party, with lots of girls.
Pictures of our half-sister, and bonds for her.
The gun you kept beneath your bed, when the pain was bad.
A pair of binoculars –
I have them still, and still I cannot see you –

And children who don't know what a father is.

No pictures of us,
no letters, nothing -
although you knew that you were dying -
no sign that we ever existed
except our bodies, and the void
of what we never felt for you.

Half my genes are yours.
I have your hair, your bad back, your walk.
Momma says sometimes, "You're just like your father."

What is a father?
I ask you "Why?"
and all I hear is silence
from the stranger in the shadows of my life.

Georgette Heyer?

2008-04-30T00:31:00.004-04:00

Let's see - I was actually down to two library books, but went Saturday (probably my last "big trip" of the year, with the price of gas - downtown) and then stopped at the Crane branch on the way home from Talmud study today.

And yes, I did get one by Georgette Heyer. I'm afraid I've been prejudiced against her all these years, probably because of the fact that the Hornell library probably had every book she'd ever written and I think I thought that anyone who was that prolific must be pretty lightweight. Now I hear that she actually did very careful historical research and is "the next best thing to Jane Austen" – a pretty distant second, from what I've read of False Colours, but not too bad. I've also got the new novel about Lady Macbeth, which someone on paperbackswap.com recommended very highly, as well as The Rough Guide to His Dark Materials, one of the few books about the trilogy that I don't own, Strange Matters, about recent discoveries in science (though from 2002 - probably obsolete),and a couple of mysteries.

Of my own books, I'm now working on The Secret Bride, about Henry VIII's sister Mary (not terribly impressed so far, especially with a couple of glaring historical errors), and The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins, which reads surprisingly easily for a 19th century novel.

Another guilty pleasure - the Saga of the Phenwick Women, a gothic series from the 70s that I'm rereading, more from nostalgia than anything else - they're really not very well written! All of the titles are the name with an adjective, and they started out OK with Augusta the First, Jane the Courageous, etc., but eventually they just got downright absurd - you could almost see the author flailing around for new adjectives. Eventually he (even though the name on the cover is Katheryn Kimbrough the copyright is under John K.) ended up with titles like Nellie the Obvious and Alexandra the Ambivalent. I have to admit, though, that the concept was pretty cool, and he made it through #40, Belinda, the Impatient. I don't think I got much beyond #20, originally.

Yippee!

2008-04-30T00:16:00.005-04:00

My copy of The Golden Compass has arrived from Amazon! I'm not sure why I'm so excited, since I had kind of a mixed reaction to the movie, but it was beautifully filmed, for all the violence I felt they did to the story, and the girl who played Lyra was spot on. I have to disagree with Philip Pullman on Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter, although I guess the director got what he wanted, which was an "ice queen." She was utterly cold and you can never imagine her doing something reckless like embarking on an affair with Lord Asriel, but the feeling that I always got about her from the book was of barely suppressed passion. Someone cold might be able to watch torture unmoved, but Mrs. C. actually enjoys it.

Unfortunately things aren't looking very good for the sequel, in which case they should have added the original ending back on, but as far as I know they didn't.

Reading update

2008-04-09T00:29:00.002-04:00

I don't know why - I just can't seem to get into the mood for any full-fledged book reviews, so I'll just update. I finished The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, the Oscar Wilde mystery and Murder in Volume 2, along with Buckingham Palace Gardens, the latest in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series by Anne Perry. All of them were very good - Anne Perry is always good. I was a bit disappointed that Charlotte was hardly in this one at all, but since the murder took place at the palace, their servant, Gracie, was the one who went undercover. The Jane Austen one caught the flavor of the period quite well, as I already said was true of the Oscar Wilde mystery, and it did not end as I expected. (Anyone who is a Jane Austen fan and knows the story on which it's based will know what I expected.) It was suitably tragic, though - I'm not giving anything away since unless you're writing an alternate history (which she wasn't) you can't change what happened.

I'm still working on the other two, along with The Confessions of Fitzwilliam Darcy, another Darcy point-of-view retelling of Pride & Prejudice, which so far is the best one I've read yet. Up to now it was the trilogy by Pamela Aidan, but the weakness of that one was Vol. 2. Evidently she was determined to have three books, and I think she would have been better off with two. Also Bras and Broomsticks, a kind of Jewish girls' Harry Potter - nowhere near the depth of HP, but still very entertaining. (I got that one for the temple library, so naturally I had to check it out.) Another one that's a lot like Harry - though still pretty well-written in its own right so far - is The Tapestry, the first book in a series called The Hound of Rowan. The kid finds out he has magical powers and goes off to a private school that so far, reminds me a lot of Hogwarts. No Dumbledore, though - one point against it.

I ended up closing Mademoiselle Boleyn on the first page, alas. Maybe it was good, but she turned me off immediately by having Anne going off to France with Henry VIII's sister Mary. I think it's pretty well accepted by now that she (Anne) was already in Austria being educated and was sent from there to France, and it seems like an author of historical fiction should be up on the latest research. Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe she was supposed to have been sent from there back to England to join Mary and her ladies, but it left a bad taste in my mouth and then the Amazon reviews didn't sound too promising - they seemed to think it was pretty lightweight. I don't have time for things that I'm already pretty sure aren't worth it!

Then I just got my introductory offer from the Scientific American Book Club, as well as all the ones I've gotten from paperbackswap.com. So many books, so little time!

Apologies (yet again)

2008-03-28T12:27:00.005-04:00

I notice that I've gotten a few more hits, maybe due to my signing up with paperbackswap.com, which I recommend highly, by the way, so if you're not from there, head on over and check it out! Anyway, I obviously have been neglecting this blog, since the last post is from Memorial Day of last year. Please do check back, though. I would really like to start working on it again. I may not talk much about politics, since I am so sick of this presidential race and just wish it were over, but maybe I can get in a few book reviews, at least. Here are some books that I'm working on now - sorry, paperbackswap.com people - most of them are from the library! :)

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James. Purports to tell the story of Jane Austen's one true love, blah blah blah, but so far I'm positively impressed with it.

Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance by Gyles Brandreth. The first in a projected 9-book series of mysteries featuring Oscar Wilde. I like that about the guy - that he's mapped out his series in advance and isn't going to be going on for longer than he should as some authors do. I'm more than halfway through this one - appears to catch the flavor of the period and Wilde's speech and character very well.

Murder in Volume 2 by Elizabeth Daly. A reprint of a 1940s mystery by "Agatha Christie's favorite mystery writer," featuring a gentleman scholar/amateur detective named Henry Gamadge. I'm almost done with this and am enjoying it very much - haven't guessed who the killer is yet.

White as Snow by Tanith Lee. A retelling of "Snow White."

On Royalty by Jeremy Paxman. A rather quirky look (by an American) at the various aspects of being royal. Interesting, although I've caught the guy in at least one ghastly historical error, when he suggests that Ivan the Terrible (tsar of Russia) was suspected of murdering Don Carlos, the heir to the Spanish throne. Ouch! I think he means Philip II of Spain, though Ivan did kill his own son so that may be the cause of the confusion, but it still hurt the author's credibility with me.

I also have Mademoiselle Boleyn by Robin Maxwell from the library but haven't started it yet. It's supposed to cover Anne Boleyn's early life, and I've enjoyed her other books that I've read, so I'm looking forward to this one. And no, I haven't seen the movie version of The Other Boleyn Girl yet, although I would like to.

Movie Review: Marie Antoinette **

2007-05-31T00:55:00.000-04:00

At least I didn't pay any money for this turkey, just grabbed it because I had a free rental coming and had read the book it was allegedly based on. (If I were Antonia Fraser I would sue the people who made this for libel.) Yes, as a lot of people have said, the costumes and sets were gorgeous (that's what the second star is for), but over one half of the movie was essentially saying, "Boy - those French aristocrats sure knew how to party!" Also, there was virtually no inkling anywhere that there was a world outside Versailles until all of a sudden this mob shows up with torches and pitchforks. Considering how little a lot of people know about history, I'm sure that a lot of them were scratching their heads and saying to each other, "Gee - why are those people so mad?" (Oh, someone at some point does say that the people have no bread, at which point Marie Antoinette utters her most famous non-quote, "Let them eat cake.")

If the makers of this movie had actually read the book that they were supposed to be basing it on, this could have been a good movie. The actors seemed to be competent, and a far more interesting film could have been made if they had spent maybe the first 15 minutes on Marie's early days in France and used the rest to show how much she grew and matured over the years. (They still could have used the pretty sets and clothes.)

Then there was the ending. I sat there stunned, saying, "That's it?" Somebody said something along the lines of "Well, we all know how it ends," but I wouldn't count on that, and showing the dignity that Marie displayed during her trial and the abuse that she received at the hands of the revolutionaries, even if they didn't show the actual execution, would have provided a moving contrast to the early scenes.

Final word - it could have been good, possibly even better than good, but they went for the easy, simplistic drivel, despite the high quality of their so-called source. Oh -and the music was horrendous, especially at the beginning.

Why isn't this splashed all over the media?

2007-05-28T14:01:00.000-04:00

Three cheers for the Chattanoogan - the only mainstream media outlet that I am aware of that has reported on this! Click on link for full story.

Bush Makes Power Grab
posted May 24, 2007

President Bush, without so much as issuing a press statement, on May 9 signed a directive that granted near dictatorial powers to the office of the president in the event of a national emergency declared by the president.

...

Translated into layman's terms, when the President determines a national emergency has occurred, the President can declare to the office of the presidency powers usually assumed by dictators to direct any and all government and business activities until the emergency is declared over.

Ironically, the directive sees no contradiction in the assumption of dictatorial powers by the President with the goal of maintaining constitutional continuity through an emergency.

...

NSPD-51/ HSPD-20 appears to supersede the National Emergency Act by creating the new position of National Continuity Coordinator without any specific act of Congress authorizing the position.

NSPD-51/ HSPD-20 also makes no reference whatsoever to Congress. The language of the May 9 directive appears to negate any a requirement that the President submit to Congress a determination that a national emergency exists, suggesting instead that the powers of the executive order can be implemented without any congressional approval or oversight.

Matthew Hine
Chattanooga
MattHine@excite.com

Let's try again...

