trying to think

Europe II

2009-07-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

So I've been back roughly 2 weeks now from the Euro trip. What a departure from reality, in that I had really no responsibilities except to be at practices and performances on time. With my pitch pipe! I'll ignore July 2nd at 10:00 pm dialing into the Verisign site to approve an SSL cert for someone who didn't bother to notify me before it expired and now the site's down and mgmt is in turmoil.

Many places we went to were very "touristy", essentially living life on a stage and going home to real life when the tourists leave. All our tour guides were like that. They were all great, very knowledgeable, good sense of humor. Especially the guy in Rothenberg. Aside from dressing up as the Night Watchman for the guided tours, he had produced a video of the town and it's history. He also owned a shop that he lived above, selling souvenirs and various other items. I bought his DVD and a little shot glass. But he was a very modern guy outside his Night Watchman gig. Two doors down I bought 7 glasses including my Stein and shipped them home. The hotel we stayed at looked very much of the period, but was actually rebuilt in 1945. I learned the meaning of "Baker Dunking", and drank at this bar. Closed it down actually, but that was only midnight.

We did a concert in Baden, a small town in Austria outside Vienna at a Synagogue, in an upper ecumenical room. A small crowd on a small stage with a nice grand and a toy organ. And 45 minutes before the concert it was a torrential downpour. Afterward we walked over to a local restaurant that opened just for us and we had a wonderful authentic dinner buffet with great wine, deserts, and the owner and friends played on the accordion and guitar singing folk songs, polkas and waltzes. As Herr Rolland said, this is what you travel to Europe for.

Europe Trip - 1

2009-07-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

I thought it appropriate to restart my blog contributions with some reflections about a just completed whirlwind tour of a few locations in Europe. Not all at once mind you, but I have to start.

The group was composed of The Nothern Pines vocal Institute under the direction of David Jorlett, and accompanied byt the Cecelia Chamber singers under Shelly Aebi with assistance from Dr. Chris Wallace on organ and Dr. Megan Wallace on piano, plus a few additional signers from Trinity faculty and students. The trip started on June 28th going to Vienna, Salzburg, Melk, Baden (in Austria) - and Dachau and Rothenberg in Germany.

In Dachau we sang at three memorial sites. One of the songs we sang is Prayer of the Children. The song itself refers to a doctor visiting a bombed hospital in Bosnia. Just the men sang, and I found myself at times unable to sing. Here are the lyrics:

Can you hear the prayer of the children
on bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room?
Empty eyes with no more tears to cry,
turning heavenward toward the light.
Cryin' Jesus help me to see the mornin' light of one more day,
but if I should die before I wake,
I pray my soul to take.

Can you feel the hearts of the children
aching for home, for something of their very own?
Reaching hands with nothing to hold on to,
but hope for a better day, a better day.
Cryin' Jesus help me to feel the love again in my own land,
but if unknown roads lead away from home,
give me loving arms, away from harm.

Can you hear the voice of the children
softly pleading for silence in their shattered world?
Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate,
blood of the innocent on their hands.
Cryin' Jesus help me to feel the sun again upon my face.
For when darkness clears, I know you're near,
bringing peace again.
Da-li cu-je te sve dje-cje mol-it-ve?
Can you hear the prayer of the children?

______

we didn't sing it exactly like this, but they're representative. I believe the second link is the composer singing it.

http://www.poofcat.com/childprayer.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTZFIcqnQMg

We didn't get to spend near enough time here. Very sobering.

Declining Notre Dame: A Letter from Mary Ann Glendon

2009-04-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

Declining Notre Dame: A Letter from Mary Ann Glendon

By Mary Ann Glendon
Monday, April 27, 2009, 9:32 AM

April 27, 2009
The Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President
University of Notre Dame

Dear Father Jenkins,

When you informed me in December 2008 that I had been selected to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal, I was profoundly moved. I treasure the memory of receiving an honorary degree from Notre Dame in 1996, and I have always felt honored that the commencement speech I gave that year was included in the anthology of Notre Dame’s most memorable commencement speeches. So I immediately began working on an acceptance speech that I hoped would be worthy of the occasion, of the honor of the medal, and of your students and faculty.