2007-05-28T12:53:00.000-04:00

I’d really like to keep this going and to talk about different things, but haven’t been able to get back into the swing of it. New “format” – at least for the moment – none. I was looking at a book at Borders last night that was a sort of reader’s journal - the author spent a year or so taking notes on what she was reading, what she thought of it. I think I’ll try that for now, with some other things thrown in.

Here are the last two books that I’ve bought: The Assault on Reason by Al Gore and The Great Snape Debate by assorted authors, among them Orson Scott Card. I haven’t actually started the Gore book but did read the first essay supporting Snape’s being a bad guy. They actually made a pretty good case, but I’ll continue to root for his being on the right side in the end.

Books that I’ve finished in the past few days and may review in the future, with brief blurbs:

1) Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir - a historical novel about Lady Jane Grey. Surprisingly enjoyable. Of course, while her rather opinionated non-fiction has annoyed me in the past I’ve never denied that she is a good writer. She occasionally slipped into “lecture mode” a couple of times at the beginning (maybe an occupational hazard for someone who normally writes non-fiction), but appeared to recover. The technique of using multiple narrators worked out well for me but may be confusing for people who aren’t familiar with the historical characters. Rating: 4-1/2 stars

2) Lure of the Sinister: The Unnatural History of Satanism by Gareth J. Medway - Essentially argues that serious “Satanism” as it’s generally been portrayed by the Church and more recently by fundamentalist Christians, never existed, but then of course, the author is (gasp!) a pagan, so why should we believe him? (snark) Contains an excellent rundown of the “ritual abuse” scare of the 80s and 90s. Rating: 4 stars

3) The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien (ed. Christopher Tolkien) - Not The Lord of the Rings, but then nothing is. An enjoyable and suitably high epic tragedy from the earlier days (some 6,000 years before LOTR) of Middle-Earth.

At the moment I’m working on Jane and the Barque of Frailty by Stephanie Barron, the ninth Jane Austen mystery.

Happy Memorial Day - drive safely, have a good time but don’t forget what it’s about, and that American troops are in harm’s way.

Book Review: North by Northanger

2007-04-06T16:58:00.000-04:00

North by Northanger by Carrie Bebris ****

This series got off to a bit of a rocky start in my opinion, but this book and the previous one have only gotten better. In North by Northanger in particular, Ms. Bebris has really caught the bantering tone that I imagine conversations between Elizabeth and Darcy would have had after their marriage, and the back-and-forth between them over the sex and possible names for their coming first child was one of the most enjoyable parts of the book for me.

The mystery is bizarre and a bit far-fetched but not overly taxing, and mainly acts as a vehicle for bringing together several of the characters we love (and love to hate) so much from Pride & Prejudice, as well as from the other novels. (I wish that Catherine Tilney - née Morland - had made an appearance, though. I would have liked to see how she could have matured from the slightly silly, though good-natured, "heroine" of Northanger Abbey.) There is also some character development, and it's good to see Elizabeth, who at the beginning of the novel feels overshadowed by the memory of Darcy's mother, gain confidence and become truly the mistress of Pemberley, which certainly would have been a daunting task for her, given her modest upbringing. Darcy, too, must still learn some lessons about humility, particularly in his overprotective attitude over Elizabeth's pregnancy. This is made more understandable, however, by the fuller picture that we gain of his childhood, his mother's personality and the relationship between his parents, mainly through letters that Elizabeth must pore over to discover what has become of a precious heirloom.

Book Review: Water Like a Stone by Deborah Crombie

2007-04-01T23:39:00.000-04:00

Water Like a Stone by Deborah Crombie ****

In the latest installment of her Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James mystery series, Deborah Crombie continues to maintain the high standards of writing, plotting and characterization that I have come to expect from her. I recently went back and read a couple of the earliest books in the series, and while they’re good, the later ones only get better. In this one, Duncan, Gemma and their children from other relationships, still feeling their way in their relatively new family relationship, travel to spend the Christmas holiday with Duncan’s parents. On Christmas Eve, however, Duncan’s sister Juliet discovers the mummified body of a baby in the mortarwork of an old barn she is renovating. Simmering family tensions and a present-day murder add to the mix.

The mystery is interesting and intriguing, if a big complicated, but what I liked best about this book was its portrayal of relationships of several kinds. Duncan’s parents seem like fascinating people and I don’t feel that I got to know them well enough; I hope that they will make appearances in future installments. His troubled son, Kit, who is still dealing with the death of his mother in an earlier book, is a believable teenager, as is his rather less likable cousin Lally and her creepy friend Leo. Characters outside the family, like Duncan’s old school friend Ronnie Babcock, now a local police inspector; former social worker Annie Lebow, who has taken refuge in a life on the canals after a painful case; and the Wains, a poor family who also live on a narrowboat and are portrayed with respect and dignity, come alive in Ms. Crombie’s skillful writing.

Book Review: The Last Wife of Henry VIII

2007-03-27T00:09:00.000-04:00

Well, I think that I’ll give this a shot once again, though maybe just with book reviews, at least for now.

The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson ***

Carolly Erickson has been writing biographies since I was pretty young, and I’ve always had a lot of respect for her, although I have to admit that the last couple I’ve read have seemed pretty insubstantial compared to her earlier work, whether due to carelessness or an attempt to appeal to a broader readership by “dumbing down” her writing. I haven’t read her previous novel, but this one was a terrible disappointment.

Some reviewers on Amazon have countered those of us who object to historical inaccuracies with, “Well, it’s supposed to be fiction.” I would like to explain my feelings about the subject. Obviously, since there is a lot we don’t know about people’s lives and, after all, it is fiction, I personally will give the novelist a lot of leeway. We don’t know that Catherine Parr didn’t have an ongoing friendship with Henry, and it’s certainly possible. We don’t know when she met Thomas Seymour or exactly what her and her second husband’s roles in the Pilgrimage of Grace were, so my attitude on those things is, “Go for it! Imagine to your heart’s content.” However, unless there is good reason for it, a historical novelist shouldn’t contradict history or the known character of a real person. It may be fiction, but it’s also historical.

One example: I can’t believe that the devoutly religious woman that Catherine Parr is known to have been would have conducted an affair with Seymour while she was still married, and certainly not while she was married to Henry, especially with the example of Catherine Howard so recently before her. Also, especially after that experience, Henry would never have married her if there had been even a whisper of scandal attached to her, and I can’t believe that she would have falsely sworn that she had never slept with any man but her two previous husbands.

Catherine is also known to have loved children and to have brought Henry’s family together in a way that they had never experienced, yet the portrayal of her relationship with them is superficial and, except with her second husband's daughter, I never get any sense that she cares for any of her stepchildren. Her relationship with Elizabeth, such as it is, is positively antagonistic, yet we know that in real life there was an abiding love and respect between them, despite their estrangement at the end of Catherine’s life.

As for inaccuracies of fact, the whole scene where the house is under siege and Seymour flees before Catherine gives birth is total nonsense. I also don’t understand why Erickson felt that she had to merge the very real and dramatic story of Catherine’s friend Anne Askew into that of her one-time sister-in-law. As for things that everyone “knows” happened that probably didn’t, Erickson, like every other author who has written about her, had no problem using the whole idea of Catherine acting as a nurse to Henry, which has pretty much been debunked as a nineteenth century invention to fulfill Victorian ideals of the “angel of the house.” Henry had plenty of doctors, and no gently born lady would have been expected to tend to suppurating wounds.

The book was well written, but as I got further into it I was more and more distracted and annoyed by the author’s flights of fancy, and I agree with other reviewers that at times it read more like a tacky romance than an accurate portrayal of one of England's most truly pious, well-educated and level-headed queens.

Apologies

2006-11-19T14:20:00.000-05:00

If there is anyone who has been checking this blog out on a semi-regular basis (Hi, Tess!) I have to apologize for my unintentional self-imposed hiatus. I’d love to say that I was out there working for Democratic candidates to get elected or doing something else productive, but that would be a lie. Well, I did spend four days at the JRF convention in Philadelphia (look it up – jrf.org), but that’s a pretty small proportion of the time I haven’t been posting.

Anyway, I hope to be back posting on a regular basis soon – maybe, as I said in my list of middot, even with some original writing.

Shalom!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-11-08T12:53:00.000-05:00

(Meant to be posted on Nov. 8)
Start picking out those drapes, SPEAKER PELOSI (insert Stephanie Miller’s bloodcurdling scream soundbite here)! And (it appears) Senate Majority Leader Reid – if Joe Lieberman doesn’t flip, which I wouldn’t put past him. America has finally repudiated the failed policies, illegal war, and gutter politics of the pathetic (if they didn’t wield so much power) gang in the White House, the Mayberry Machiavellis, “if you will.“ And Dick (”if you will“) Vader, of course, spent yesterday killing things - I hope it helped him feel better.

And if Democrats don’t want to start investigations on everything right away, there are two that they should start immediately, the massive dirty tricks that took place all over the country yesterday and contractor malfeasance in Iraq. The second should be a no-brainer, even for responsible Republicans. It’s fiscally irresponsible and hurts our troops to have these profiteers mucking things up even more over there.

Middot

2006-10-09T19:50:00.000-04:00

On Rosh Hashanah the rabbi listed 13 middot, or qualities that he thought were important to cultivate. On the whole it didn’t really speak to me, so here is my list of qualities that I would like to aim for. The asterisks are for the ones that I think need particular work.

1. Chesed (kindness, compassion, also not being judgmental, snarky – or at least so quick to be)*
2. Patience (with people, things, and circumstances)*
3. Public involvement (more than just signing Internet petitions – I feel like I’ve been particularly bad on this over the past year or two)*
4. Use of my talents (even if all I’m going to do is keep a blog, I have to do some actual original writing, not just post excerpts from other people’s thoughts).
5. Financial responsibility*
6. Generosity (more on the selfishness front – if I am going to spend money, spend more on worthy causes, less on myself).
7. Taking care of my body, which is, after all, supposed to be a temple of God, even if it’s St. Paul who says that (getting more exercise, eating better)
8. Respect for others
9. Hope – (Over the past year I feel like I’ve fallen into the kind of “quiet desperation” that Thoreau talks about – try to think less about my own mortality, and living in the moment more)
10. Humility
11. Honesty, both with myself and with others, although always with due regard for the feelings of others.
12. Orderliness (I’ve been saying for most of my life that I need to get organized)*
13. Humor

Stories that have received short shrift in the "all Foley, all the time" atmosphere

2006-10-04T12:45:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know – the man is beneath contempt, it's about sex (with underage subordinates, yet) and unbelievable Republican hypocrisy on "family values," and Democrats should be shouting it from the rooftops, but these stories are at least as important and probably far more so.

The end of habeas corpus (see earlier posts). This detainee bill is a devastating blow to everything we stand for as a country, as well as a huge gift (with a big bow on it) to bin Laden.

From 10/3: 8 G.I.’s Die in Baghdad, Most in a Day Since ’05

700 Iraqi Policemen Under Investigation For "Possible Complicity" With Death Squads...

Shooting of 10 girls, 5 of whom have died, in Lancaster, PA Amish school This may be the least important one, in the larger scheme of things, but to me it is the saddest. I can also have nothing but awe and respect for the Amish community, which could give lessons to many Muslims, Christians and yes, even Jews - in forgiveness.

Mark (how appropriate) 9:42

2006-10-04T01:47:00.000-04:00

"And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.

This applies even when they’re 16 or 17, especially if you’re a 50-something congressman who’s in a position of authority over them.

Doing bin Laden's job for him

2006-09-30T17:16:00.000-04:00

I came up with the idea for the art before reading the column (click on title to read the whole thing), so I guess that Molly's mind and mine run in parallel courses.

Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)
Posted on Sep 27, 2006

By Molly Ivins

AUSTIN, Texas—Oh dear. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. In Illinois’ Sixth Congressional District, long represented by Henry Hyde, Republican candidate Peter Roskam accused his Democratic opponent, Tammy Duckworth [who lost both legs while serving in Iraq], of planning to “cut and run” on Iraq.

...

The legislative equivalent of that remark is the detainee bill now being passed by Congress. Beloveds, this is so much worse than even that pathetic deal reached last Thursday between the White House and Republican Sens. John Warner, John McCain and Lindsey Graham. The White House has since reinserted a number of “technical fixes” that were the point of the putative “compromise.” It leaves the president with the power to decide who is an enemy combatant.

This bill is not a national security issue—this is about torturing helpless human beings without any proof they are our enemies. Perhaps this could be considered if we knew the administration would use the power with enormous care and thoughtfulness. But of the over 700 prisoners sent to Gitmo, only 10 have ever been formally charged with anything. Among other things, this bill is a CYA for torture of the innocent that has already taken place

....

The version of the detainee bill now in the Senate not only undoes much of the McCain-Warner-Graham work, but it is actually much worse than the administration’s first proposal.
...

The bill also expands the definition of an unlawful enemy combatant to cover anyone who has “has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States.” Quick, define “purposefully and materially.” One person has already been charged with aiding terrorists because he sold a satellite TV package that includes the Hezbollah network.

The bill simply removes a suspect’s right to challenge his detention in court. This is a rule of law that goes back to the Magna Carta in 1215. That pretty much leaves the barn door open.

As Vladimir Bukovsky, the Soviet dissident, wrote, an intelligence service free to torture soon “degenerates into a playground for sadists.” But not unbridled sadism—you will be relieved that the compromise took out the words permitting interrogation involving “severe pain” and substituted “serious pain,” which is defined as “bodily injury that involves extreme physical pain.”

In July 2003, George Bush said in a speech: “The United States is committed to worldwide elimination of torture, and we are leading this fight by example. Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right. Yet torture continues to be practiced around the world by rogue regimes, whose cruel methods match their determination to crush the human spirit.”

Fellow citizens, this bill throws out legal and moral restraints as the president deems it necessary—these are fundamental principles of basic decency, as well as law.

...

To find out more about Molly Ivins and see works by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Give me liberty or...oh, never mind.

2006-09-29T01:04:00.000-04:00

Hang your head in shame. Obviously Bill taught his fellow Democrats nothing on Sunday. From an editorial in the New York Times - not always one of my favorite news sources (I just can't seem to write anything myself these days - luckily others have been more than eloquent):

Here’s what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans’ fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws — while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser.
...
We don’t blame the Democrats for being frightened. The Republicans have made it clear that they’ll use any opportunity to brand anyone who votes against this bill as a terrorist enabler. But Americans of the future won’t remember the pragmatic arguments for caving in to the administration.

They’ll know that in 2006, Congress passed a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation’s version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Speaking of our early history, here are a couple of quotes from Benjamin Franklin:

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."

At the close of the Constitutional Convention, a woman asked Franklin what type of government the was being formed. “A republic, if you can keep it,” replied Franklin.

A thing of beauty and a joy to behold

2006-09-26T00:40:00.000-04:00

I haven’t liked the way he’s been buddying up with George H.W. and Rupert Murdoch over the last few years, but Bill Clinton’s smackdown of Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday shows that the Big Dog still has what it takes. Just imagine Dubya giving such a reasoned, point-by-point rebuttal to a challenge like this one if he’d had a week’s warning! About Chris Wallace’s smirk, though – after watching that and also the appearance he made to discuss how shocked! shocked! he was at Bill’s “going crazy” on him, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s actually a face that he made once and, as all our mothers warned us would happen, it froze that way.

Go, Bill! Democrats, this is what someone with a backbone looks like. Please (except for Russ Feingold and one or two others) watch over and over again, and take notes.

One more thought: We also heard two words from Bill that we have only heard from one other person in the government regarding 9/11 (Richard Clarke, whose book is now #19 at Amazon in the hardcover edition), and I can guarantee that we will never hear them from Dubya or any of his cronies: "I failed." Yes, sir, you did, but it wasn't for lack of trying, and you are a big enough man to admit it and to feel remorse for it. For that I respect you.

Our soldiers are risking - and giving - their lives - for THIS?

2006-09-22T15:14:00.000-04:00

Excerpted (click on title for full story). And the former governor’s furious lobbying to insert the right to torture into U.S. law is an apt illustration of the caution to “choose your enemies carefully, because you will become like them.”

New terror that stalks Iraq's republic of fear
By Patrick Cockburn in Arbil
Published: 22 September 2006

The republic of fear is born again. The state of terror now gripping Iraq is as bad as it was under Saddam Hussein. Torture in the country may even be worse than it was during his rule, the United Nation's special investigator on torture said yesterday.
...
The brutal tortures committed in the prisons of the regime overthrown in 2003 are being emulated and surpassed in the detention centres of the present US- and British-backed Iraqi government. "Detainees' bodies show signs of beating using electric cables, wounds in different parts of their bodies including in the head and genitals, broken bones of legs and hands, electric and cigarette burns," the human rights office of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq says in a new report.
...
Human rights groups say torture is practised in prisons run by the US as well as those run by the Interior and Defence ministries and the numerous Sunni and Shia militias.
The pervasive use of torture is only one aspect of the utter breakdown of government across Iraq outside the three Kurdish provinces in the north.
...
Iraq is in a state of primal anarchy. Paradoxically, the final collapse of security this summer is masked from the outside world because the country is too dangerous for journalists to report what is happening. Some 134 journalists, mostly Iraqi, have been killed since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
...
The bi-monthly UN report on Iraq is almost the only neutral and objective survey of conditions in the country. The real number of civilians killed in Iraq is probably much higher because, outside Baghdad, deaths are not recorded.
...
Nobody in Iraq is safe. Buses and cars are stopped at checkpoints and Sunni or Shia are killed after a glance at their identity cards. Many people now carry two sets of identity papers, one Shia and one Sunni.
...
The Iraqi state and much of society have been criminalised. Gangs of gunmen are often described on state television as "wearing police uniforms" . One senior Iraqi minister laughed as he told The Independent: " Of course they wear police uniforms. They are real policemen."
...
It has long been a matter of amusement and disgust in Iraq that government ministers travel abroad to give press conferences claiming that the insurgency is on its last legs. One former minister said: "I know of ministers who have never been to their ministries but get their officials to bring documents to the Green Zone where they sign them."

Beyond the Green Zone, Iraq has descended into murderous anarchy. For several days this month, the main road between Baghdad and Basra was closed because two families were fighting over ownership of an oilfield.

Government ministries are either Shia or Sunni. In Baghdad this month, a television crew filming the morgue had to cower behind a wall because the Shia guards were fighting a gun battle with the Sunni guards of the Electricity Ministry near by.

I'm hopeless, I admit

2006-09-21T00:58:00.000-04:00

I was so intimidated by the powerful 9/11 tribute/indictment delivered by Olbermann (as detailed in the last post) that I was silenced for a week. I tried to write something that came anywhere near it but gave up in despair, although as it turned out what I wrote was more personal than political. (Maybe I will finish it and post it later.) Since then I’ve been unpleasantly riveted by the campaign being waged by the former governor of Texas (how horrible that he should share that title with the late lamented Ann Richards) to legalize torture. It’s a little like a bad accident on the freeway – it’s sick, but you have to look.

The thing that I found most offensive was the press conference, where (if the photo I saw on the front of the NY Times was from that) he stood in front of a bunch of American flags and demanded the right to torture, or else he was going to essentially stop any interrogation of prisoners. That may not be what he was saying, but it sounded that way to me. There are plenty of ways to interrogate people without breaking the law, and if he even stops those because (WAAAAAAHH!) he can’t have his way, then he is responsible for anything that happens and should be impeached for a willful refusal to protect this country even in undoubtedly lawful ways.

The great Paul Krugman says it best:

So why is the Bush administration so determined to torture people?

To show that it can.

The central drive of the Bush administration — more fundamental than any particular policy — has been the effort to eliminate all limits on the president’s power. Torture, I believe, appeals to the president and the vice president precisely because it’s a violation of both law and tradition. By making an illegal and immoral practice a key element of U.S. policy, they’re asserting their right to do whatever they claim is necessary.

And many of our politicians are willing to go along. The Republican majority in the House of Representatives is poised to vote in favor of the administration’s plan to, in effect, declare torture legal. Most Republican senators are equally willing to go along, although a few, to their credit, have stood with the Democrats in opposing the administration.

Mr. Bush would have us believe that the difference between him and those opposing him on this issue is that he’s willing to do what’s necessary to protect America, and they aren’t. But the record says otherwise.