Last month, when you called to tell me that the commencement speech was to be given by President Obama, I mentioned to you that I would have to rewrite my speech. Over the ensuing weeks, the task that once seemed so delightful has been complicated by a number of factors.

First, as a longtime consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, I could not help but be dismayed by the news that Notre Dame also planned to award the president an honorary degree. This, as you must know, was in disregard of the U.S. bishops’ express request of 2004 that Catholic institutions “should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles” and that such persons “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” That request, which in no way seeks to control or interfere with an institution’s freedom to invite and engage in serious debate with whomever it wishes, seems to me so reasonable that I am at a loss to understand why a Catholic university should disrespect it.

Then I learned that “talking points” issued by Notre Dame in response to widespread criticism of its decision included two statements implying that my acceptance speech would somehow balance the event:

• “President Obama won’t be doing all the talking. Mary Ann Glendon, the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, will be speaking as the recipient of the Laetare Medal.”

• “We think having the president come to Notre Dame, see our graduates, meet our leaders, and hear a talk from Mary Ann Glendon is a good thing for the president and for the causes we care about.”

A commencement, however, is supposed to be a joyous day for the graduates and their families. It is not the right place, nor is a brief acceptance speech the right vehicle, for engagement with the very serious problems raised by Notre Dame’s decision—in disregard of the settled position of the U.S. bishops—to honor a prominent and uncompromising opponent of the Church’s position on issues involving fundamental principles of justice.

Finally, with recent news reports that other Catholic schools are similarly choosing to disregard the bishops’ guidelines, I am concerned that Notre Dame’s example could have an unfortunate ripple effect.

It is with great sadness, therefore, that I have concluded that I cannot accept the Laetare Medal or participate in the May 17 graduation ceremony.

In order to avoid the inevitable speculation about the reasons for my decision, I will release this letter to the press, but I do not plan to make any further comment on the matter at this time.

Yours Very Truly,

Mary Ann Glendon

Mary Ann Glendon is Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. A member of the editorial and advisory board of First Things, she served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican from 2007 to 2009.

Say goodbye to American Sovereignty

2009-04-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

Obama has nominated Harold Koh, until recently Dean of Yale Law School, to be the State Department’s legal adviser – in which role he would forge a wide range of international agreements and help represent the US in such places as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice. John Bolton, for a period the US Representative to the UN, has written about about Koh's qualification for this job.
____________________________________________

It's a job where you want a strong defender of America's sovereignty. But that's not Koh. He’s a fan of ‘transnational legal process,’ arguing that the distinctions between US and international law should vanish.

...The primacy of international legal ‘norms’ applies even to treaties we reject. For example, Koh believes that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child -- a problematic document that we haven’t ratified -- should dictate the age at which individual US states can execute criminals. Got that? On issues ranging from affirmative action to the interrogation of terrorists, what the rest of the world says, goes.

Including, apparently, the world of radical imams. A New York lawyer, Steven Stein, says that, in addressing the Yale Club of Greenwich in 2007, Koh claimed that ‘in an appropriate case, he didn’t see any reason why sharia law would not be applied to govern a case in the United States.’

A spokeswoman for Koh said she couldn’t confirm the incident, responding: ‘I had heard that some guy . . . had asked a question about sharia law, and that Dean Koh had said something about that while there are obvious differences among the many different legal systems, they also share some common legal concepts.’

... Koh has called America’s focus on the War on Terror ‘obsessive.’ In 2004, he listed countries that flagrantly disregard international law – ‘most prominently, North Korea, Iraq, and our own country, the United States of America,’ which he branded ‘the axis of disobedience.’

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/the-coming-war-on-sovereignty-15080
__________________________________
Obama - change we can believe in. Is this the change we want? Equating the United States with North Korea?