The fact is that for all his talk of being a “war president,” Mr. Bush has been conspicuously unwilling to ask Americans to make sacrifices on behalf of the cause — even when, in the days after 9/11, the nation longed to be called to a higher purpose. His admirers looked at him and thought they saw Winston Churchill. But instead of offering us blood, toil, tears and sweat, he told us to go shopping and promised tax cuts.

Only now, five years after 9/11, has Mr. Bush finally found some things he wants us to sacrifice. And those things turn out to be our principles and our self-respect.

Keith Olbermann hits another one out of the ballpark

2006-09-12T00:50:00.000-04:00

I was trying to come up with something meaningful to write on this fifth anniversary of 9/11, but while I may be able to within the next couple of days, I doubt that I will come up with anything better than this.

Some excerpts below (full transcript available at link):

...
Of all the things those of us who were here five years ago could have forecast — of all the nightmares that unfolded before our eyes, and the others that unfolded only in our minds… none of us could have predicted… this.

Five years later this space… is still empty.

Five years later there is no Memorial to the dead.

Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.

Five years later this country’s wound is still open.

Five years… later this country’s mass grave is still unmarked.

Five years later… this is still… just a background for a photo-op.

It is beyond shameful.
...
Five years later, Mr. Bush… we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir — on these 16 empty acres, the terrorists… are clearly, still winning.

And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.
...
Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.

The President — and those around him — did that.

They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused; as appeasers; as those who, in the Vice President’s words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."
...
A mini-series, created, influenced — possibly financed by — the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.
The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.

How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death… after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections… how dare you or those around you… ever "spin" 9/11.
...
When those who dissent are told time and time again — as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus — that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American…
When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"… look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:

Who has left this hole in the ground?

We have not forgotten, Mr. President.

You have.

May this country forgive you.

Thank you once again, Keith, for saying what needs to be said, and for saying it so eloquently. You are truly showing yourself to be the heir of the great Edward R. Murrow.

A trio of fiery patriots

2006-09-04T13:05:00.000-04:00

Last week was kind of rough for me so I have to apologize for not posting much. I also would like to get back to my Torah commentary at least after Rosh Hashanah. We will then be studying the sixth aliyah.

In the meantime, I'd like to highlight a couple of great speeches (well, one commentary and a speech) that took place last week. The first was given by Ross C. ("Rocky") Anderson, mayor of Salt Lake City, at an anti-war rally on the same day (I believe) that Dear Leader was arriving for a visit. Talk about chutzpah! One particularly memorable quote (although the speech is worth reading in its entirety):

Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism.

A patriot does not tell people who are intensely concerned about their country to just sit down and be quiet; to refrain from speaking out in the name of politeness or for the sake of being a good host; to show slavish, blind obedience and deference to a dishonest, war-mongering, human-rights-violating president.

That is not a patriot. Rather, that person is a sycophant. That person is a member of a frightening culture of obedience – a culture where falling in line with authority is more important than choosing what is right, even if it is not easy, safe, or popular. And, I suspect, that person is afraid – afraid we are right, afraid of the truth (even to the point of denying it), afraid he or she has put in with an oppressive, inhumane, regime that does not respect the laws and traditions of our country, and that history will rank as the worst presidency our nation has ever had to endure.

The second was a response by Keith Olbermann to Rumsfeld's speech to the American Legion (also in Salt Lake City), comparing those of us who oppose the war in Iraq to Chamberlain and the "appeasers" of Hitler and calling us "morally and intellectually confused." (As Frank Rich points out in his column from this weekend, "Since Hitler was photographed warmly shaking Neville Chamberlain’s hand at Munich in 1938, the only image that comes close to matching it in epochal obsequiousness is the December 1983 photograph of Mr. Rumsfeld himself in Baghdad, warmly shaking the hand of Saddam Hussein in full fascist regalia.") A quote from Olbermann:

[Rumsfeld's speech] demands the deep analysis - and the sober contemplation - of every American. For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence - indeed, the loyalty - of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land; Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants - our employees - with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve. Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of human freedom; And not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as "his" troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq. It is also essential. Because just every once in awhile… it is right - and the power to which it speaks, is wrong.
...
From Iraq to Katrina, to flu vaccine shortages, to the entire "Fog of Fear" which continues to envelope this nation - he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their cronies, have - inadvertently or intentionally - profited and benefited, both personally, and politically. And yet he can stand up in public, and question the morality and the intellect of those of us who dare ask just for the receipt for the Emperor’s New Clothes.

Mr. Anderson, Mr. Olbermann, and Mr. Rich, we salute you!

Books for kids hit by Katrina

2006-08-30T00:13:00.000-04:00

Democrats.org has a post called "CDF Katrina Project Needs Books" that's worth checking out...

The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom Schools Katrina Project partners with community based organizations, service agencies and universities in the Cleveland, Columbia and Jackson, MS areas to provide after-school programming each day public schools are in session for children in families affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Dubya thinks that if we leave Iraq we will have "lost our soul as a nation" or some such thing. I think that, despite all the good work that has been done by private individuals and organizations, the mess on the Gulf Coast a year after Katrina shows that we already have.

Thank you, Judge Taylor

2006-08-23T12:32:00.000-04:00

Judge Anna Diggs Taylor is the judge who struck down the NSA wiretapping program as unconstitutional. Dubya doesn't think she and those who applaud her ruling "understand the world we live in today." Judge Taylor is a 75-year-old black woman. I think she probably understands a lot about terror and intimidation, as well as having lived through the Depression, World War II and the Cold War. Find out more about her and thank her for her ruling here. This is what I wrote:

Thank you, Judge Taylor, for showing Congress the way. Too many people have allowed themselves to be intimidated because Karl Rove and his attack dogs in the right wing echo chamber might call them names or even make death threats against them, but that is not how this country got started and survived until today. Those things happened because people like you had the courage to stand up for their convictions. Even if, God forbid, your ruling is overturned or weakened on appeal, this administration's lawlessness is now on record, and history will vindicate you.

Book Review: Tower of Silence

2006-08-19T21:49:00.000-04:00

Tower of Silence by Sarah Rayne *****

Mary Maskelyne, an infamous teenage murderess from the 1960s, now in her forties, is transferred to Moy, a remote Scottish institution for the criminally insane. Selina March, a colorless, proper spinster, short of money, converts her house to a B&B. Mystery writer Joanna Savile arrives in the village of Inchcape, near Moy, to do some research and specifically to interview Mary Maskelyne. The stage is now set for events that began with a shattering atrocity in the tumultuous India of the late 1940s to play out to their final conclusion.

Sarah Rayne is supposed to be a pseudonym for a writer who is already well-known in Britain for horror fiction. Remnants of this may be seen in some of the particularly gruesome events that take place in Tower of Silence, but they don't seem to be out of place or inserted just for shock value. I, for one, am glad that she decided to switch genres; her other novels may be well written but I probably would not have found them, and I would imagine that psychological suspense gives her much more scope for her talents. Her writing is superb and even poetic at times. Her characters, even the worst of them, are imagined from the inside, and are vividly drawn. The portrayal of Mary Maskelyne, manipulative, narcissistic and attention-seeking, is one of the most chilling fictional examinations of the sociopathic mind that I have ever encountered. Other, more sympathetic characters include Emily Frost, the colorful and many-faceted daughter of one of the doctors at Moy, who volunteers to work with some of the patients; the sad, traumatized and extremely dangerous patient known as Pippa; and the attractive, strangely charismatic Joanna.

Unfortunately, for the most part Rayne does not seem to portray male characters nearly as vividly or sympathetically, although I did like Joanna's husband, the half-Hungarian Krzystof Kent. Also, she may push coincidence a bit too far for some in bringing all of these people together in the same place, but if you're like me you will be too caught up in the plot and the characters' lives to care.

Book Review: Labyrinth

2006-08-18T00:49:00.000-04:00

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse ***-1/2

Labyrinth focuses mainly on two women, Alice in the present, who finds a mysterious cave while volunteering on an archaeological dig, and her ancestress Alais in the era of the Albigensian Crusade. The link between the two is a set of three books called the Labyrinth Trilogy, which supposedly leads to the Holy Grail. I found this the weakest point in the book – it feels like the whole Holy Grail connection was thrown in to capitalize on the success of The Da Vinci Code, as was the pursuit of the heroine across southern France by (at least self-appointed) agents of the Catholic Church. I never did get quite clear on who exactly was behind the villains or if they were mainly working for themselves.

I found the medieval sections of the book to be the strongest, both in character and in plot; the modern characters seemed to be pale echoes of their prototypes. It’s too bad that the author (or her editors) seemed to be a bit too concerned with jumping on Dan Brown’s bandwagon, because I think that Mosse could have written a much better book if she had made it a straight historical novel about the persecution of the Cathars, an event which, at least as far as I know, has yet to be thoroughly explored in fiction. She would, however, need to delve a bit more into their beliefs; as it was, apart for a couple of throwaway lines about their dualistic theology, they were portrayed pretty one-dimensionally as proto-Protestants of a sort, all of whom seem to have been perfect, in more sense than one. (The Perfect was the name for the more advanced “grade” of Cathars.)

I am not generally a fan of books that switch back and forth between the past and present, but at least, thank God, Mosse did not use the "time travel" gimmick, which has been done to death, except in a very oblique way. I did find the use of untranslated French and Occitan words to be distracting. Surprisingly (since I am an English major), I didn't notice the sentence fragments that annoyed another Amazon reviewer, but one thing that did jump out at me was the figurative language, some of which seemed to be a bit forced, as if the author had written these “great” similes in creative writing class and felt like she just had to use them somewhere. However, all in all I did find this book to be a worthwhile and enjoyable read.

Missionaries, my dear!

2006-08-15T12:53:00.000-04:00

Missionaries, my dear! Don't you realize that missionaries are the divinely provided food for destitute and underfed cannibals? Whenever they are on the brink of starvation, Heaven in its infinite mercy sends them a nice plump missionary.