Amil Imani - what a real Iranian thinks about Obama

2009-03-27T06:06:00.000-07:00

President Obama said, ‘The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations.’ But, Mr. President, the Iranian nation does not wish to be associated with this occupying regime, whatsoever. In fact, they want the Islamic Republic to be thrown into the dustbin of history as quickly as possible. Mr. President, today, the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the greatest threats to the stability of the civilized world and humanity at large. It continues to impose its horrendous ideology on the Iranian population.

It also looks like my people are going to be betrayed once again by a badly misguided American president. Jimmy Carter helped give birth to the virulent Shiite Islamism by forbidding the Shah of Iran to crush the bloodthirsty Ayatollah Khomeini and his band of rabid Islamists. Now, President Obama intends to confer legitimacy on the illegitimate child, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

... It is worse than appeasement to negotiate a ‘deal’ with the Islamists in Iran because any deal struck with these mullahs is only another ruse for them to further their plans... Misguided advocates of negotiation with the mullahs, beware. The mullahs are on an Allah-mandated mission. They are intoxicated with Petrodollars and aim to settle for nothing less than complete domination of the world under the Islamic Ummah. It is precisely for this reason that they consider America and the West as ‘Ofooli,’ setting-dying system, while they believe their Islamism as ‘Tolooi,’ rising-living order. They are in no mood for negotiating for anything less than the total surrender of democracy, the very anathema to Islamism.

http://www.amilimani.com/

Global Warming Apocalypse

2009-03-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

When I return to some semblance of normalcy I intend to post more original thought items here. Not that those are very impressive or compelling to read but it's generally what I started the blog for. But in the meantime, I've decided to post items that seem to be very directed to issues of the day. The Global warming scare fall into that category. Here's an article from someone who is a) a better writer, and b) has more time to read and disseminate this information.
_________________________________________________________

Melanie Phillips - The Spectator, Friday March 13, 2009
The atmosphere is cooling, the ice is expanding, the seas are not rising -- even though carbon emissions are increasing. The evidence is now crystal clear to anyone with an unwashed brain that man-made global warming theory is sheer unadulterated bunkum. So how do the warmers react to the ever more embarrassing evidence that they have hitched their reputations to the biggest anti-scientific scam in history? By ratcheting up the hysteria to fever pitch and shrieking that their predictions about the impending irreversible environmental apocalypse have grievously underestimated the catastrophe which is going to be far, far worse.

At the international climate change conference in Copenhagen this week, we were told that the seas would rise by as much as a metre by 2100, that they would turn into acid, and that even the rainforests would be felled not by the loggers’ chainsaws but by the greatest pollutant in the history of the universe, carbon dioxide.

Read these reports carefully and you can see the scam at work. All of these hysterical predictions revolve around a massive ‘if’. They are all based on the assumption that rising carbon dioxide levels produce runaway global warming and inevitable ecological catastrophe. Ignoring the self-evident fact that this theory has already been proved false – as CO2 levels have risen, the climate has stayed pretty flat and in recent years has even cooled -- they then apply this bogus premise to topics not previously covered – the acidity of seas, rainforests – and hey presto, a fresh range of even greater catastrophes is conjured up from their crystal balls computer models.

The Independent reported:

Sea levels are predicted to rise twice as fast as was forecast by the United Nations only two years ago, threatening hundreds of millions of people with catastrophe, scientists said yesterday in a dramatic new warning about climate change. Rapidly melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are likely to push up sea levels by a metre or more by 2100, swamping coastal cities and obliterating the living space of 600 million people who live in deltas, low-lying areas and small island states.... The Greenland ice sheet, in particular, is not simply melting but melting ‘dynamically’ - that is, it is collapsing in parts as meltwater seeps down through crevices and speeds up its disintegration.

Well that’s mighty strange, because here’s an article in Science last January, drawing upon a meeting of the American Geophysical Union the previous month, which said the precise opposite:

So much for Greenland ice’s Armageddon. ‘It has come to an end,’ glaciologist Tavi Murray of Swansea University in the United Kingdom said during a session at the meeting. ‘There seems to have been a synchronous switch-off ‘ of the speed-up, she said. Nearly everywhere around southeast Greenland, outlet glacier flows have returned to the levels of 2000. An increasingly warmer climate will no doubt eat away at the Greenland ice sheet for centuries, glaciologists say, but no one should be extrapolating the ice’s recent wild behavior into the future.

News of a broad slowdown comes from a wide-ranging survey of glacier conditions across southeastern Greenland. Researchers reported in 2007 that two of the area's major outlet glaciers--Helheim and Kangerdlugssuaq--had slowed by the previous summer. But at the meeting, Murray and 10 of her Swansea colleagues reported results from their 2007 and 2008 surveys of the shape and appearance of the 14 largest outlet glaciers of southeast Greenland. When glaciers speed up, they thin, and their lower, leading edge that floats on the sea retreats. So the Swansea researchers flew laser altimeters over the glaciers to estimate their changing volumes and, indirectly, their changing velocities. They also studied satellite images and aerial photographs in order to track the movements of natural markings on the ice.

Taken together, the data show ‘there's a pattern of speeding up to maximum velocity and then slowing down since 2005,’ Murray said. ‘It's amazing; they sped up and slowed down together. They're not in runaway acceleration. Something happened that has switched off’ the acceleration event of 2003 to 2005.

Now look at what another expert said at Copenhagen:

Jonathan Bamber, an ice sheet expert at the University of Bristol, told the conference that previous studies had misjudged the so-called Greenland tipping point, at which the ice sheet is certain to melt completely. ’We're talking about the point at which it is 100% doomed. It seems quite an important number to get right.’

It certainly does.

‘We found that the threshold is about double what was previously published’, said Bamber. It would take an average global temperature rise of 6C to push Greenland into irreversible melting, the new study found. Previous estimates, including those in the recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the critical threshold was about 3C - which many climate scientists expect to be reached in the coming decades. ‘The threshold temperature has been substantially underestimated in previous studies. Our results have profound implications for predictions of sea level rise from Greenland over the coming century,’ the scientists said.

Profound implications indeed – the first being that Greenland’s melting ice sheets are probably not going to drown the world after all, and the second being that once again the IPCC got the science wrong.

And now look at something else Bamber told the conference:

He said evidence from past climates confirmed that Greenland should be able to survive temperature rises higher than 3C. An ice sheet about half the size is known to have persisted there during the Eemian period, about 125,000 years ago, when temperatures were about 5C higher than today.

Greenland was 5 degrees warmer 125,000 years ago than it is today, eh? Must’ve been all those motor cars and coal fired power stations and industrialisation. And it wasn’t the end of the world either. Fancy!

Professor Nils-Axel Mörner is the former head of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics department at Stockholm University in Sweden. He is past president of the INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution, and leader of the Maldives Sea Level Project. He is probably the foremost expert in the world on the subject of sea-level rise. This is what he said in 2007 about the alleged sea level rise at that point. There was no evidence of sea level rise anywhere. None. There was no trend to report. Sea level rise was a myth. Prof Mörner was an expert reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This is what he said about the process which led the IPCC to make its predictions of alarming (if subsequently reduced) sea level rise:

Then, in 2003, the same data set, which in their [IPCC’s] publications, in their website, was a straight line—suddenly it changed, and showed a very strong line of uplift, 2.3 mm per year, the same as from the tide gauge. And that didn’t look so nice. It looked as though they had recorded something; but they hadn’t recorded anything. It was the original one which they had suddenly twisted up, because they entered a ‘correction factor,’ which they took from the tide gauge. So it was not a measured thing, but a figure introduced from outside. I accused them of this at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow— I said you have introduced factors from outside; it’s not a measurement. It looks like it is measured from the satellite, but you don’t say what really happened. And they answered, that we had to do it, because otherwise we would not have gotten any trend!