—Oscar Wilde

A couple of them showed up at my door today, and not being desitute, underfed or a cannibal, I sent them away uneaten. They asked (or rather the one who was in charge did) if I read my Bible and I said "Yes." (Thought bubble: But not the same one you read.) So of course he started telling me about how the end was near and all these wonderful things were going to happen – nothing about the bloodbaths in the streets and all the Jews and other "infidels" who don't convert being killed and thrown into the lake of fire, of course. Then he whipped out a little book and asked if I would read it if he left it with me. I said, "Probably not," so he left me one of the cut-rate tracts – he did compliment me on at least being honest.

It's kind of ironic (and very apropos) that I was looking at an article on Darwin in an old issue of the Skeptical Inquirer earlier and found a quote that expresses my sentiments perfectly – if I'd been feeling feisty I might have tried it out on this guy. As the article points out, "Darwin was not, by anyone's standards, a believing Christian," although he "consistently denied the charge" of being an atheist – and why shouldn't he have been telling the truth, since his problem seems to have been more with Christian doctrine than with God? Anyway, here is the quote, and this has always been my sticking point as well:

"... I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so, the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine." (Barlow 1958)

I know that there are people who get around this whole idea somehow, but I can't, and a lot of others have no problem with it, but just accept that the vast majority of people who have ever lived, no matter how good a life they have led, are going to be thrown into eternal torment by a "loving, merciful" God for not believing the right thing.

"The nexus of politics and terror"

2006-08-15T00:41:00.000-04:00

An excellent clip from 2005 - Keith Olbermann examines the curious way in which, whenever the Republicans have a spate of bad news, or the Democrats get some positive press, lo and behold, someone from the government comes out and says, "Be afraid. Be very afraid. The terrorists are going to get you!"

Note (Tuesday, 12:30 p.m.): The YouTube site appears to be doing some maintenance at the moment, so if the link is blank, please check back later. Thanks.

The threat level is up - it must be election season

2006-08-12T23:29:00.000-04:00

Maybe I’m crazy, but I thought I read somewhere that they were going to ditch the color-coding thing because it was basically useless – didn’t give anyone a clue as to what they were supposed to do or not do – although it does, as Greg Palast points out on Buzzflash today (8/15), let the terrorists know when our guard is down. Well, there is one thing that orange or red means we’re supposed to do – vote Republican.

The Nagasaki principle

2006-08-09T12:34:00.000-04:00

I am excerpting this column liberally (and I hope not doing any violence to the context) but the whole article (please click on title) should really be read. Although to my abiding (but not everlasting, I hope) regret, I have yet to finish one of James Carroll’s book (among them Contantine’s Sword and Crusade) but I think that he is one of the most powerful writers on the scene today, as well as the only one I know of who truly writes with a prophetic spirit. (I am referring here to the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, whose function was not so much to predict the future as to denounce the sins of the nation and call it back to the right path.)

The Nagasaki principle
By James Carroll | August 7, 2006
Today is the anniversary of what did not happen. Sixty-one years ago yesterday, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The scale of nuclear devastation was apparent at once. The next day, no decision was made to call off the bombing of Nagasaki. Why? Historians debate the justification of the Hiroshima attack, but there is consensus that Nagasaki, coming less than three days later, was tragically unnecessary. President Harry Truman's one order to use the atomic bomb, given on July 25, established a momentum that was not stopped.
.......
It is commonly said that war operates by the law of unintended consequences, but another, less-noted law operates as well. War creates momentum that barrels through normally restraining barriers of moral and practical choice. Decision makers begin wars, whether aggressively or defensively, in contexts that are well understood, and with purposes that seem proportionate and able to be accomplished. When destruction and hurt follow the outbreak of violence, however, and then when that destruction and hurt become extreme, the context within which war is begun changes radically. First assumptions no longer apply, and original purposes can become impossible. When that happens, what began as destruction for a goal becomes destruction for its own sake. War generates its own force in which everyone loses. This might be called the Nagasaki principle.

The Nagasaki principle comes in two parts. It can operate at the level of close combat, driving fighters to commit atrocities that, in normal conditions, they would abhor. It operates equally at the level of the commanders, leading them to order strikes out of desperation, frustration, or merely for the sake of ``doing something." Such strikes draw equivalent responses from the other side until the destruction is complete. After the fact, massive carnage can seem to have been an act for which no one is responsible, like the result of a natural disaster.

That's when a second aspect of the Nagasaki principle comes into play -- the refusal to undertake a moral reckoning with what has been done.
........
This may seem like airy theorizing, but the psychologically unfinished business of the Nuclear Age, dating to the day after Hiroshima, defined the American response to the trauma of Sept. 11, 2001. The nation had lived for two generations with the subliminal but powerfully felt dread of a coming nuclear war.

Unconsciously ashamed of our own action in using the bomb, we were waiting for pay-back, and on that beautiful morning it seemed to come. The smoke rising up from the twin towers hit us like a mushroom cloud, and we instantly dubbed the ruined site as Ground Zero, when, as historian John Dower observes, the only true Ground Zeros are the two in Japan.

Our unconscious shame was superseded by an overt sense of victimhood. We launched a war whose momentum has carried the world into the unwilled and unforeseen catastrophe that unfolds today. Our denial of nuclear responsibility, meanwhile, embodied in our permanent nuclear arsenal, licenses other nations that aim to match us -- notably Iran. Momentum and denial combined to destroy Nagasaki, which was, alas, not the end, but the beginning.

James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.
© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Those lazy crazy hazy days of summer...

2006-08-08T12:49:00.000-04:00

Or however it goes. It certainly has been hazy – up in the 90’s last week, which probably is no excuse for my being lazy. And here I’d meant to try to put something up here every day, since going for days on end with nothing new is no way to get regular visitors – not something I need to worry about too much right now.

Anyway, things seem to be, if not going from bad to worse, at the very least staying very very bad over in Israel, Lebanon and Iraq. Condi (and yes, Secretary Rice would be more respectful but her boss leads the way) is energetically exerting herself, making the rounds of the Sunday morning talk shows and issuing demands to Iraq, Syria and Hezbollah via interview and press conference. As people are continually pointing out, diplomacy means talking to the people you disagree with, not just the ones who hang on your every word.

Rummy is starting (starting?) to sound like a parody of himself with his “my goodness!” and rhetorical questions in front of the committee last week – sorry, I forget which one but I know Hillary slapped him down good. “Am I a delusional old coot who should be doing nothing more demanding than sitting out on the porch playing checkers, Senator Clinton? Heavens to betsy, I don’t think so.”

I’ve finished a couple of good books (The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner and The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry), and although I’m not sure whether I’ll review them I definitely have a rant waiting to be spewed about the people who go around whining that the authors of “religious thrillers” like The Da Vinci Code and The Templar Legacy are being mean to Christianity, hate it, “have an ax to grind,” etc.

Finally, today is Judgment Day for Joe Lieberman in Connecticut. I’m sorry, I liked Joe in the 2000 race although I did think he was a bit too collegial with Dick Cheney in their “debate,” but I have to hope now that he loses. As I’m reading all over in the blogs and in other articles on the Internet, and as his own constituents were calling in to On Point last week to say, he’s out of touch with them, he’s enabling and providing cover for the disastrous policies of this administration, and he’s acting as if he’s somehow entitled to his seat in the Senate and it’s the height of presumption for anyone to mount a serious challenge. I found it interesting that as far as I could tell, not a single “real” person called in to On Point to express their support of him, and I know from listening to them in the past that they always try to get people expressing different points of view. He may still pull it off, and I hope that if he does he comes down off his high horse and considers what brought him to the point of almost losing a primary that he should have walked away with, but I don’t have much hope.

A different take on Qana

2006-08-01T14:01:00.000-04:00

From Naomi Ragen, an author living in Jerusalem (sent on Sunday night so more information may be available):

Friends,

1. Tonight, an IDF spokesman showed aerial photos of rockets being fired from residential areas in Qana. It showed the portable rocket launchers being parked beneath residential buildings. The spokesman said that the bombs dropped on Qana were dropped at 1 a.m. The reports of the building collapse took place at 7 a.m. Also, no bombs actually hit the building. So, who was responsible for the collapse of that building? Could Hezbollah weapons have exploded, destroying the building? Was it deliberate, a way to pressure Israel into a ceasefire the same way they did last time, in exactly the same spot? And why is no one in the media picking up on this time gap and asking questions?

2. The number of those injured is being supplied by Lebanese sources, and being quoted by all the news stations. So far, only 26 bodies have been recovered. But news reports are saying the number was twice that, and half are children. That too is supplied by unknown sources and repeated by the major media.

3. At 7 a.m. a barrage of Hezbollah rockets hit the shopping center and buildings of Kiryat Shmona, unlike anything else the town has experienced. Altogether 1500 kilograms of bombs have hit the area's approximately 25,000 residents remaining in their homes. Where is the outrage over that?
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For more articles,please visit my Web page at: http://www.NaomiRagen.com

The Middle East

2006-07-28T13:13:00.000-04:00

Considering that the "About me" section of this blog says that I want to share some of my "passions," some may wonder why I've generally been silent about the attacks being made back and forth across the Israel-Lebanon border by Israel and Hezbollah for the past two weeks. I suppose that my feelings about the whole situation could be described as "passionately conflicted."

One reason is that I feel decidedly inadequate in talking about the situation. My knowledge is nowhere near deep enough to enable me to make my way through the morass of interpretations, propaganda, "spin," exaggerations and outright lies. Although I believe fervently in Israel's right to defend itself (and it's sad that even a supporter of Israel has to innoculate herself against the inevitable demonization by the right), I am deeply troubled by its methods of doing so, and have to wonder if the long-term consequences are worth the short-term gains. The bombing of the U.N. post on Tuesday was especially disturbing, although I can't believe that something of this sort would be done deliberately by any sane government.

In trying to come to some understanding of what is going on over there, I found this article to be particularly useful.

Crimininalizing Jesus

2006-07-28T10:31:00.000-04:00

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

Matthew 25:41-45

Where are all the good Christians now? Loaves and fishes, anyone? There is also a well-attested tradition in Judaism that the sin for which Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed was not so-called “sodomy” but the fact that they outlawed giving any asistance to strangers, who were in much the same position as the homeless today – dependent upon the kindness of those in the host city.

Shame, shame, Orlando and Las Vegas! I assume that people are still allowed to feed the pigeons, who, like blastocysts, have more rights than fully functioning human beings.

Click on title for full story.

Another U.S. City Outlaws Feeding Homeless People
Even Mayor Supports Homeless Feeding Ban

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Another American city has made it a crime to feed the homeless in certain areas.

Last week, Las Vegas outlawed feeding homeless people at city parks. Now, Orlando is following suit.

Orlando is trying to keep charitable groups from feeding the homeless in downtown parks.

Officials said transients gathering for weekly meals create safety and sanitary problems for businesses.

The City Council voted to prohibit serving meals to groups of 25 or more people in parks and other public property within two miles of City Hall without a special permit.

A group called Food Not Bombs, which has served weekly vegetarian meals for the homeless for more than a year, said it will continue illegally.

The American Civil Liberties Union vows to sue, saying it's a superficial fix that ignores the city's homeless problem.

Two of the city's five commissioners voted against the ordinance, including Commissioners Robert Stuart, who runs the homeless shelter Christian Service Center, and Sam Ings, a retired police officer.

Stuart told The Orlando Sentinel that Orlando is taking a step to "criminalize good-hearted people" who he says are trying to help. He went on to tell the paper that group feedings in the parks had not become unwieldy to the city, as some had claimed.

He said the ordinance says, "Orlando doesn't care," the Sentinel reported.

Arlen, Arlen, Arlen...

2006-07-25T00:13:00.000-04:00

You have done this to us so many times before – you get our hopes up that Congress is finally going to stand up for itself, if for nobody else. Then in a couple of days you’ll announce that you have a “compromise” that allows the puppet king and his evil vizier to go on doing just what they’ve been doing all along. However, Arlen, you tease, I still can’t help hoping that this time you’ll stick to your guns and prove me wrong.

Click on title for full story.

Specter prepping bill to sue Bush
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A powerful Republican committee chairman who has led the fight against President Bush's signing statements said Monday he would have a bill ready by the end of the week allowing Congress to sue him in federal court.

"We will submit legislation to the United States Senate which will...authorize the Congress to undertake judicial review of those signing statements with the view to having the president's acts declared unconstitutional," Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said on the Senate floor.

I couldn't have said it better myself

2006-07-19T13:21:00.000-04:00

Please click on title for full story.

July 18, 2006, 9:39PM
Please keep your religion away from my stem cells

By CRAGG HINES
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Vainly would you have waited in the Senate's stem cell debate for one of the more enlightened members to rise and state the obvious: "This is an outrage."

No, none of that. It was all too exquisitely polite, as is often the case in that intensely self-regarding body.

So no member dared to note the absurdity of the national legislature actually having to take time, in the 21st century, to discuss such a scientific — and, if you insist, moral — no-brainer.

You can find another, more closely reasoned article, which points out the glaring inconsistency of denouncing research (and any destruction of blastocysts) as murder while blithely allowing "murder" to take place all over the country (as long as it's not federally-funded) here.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God

2006-07-17T14:17:00.000-04:00

Bill Clinton qualifies. Jimmy Carter qualifies, although I don’t always agree with some of his more recent stances. Dubya’s response (video here) to a serious question about the turmoil in the Middle East: “I thought you were going to ask me about the pig [the boar that was being roasted for dinner].” Don’t they have pig roasts in Texas? You’d think this was the first one he’d ever been to

I hate to tell you, Dubya, but saying that maybe they should stop does not qualify you as a peacemaker.

I suppose it could have been worse - he could have invited the Arabs and Israelis to talk about their differences while eating some of "the pig" (shudder) On the other hand, that might have brought them together as they were both mortally offended by his cultural insensitivity.

Book Review: Misquoting Jesus

2006-07-15T23:55:00.000-04:00

Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman ****

In his introduction to Misquoting Jesus, Bart Ehrman gives a brief account of his own personal journey from unquestioning acceptance of the New Testament text to his present view of it as a “very human book.” He then proceeds to show the reader exactly why we cannot know in many cases what the original text was, the ways in which texts are changed, accidentally or intentionally, and gives several examples of verses whose “original” content is disputed.

While I suppose that the history of the development of textual criticism and the discovery and comparison of various manuscripts over the past several centuries is necessary to the overall thrust of the book, this was the part that I found least interesting although the sheer number of discrepancies (many relatively minor) is eye-opening. However, I believe that two sections of the book are particularly helpful to the general reader in understanding why the differences exist. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with the formation of the Christian canon as well as the mechanics of scribal transmission and that of the New Testament in particular. Ehrman stresses the fact that many of those who were copying the earliest texts of these books were not trained scribes and in many cases may have been barely literate – something that the average person probably doesn't even consider in our modern world of widespread literacy, photocopying and "cut and paste." Chapters 6 and 7, on the other hand, look at the motivations for intentional changes, which were often pure; that is, in many cases the scribe may have believed that he was correcting an earlier mistake or clarifying a text that might otherwise be used to support “heretical” beliefs.

Many readers, I suspect, will be upset to discover that there is a consensus among textual critics that one of the most famous stories in the Gospels, that of the woman taken in adultery, is not original to the Gospel of John. However, as Ehrman points out, that does not mean that it is not a real tradition; like many parts of the Bible that seem out of place, it may have been so well-known and powerful that it had to find its way into the text somehow.

It has always struck me that the belief in the inerrancy of the Bible (or anything made or transmitted by human hands) comes dangerously close to the sin of idolatry. I hope that this introduction to textual criticism, which is carried out by many scholars because of their love of the text and a desire to get as close to the original as possible, will inspire many with a new respect for the many people who did create it and transmit it. God does work through human beings, after all.

Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson, patriots

2006-07-14T12:48:00.000-04:00

If this administration (and its allies in the echo chamber) are as concerned about leaks of classified information as it claims to be, why is Karl Rove still working in the White House, and where are the calls to prosecute Novak under the Espionage Act (not something I support, by the way, since I try to be consistent)? Click on title for full story:

Former CIA officer: Cheney, Rove engaged in 'whispering campaign'
Plame alleges Bush administration officials ruined her career

Friday, July 14, 2006; Posted: 11:01 a.m. EDT (15:01 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former CIA officer Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, said Friday they decided to sue Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential adviser Karl Rove because they engaged in a "whispering campaign" to destroy her career.

Plame told a news conference that "I and my former colleagues trusted the government to protect us in our jobs" and said it "betrayed that trust. I'd much rather be continuing my career as a public servant than as a plaintiff in a lawsuit."

To donate towards what will probably be astronomical legal costs in the Wilsons’ pursuit of justice, click here.

Comments on the "You have no civil rights if you're dead" school of thought

2006-07-13T11:47:00.000-04:00

These people are such wimps. As one member of Congress said when another used that despicable line on the floor, “Give me liberty or give me death!”

It’s a little late but still close enough to the Fourth of July to remember the Revolution and Declaration of Independence. Let’s listen in on some of our friends on the right as they react in real time:

Dick Cheney: Whoa, Tom – guys! What’s all this about pledging our fortunes? You mean we might lose money on this deal? I wouldn’t have to give up my slaves, would I? (Aside) Maybe the British would give Halliburton some no-bid contracts...if their troops die from the contaminated food and water and these moonbats win, I could claim that I was really working for them all along.

George Dubya: Wait a minute - pledging our fortunes is bad enough. You’re also talkin’ about our lives here! Dad! Is there a nice, safe National Guard unit you can get me into?

Bill O’Reilly: Just remember, if you’re dead you have no inalienable rights, or freedom. And what's all this "endowed by our Creator" stuff? If you mean God, say "God." Are you guys part of the "War Against Christmas" or something?

Bob Novak: (writing) Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock - hey, John, thanks for writing your name so big...

And the Pope thought that he was the only one who was infallible!

2006-07-13T11:19:00.000-04:00

Of course, he also probably thought that he was the only one who talked to God.

Justice Department Lawyer To Congress: ‘The President Is Always Right’
The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday heard testimony from Steven Bradbury, head of the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel. When questioned by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on whether the President’s interpretation of the Hamdan case was right or wrong, Bradbury replied, “The President is always right.” Watch it:
Full transcript below:
LEAHY: The president has said very specifically, and he’s said it to our European allies, he’s waiting for the Supreme Court decision to tell him whether or not he was supposed to close Guantanamo or not. After, he said it upheld his position on Guantanamo, and in fact it said neither. Where did he get that impression? The President’s not a lawyer, you are, the Justice Department advised him. Did you give him such a cockamamie idea or what?
BRADBURY: Well, I try not to give anybody cockamamie ideas.
LEAHY: Well, where’d he get the idea?
BRADBURY: The Hamdan decision, senator, does implicitly recognize we’re in a war, that the President’s war powers were triggered by the attacks on the country, and that law of war paradigm applies. That’s what the whole case —
LEAHY: I don’t think the President was talking about the nuances of the law of war paradigm, he was saying this was going to tell him that he could keep Guantanamo open or not, after it said he could.
BRADBURY: Well, it’s not —
LEAHY: Was the President right or was he wrong?
BRABURY: It’s under the law of war –
LEAHY: Was the President right or was he wrong?
BRADBURY: The President is always right.

Note: Funny – I don't remember anyone, including myself, ever applying that standard to Bill Clinton! This is a CULT, the focus of which is a the most pathetic specimen of humanity the worshippers could find.

Book Review: The Amber Spyglass

2006-07-11T12:25:00.000-04:00

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman*****

At the end of The Subtle Knife, Lyra was kidnapped by Mrs. Coulter, who we find at the beginning of The Amber Spyglass has turned against the Church and fled to a remote mountain village where she is keeping her daughter in a drugged sleep in order to “protect” her. Will, accompanied by the angels Baruch and Balthamos, insists on rescuing Lyra before he will take the subtle knife to Lord Asriel. After a harrowing escape from Mrs. Coulter and now accompanied by Lord Asriel’s tiny Gallevespian agents, the two determine to travel to the land of the dead to find Will’s father and Lyra’s friend Roger, which will test their courage and strength of will more than anything they have been through so far. Meanwhile, Mary Malone, the physicist and ex-nun who helped them in the previous book, finds herself in another alternate world, where evolution itself has taken a different turn and a conscious species called mulefa has developed.

In the course of the book we will go with Lyra and Will to the world of the dead, at the entrance of which she will be forced to make the great betrayal foretold by the witches and others; witness the final battle between the forces of Lord Asriel and those of the Authority as well as Lyra’s parents’ final grand gesture on her behalf; and end up in a quiet field in the world of the mulefa as Lyra and Will make a momentous discovery that sets the history of Dust (and consciousness) on the right path again.

The Amber Spyglass contains many mature and disturbing themes that parents might want to discuss with their children, such as the nature of death, whether the Authority is really God Himself or only some people’s warped, twisted idea of God, and the fact that sometimes we must give up what matters most to us in order to live a full life. Pullman doesn’t pull any punches or shoehorn his story into a conventional “happy ending,” and of course it’s hard to imagine any of the greatest romances becoming an everyday life together with screaming kids and arguments about the car. The main ideas that this series communicates to me are: 1) True stories are “nourishing,” as No-name the harpy puts it, “truth” meaning much more fact; 2) Keeping promises and keeping faith with individuals is more important than “saving the world” – in fact, that may be what saves the world. 3) We must live in the here and now, whether or not we believe, as Pullman does, that there isn’t anywhere else. (In Judaism we are told that we will have to account to God after our deaths for the things we didn’t enjoy during our lives.)

A major theme of this particular book seems to be cooperation, as time and time again people who start a relationship in mutual distrust come to respect each other and work together for a common good. The society of the mulefa has been accused by some of being like a hippie commune. However, in addition to being a different species which may not have some of the violent impulses that seem to be part of human nature, it could be argued that because they only have one prehensile appendage, a trunk, instead of two hands, the fact that they need to cooperate in order to do many of the things that we can do alone may have caused nature to select for tolerance and the ability to get along.

I feel that this entire series would be perfect for teenagers who are wrestling with their own doubts about the role of religion in their lives, although it should be pointed out to them that Pullman’s almost uniformly negative Church is a fictional one and that most of the best qualities that his characters possess are also valued by most or all religions in their truest forms. I also feel that this book, in particular, can only really be appreciated after at least one rereading, as it is much deeper and more philosophical (to quote another Amazon reviewer) than the first two.

Just in time for the 4th of July...

2006-07-03T21:50:00.000-04:00

King George and his minions, declaring war on the freedom of the press. This is a very long post, but worth it. Please click on title for full story.

"Media Matters"; by Paul Waldman

A declaration of war

This week, the conservatives declared war.

Not on The New York Times. Not even on the media in general. No, this week the entire conservative movement -- from the White House to Republicans in Congress to Fox News to right-wing talk radio to conservative magazines -- declared war on the very idea of an independent press.

They declared war on the idea that journalists have not just the right but the obligation to hold those in power accountable for their actions. They declared war on the idea that journalists, not the government and not a political party, get to decide what appears in the press. They declared war on the idea that the public has a right to know what the government is doing in our name.

This is a profound threat to our democracy, and we underestimate it at our peril.

Book Review: Lapdogs

2006-07-01T23:48:00.000-04:00

Lapdogs by Eric Boehlert ****

Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush, is a devastating indictment of the so-called mainstream media (MSM) for their fawning, credulous treatment of the Bush administration throughout its tenure, particularly but not exclusively in the wake of 9/11 and the lead-up to the Iraq war. With meticulous documentation of his accusations, Boehlert makes mincemeat of the right-wing cry of “liberal bias” and shows that while the MSM may not necessarily be conservative, their fear of attack by the well-oiled right-wing echo chamber means that they effectively are, for the most part, a mouthpiece for the administration. Economic considerations such as media consolidation, cuts in newsroom staff, the drive for profit, and the healthy incomes of many media higher-ups also play a part.

Although he acknowledges honorable exceptions, Boehlert shows over and over again how the media spun administration and right-wing talking points, ignored and marginalized critics and dissenters, and often, when they did do real investigative reporting, as with the NSA wiretapping story and disturbing information about some of Bush’s judicial nominees, only came through when it was too late to make the difference it should have. Reporting of the NSA story or Bush’s probable cheating in the debates, for example, might have led to a different outcome in the 2004 election, but the electorate was denied vital information that might have affected their decision.

Particularly instructive is Boehlert’s in-depth analysis of two similar stories and their diametrically opposed treatment by the MSM: the ignoring of the credible allegation that Bush blew off his National Guard duty (which did not depend solely on Dan Rather’s questionable memos but were supported by careful study of thousands of government documents); and the respect, even deference, shown by the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose claims were easily debunked, contradictory and shown to be partisan by the most cursory examination of their backgrounds.

A depressing and sobering analysis of a true nadir in the history of American journalism.

Note: Considering the hysterical, vitriolic denunciation of the NY Times (and, for the most part, only the NY Times) in the past week over its story about the administration’s investigation of banking records, we can now see what they were afraid of. It remains to be seen whether the foaming-at-the-mouth accusations of treason, etc. will have a chilling effect or make the Times and others in the MSM realize just how stupid they have been over the past five and a half years.

Book Review: The Secet of Castle Cant

2006-07-01T22:02:00.000-04:00

The Secret of Castle Cant by K.P. Bath *****

Orphaned Lucy Wickwright is the long-suffering maidservant and involuntary co-conspirator in the madcap exploits of her mistress Pauline, heiress to the Barony of Cant. However, their relatively carefree childhoods are rapidly nearing an end. Amid ominous rumblings of discontent and even revolution, Lucy finds herself caught up in plots against Pauline and the gum-chewing aristocracy of Cant, and must decide where her loyalties lie.

Intelligent and well-written with an original premise (the premodern barony of Cant, tucked away in the creases of modern maps, which allows for modern incursions such as chewing gum and t-shirts), _The Secret of Castle Cant_ is a very promising first novel. The author's strongest suit, in my opinion, is the fact that he, like the best authors for young readers including J.K. Rowling, obviously respects the intelligence of his readers and doesn't write down to them. His "footnotes" and other references to the "history" of Cant also suggest that this world has not just been casually thrown together but carefully developed in his mind.

Pauline and Lucy develop a wonderful friendship that outweighs their original class differences and, while spoiled, Pauline is portrayed sympathetically and is obviously in the process of changing to a better, less thoughless person by the end of the book. Lucy is fiercely loyal and, while her methods for avoiding trouble without strictly lying may be deplored by some parents, her use of them is certainly realistic (I know I did it), and is unfortunately in common use by many adult public figures these days. My only criticism is that boys close to the heroines' ages seem to be portrayed as either stupid or arrogant, but I hope that will be remedied in the next book.

Altogether this was an enjoyable book, and I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel.

Sorry, George – it's nothing to do with you

2006-06-29T00:06:00.000-04:00

(Why we haven’t been attacked again, that is.) Except, of course, that you’re doing exactly what Osama bin Laden wants you to do, you twit! Click on title for full story (bold is my emphasis).

Al Qaeda Strategic Vision: Engage the U.S. Overseas, Not at Home

June 27, 2006 10:09 AM
Maddy Sauer Reports:

Al Qaeda's strategic vision involves challenging the United States and its allies overseas using small- to medium-scale attacks, according to an online book available on extremist websites that has become the seminal jihadi textbook. The first English translation of the text is being circulated this week among DOD and government policy circles.

The translation is being released by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. As ABC News reported last month, the Center has been translating thousands of declassified insurgent and extremist documents that were seized in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Abu Bakr Naji, an al Qaeda insider and author of the book, "The Management of Savagery," believes that the 9/11 attacks accomplished what they needed to by forcing the U.S. to commit their military overseas. He says 9/11 forced the U.S. to fall into the "trap" of overextending their military and that "it began to become clear to the American administration that it was being drained."

Note: Not that I've seen any sign that it has become clear to anyone in the "American Administration," except maybe for a few renegades, that it's being "drained."

On a more serious note...

2006-06-25T22:28:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, since I didn't post earlier this week, I didn't get a chance to express my outrage and horror at the deaths of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, Texas and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Oregon, the two soldiers whose bodies were found earlier this week. Horrible as the circumstances were, though, the mere loss of a loved one in Iraq (16 in the last week alone) has to be bad enough for the parents, children, other relatives and friends left behind that it can't get much worse.

In response to those on the right who have been calling for "revenge," a desire for vengeance may be a satisfying personal feeling and is certainly understandable, especially in those who, unlike Rush Limbaugh et al., knew and loved the deceased, but it has no place in policy decisions. I remember hearing the late Simon Wiesenthal speak several years ago, and after all this time I can still hear him, a man who lost his entire family and several years of his youth at the hands of the Nazis, insisting that justice, not vengeance, was what was needed, while also acknowledging the impossibility of meting out a proportionate justice to those whose victims numbered in the hundreds, thousands, or millions.

As promised, the sexy cat photos...

2006-06-25T22:20:00.000-04:00

OK, OK, I was just kidding about the sexy part. This is Jake, whose mere presence has had Shadow extremely annoyed for the past few days, even though he's very friendly and doesn't bother her at all. Unfortunately she's convinced that all other cats are like her nemesis Beanie (aka Beanzlebub), who chased and pounced on her constantly in our last apartment. He only wanted to play (I assume) but couldn't seem to get it through his head that she's a dignified older lady who only plays when she feels like it. (OK, when she's resting on her back with her feet in the air she doesn't look that dignified.) Above and on the right is Shadow's reaction to Jake.

Book Review: A Dark Dividing

2006-06-24T23:36:00.000-04:00

A Dark Dividing by Sarah Rayne *****

What are the connections between two sets of conjoined ("Siamese") twins born eighty years apart and a ramshackle onetime workhouse named Mortmain (Dead [Man's} Hand)? These are the questions that down-and-out reporter Harry McGlen ends up answering after his editor assigns him to do a story on the enigmatic photographer Simone Marriot (née Alexander).

In this elegant and atmospheric thriller, Sarah Rayne shifts effortlessly among multiple viewpoints (the mothers of both sets of twins, Harry, and Simone, among others) without ever losing the thread of her complicated story, and keeps the reader turning the pages until the satisfying ending, which is the most difficult trick of all, since I find that books that start out with promising premises such as this one often fall flat at the end.

If you enjoy this book I would also recommend Thomas Cook and Robbert Goddard, who write a similar type of fiction – suspense tinged with a nostalgic sadness and often with an all too natural (as opposed to supernatural) horror.

My bad

2006-06-23T14:04:00.000-04:00

Yes, I have been very bad this week, not posting anything, especially when such momentous events have been happening. Rick Santorum, obviously delusional as a result of the fact that he has something like the second lowest approval rating in the Senate and is way behind his Democratic opponent, announced that we found the long-sought weapons of mass destruction, but it’s a secret! Come on – wouldn’t the White House be yelling it from the rooftops if they had been vindicated?

Congress, continuing its slide into irrelevance, seems to have spent the last couple of weeks debating non-binding resolutions, although at least the Democrats have the excuse of not being able to bring real, meaningful laws to the floor since they’re not in charge. The Republicans also decided that they have no chance of ever capturing the black vote and have put off (forever?) renewing the Voting Rights Act. Greg Palast, author of Armed Madhouse and the journalist who broke the Florida “felon” purge story, also suggests that not renewing it allows them to violate its provisions with impunity.

In my personal life, it’s been a fun week since Shadow has been playing involuntary hostess to a very friendly little gray and white cat who got left behind (unintentionally) when his person moved. I keep telling her that his “pet parent” will be picking him up soon – I certainly hope so, nice as he is. At least she did let him up onto the bed last night, since I woke up with one on either side of me, so if we do have to keep him they won’t be at constant loggerheads. Maybe I can put up a picture later. I’ve seen in the comments that some people don’t think I have enough graphics.

The Washington Post or The Onion?

2006-06-16T00:18:00.000-04:00

I swear, this career summary for Zarqawi’s replacement (from the Washington Post), sounds exactly like something you’d write about the new CEO of a major company. You can’t make stuff like this up!

A veteran of the Zawahiri-led Egyptian Islamic Jihad and of al-Qaeda's organization in Afghanistan, Masri – also a pseudonym, meaning "the Egyptian" – has been in Iraq at least since 2003, officials said. Since the 2004 battle of Fallujah, he had been a trusted lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the insurgent leader killed in a U.S. attack north of Baghdad last week.

Speaking to reporters today, Masri said that he was “excited” about his new position and was “looking forward to the challenge” of being George W. Bush’s newest boogeyman and chief evildoer. (my addition – can you tell?)

Some thoughts on recent events (in no particular order)

2006-06-14T13:36:00.000-04:00

Karl Rove’s non-indictment: Bummer, but as has been said, it’s always possible that it’s in return for his cooperation on going after other, bigger fish. A good question raised on one of the blogs – why won’t his lawyer release the entire text of the letter? Then there’s the interesting saga of “Sealed v. Sealed” on truthout.org. Even if it’s nothing to do with Rove, what is it about? Has anyone else confirmed that this indictment exists? (Shouldn’t be too hard for anyone with journalism experience.) And to me, what Rove’s lawyer (or Fitzgerald’s letter) said seems to be very carefully worded legalese. “In a statement, Mr. Luskin said, ‘On June 12, 2006, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald formally advised us that he does not anticipate seeking charges against Karl Rove.’” There can always be unanticipated events.

Dubya’s visit to “Iraq”: If, indeed, you can call the Green Zone “Iraq.” To paraphrase Randi Rhodes, take off your coat and stay awhile, sir. Get out, see the sights, meet the people. Unless, that is, you’re too scared. He’s essentially admitted that either he’s a coward or that, after three years, the place is so dangerous he can’t make a real visit, or both of the above. And all this stuff about closing the airport for an hour and then giving the “Prime Minister” only five minutes’ notice. First of all, in a real sovereign country, no one could shut down the main airport without the leader of the country even knowing. Secondly, the five minutes’ notice just shows that Maliki, however good his intentions may be, is nothing but a lackey to be summoned at a snap of the fingers from the Emperor. The complete and utter contempt shown by that little detail, and its reporting in the media, is going to do wonders for the perception (in Iraq and elsewhere) of Maliki’s independence and freedom from American control.

The suicides at Guantanamo and the government’s reaction thereto: Disgraceful. “An act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.” I suppose that this means that those of our troops who have committed suicide will be court-martialed for desertion. And this from a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy: “A good PR move to draw attention.” Obviously a graduate of the John Bolton School of Diplomacy.

Worse than Ann Coulter: David Horowitz defending her on Larry King slandered half the country as well as, incidentally, his own party. “Conservatives...see half the country abandoning our troops in the field. You can’t support the troops and not support the war.” Evidently he isn’t aware of the Republicans claiming during the action in Kosovo that they could support the troops and not support the war, or the Commander-in-Chief.

Laura — worse than Dubya, in my opinion

2006-06-13T12:15:00.000-04:00

As far as I’m concerned she’s worse because a) she’s smarter than he is, so, unless she’s medicated out of her mind, which may be, considering the “Stepford wife“ expression she usually wears, she knows that his policies are wrong, and b) she enables him in everything that he does.

Click on title for full story.

Area candidates embrace a visit by Laura Bush

By Cynthia Burton
Inquirer Staff Writer

As Republican candidates around the country avoid appearances with President Bush or Vice President Cheney, two in the Philadelphia area - U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania and Senate challenger Thomas H. Kean Jr. in New Jersey - welcome visiting Laura Bush today with open war chests.

"Laura Bush is safe," Republican political consultant Dave Murray said.

People don't blame her for the war in Iraq, rising gasoline prices, or unpopular administration policies.

You mean she didn't just crawl out of a cesspit somewhere?

2006-06-11T14:45:00.000-04:00

Daily Kos has a link to an excellent editorial written as a letter to Ann Coulter's mother(!) in her hometown newspaper (excerpt below) about her lovely daughter's slandering of the "Jersey girls." In case you haven't seen what Coulter said in her latest book, here's the worst of it: "These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."

Peter Urban of the Connecticut Post writes:

Through my work, I met the New Jersey widows — and other 9-11 family victims — often over the last five years because Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, took up their cause.

Shays, in particular, has continued to fight for additional reforms that the 9-11 Commission recommended. He is driven largely by the memory of 87 constituents who died in the attacks. Those 87 individuals were your neighbors, too.

Anyway, the widows came to Washington and pushed for an independent commission and then lobbied for the commission's recommendations to be implemented. They never sought celebrity and I never saw them enjoying the deaths of those they held dearest.

Personally I find it hard to conceive of Coulter having a mother. Maybe her real mother was a hyena or whatever like in The Omen, and she was just given to this poor woman to raise. I always pictured her crawling out of a swamp or hatching like a reptile.

Anyway, maybe Mrs. Coulter could tell us what happened to Ann in her childhood to turn her into the pathetic hate-filled creature that she is today, and whether she is proud or ashamed of inflicting this wretched excuse for a human being upon an undeserving world. On the other hand, Ann’s utter narcissism and total disregard for others may be a result of her upbringing. I know that if she were a child of mine I would change my name and move to Australia rather than admit it.

(Regarding the use of a connection to 9/11 for fun and profit, Keith Olbermann reminds us that on 9/13/01, while the fires were still smouldering at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, “our Annie” was proclaiming her rage over the death of her friend Barbara Olsen — as if the attack had been aimed at her personally rather than the entire country, as she would say — and demanding that we “invade [the hijackers’] countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity.” I’m still waiting for the former governor of Texas to invade Saudia Arabia, which provided 15 of the 19, or for Coulter to criticize him for not invading them.)

It's so good to know that our leaders are on top of things

2006-06-07T00:38:00.000-04:00

Evidently I'm living in an alternate reality, since Congress feels that it has nothing better to do than to debate gay marriage, flag burning and the Paris Hilton tax cut. (I can't take credit for that last one, but the opponents of eliminating the estate tax cut should use it - over and over again. Or maybe the Barbara and Jenna tax cut, except that they haven't been too obnoxious lately.) This is the laziest bunch since Truman's "do-nothing" Congress and they still can't find anything to talk about besides this drivel.

I'm glad to see that at least some of the Democrats are taking the time to list some of the many, many other issues that are more pressing than any of these things - gas prices, Iraq, spiraling health care costs, New Orleans and the rest of the places in the Gulf that are still waiting for help, genocide in Darfur, etc., etc., etc.

Chag Sameach

2006-06-01T21:19:00.000-04:00

Shavuot begins tonight – have a good one if you celebrate it. Originally an agricultural festival celebrating the barley harvest and the bringing of the “first fruits” to the temple, it was historicized by the rabbis of the Talmud to commemorate the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, fifty days after Passover. (The Christian analogue is Pentecost, which bears a similar relationship to Easter.) Traditionally, the book of Ruth is read on Shavuot. Not only is it set at the time of the barley harvest; it also chronicles the acceptance of the Jewish covenant with God by Ruth, a young Moabite woman who becomes the great-grandmother of King David and by extension an ancestress of the Messiah. It is believed to have been written as a rebuttal to the xenophobia that ran rampant after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile, when many of those who had remained behind and married non-Jewish women were forced to abandon them, along with their children. Shades of today’s immigration debate, a great deal of which is fueled by xenophobia, whatever legitimate concerns there may be.

And they don't have eyes because God created them underground (sarcasm)

2006-05-31T12:43:00.000-04:00

Cool! Click on title for full story.

Prehistoric ecosystem found in Israeli cave

Wed May 31, 8:10 AM ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli scientists said on Wednesday they had discovered a prehistoric ecosystem dating back millions of years.

The discovery was made in a cave near the central Israeli city of Ramle during rock drilling at a quarry. Scientists were called in and soon found eight previously unknown species of crustaceans and invertebrates similar to scorpions

Memorial Day

2006-05-29T22:23:00.000-04:00

We must remember all those who gave their lives in the service of our country, but the most recent are always the most poignant, especially when we consider that as immoral, illegal and unnecessary as this war is, if it had at least been conducted competently, so many of these people (and so many Iraqis) would still be alive today.

Note how evenly the casualties are distributed across the "coalition."

There have been 2,690 coalition deaths, 2,466 Americans, two Australians, 113 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, three Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, one Hungarian, 30 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, two Romanians, two Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war in Iraq as of May 29, 2006, according to a CNN count. ... At least 18,184 U.S. troops have been wounded in action, according to the Pentagon.

From CNN.com