That is terrible! As a matter of fact, it is a falsification of the data set. Why? Because they know the answer. And there you come to the point: They ‘know’ the answer; the rest of us, we are searching for the answer. Because we are field geologists; they are computer scientists. So all this talk that sea level is rising, this stems from the computer modeling, not from observations. The observations don’t find it!

I have been the expert reviewer for the IPCC, both in 2000 and last year. The first time I read it, I was exceptionally surprised. First of all, it had 22 authors, but none of them— none—were sea-level specialists. They were given this mission, because they promised to answer the right thing.

For this heresy, Prof Mörner is undoubtedly to be damned along with the rest of us for being a global warming ‘denier’ (or even more dementedly, a ‘climate change creationist’ -- yes, I know, I know, but when did elementary logic ever make an appearance in such circles?).

Unfortunately for the warmers, more and more such distinguished scientists are now openly denouncing the scam – and such sceptics now have the wind in their sails. Virtually unreported this week, a parallel international conference on climate change was taking place in New York. This conference attracted no fewer than 800 scientists and others to discuss ‘Global warming: was it ever a crisis?’ The BBC, whose Today programme yesterday devoted its prime 0810 slot to unchallenged ‘melting ice/rising seas/we are all doomed’ propaganda, has not even mentioned the New York conference. And as far as I can see, of the British papers only the Guardian attended it – not to report the proceedings, but to sneer. Thus Suzanne Goldenberg wrote:

It would be easy to dismiss this gathering as a pity party for people on the fringes of modern thought

which of course she proceeded to do. The attendees were

almost entirely white males, and many, if not most, are past retirement age

and worse still, other than the academics,

they are affiliated with rightwing thinktanks.

Well, say no more.

Even Goldenberg, however, could hardly dismiss as some maverick nutter one of the speakers, the eminent meteorologist Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT. Having crisply observed that most scientists are unaware that doubling or even tripling CO2 would have only a marginal impact on global temperature, Lindzen explained why so many scientists have gone along with the man-made global warming scam:

Most funding that goes to global warming would not be provided were it not for the climate scare. It has therefore become standard to include in any research proposal the effect of presumed AGW on your topic, quite irrespective of whether it has any real relevance or not. Lindzen asserted that it boils down to a matter of scientific logic against authority. The global warming movement has skilfully co-opted sources of authority, such as the IPCC and various scientific academies... the pro-alarm policy statements that are issued by various professional societies express the views of only the activist few, who often control the governing Council.

But it was the Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus, who knows a thing or two about totalitarian ideologies, who summed up the phenomenon:

He likened the situation to his former experience under communist government, where arguing against the dominant viewpoint falls into emptiness. No matter how high the quality of the arguments and evidence that you advance against the dangerous warming idea, nobody listens, and by even advancing skeptical arguments you are dismissed as a naïve and uninformed person. The environmentalists say that the planet must be saved, but from whom and from what? ‘In reality’, the President commented, ‘we have to save it, and us, from them’.

Quite.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3436241/the-inescapable-apocalypse-has-been-seriously-underestimated.thtml

A compelling read about West Bank/Gaza

2009-02-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

I came across this article and I HIGHLY recommend reading it just for the perspective. I found it at the link below so if you want to go there and read it go ahead, I just present it hear for those who don't want to bounce around, and because you may never stumble across the article on your own. I think it's a fascinating discussion.

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2009/02/a-minority-repo.php

A Minority Report from the West Bank and Gaza

Khaled Abu Toameh is not your typical Palestinian journalist. He began his career at one of Yasser Arafat’s newspapers and today he writes for the Jerusalem Post. He has produced video for European TV stations, and even blogged for a while at Commentary Magazine in New York. It’s impossible to cram Toameh into a convenient ideological box, though that doesn't stop some people from trying.

I met him briefly a few weeks ago on my trip to Israel sponsored by the American Jewish Committee when he gave a talk to me and my colleagues and answered some questions at the end. I’m reproducing the entire transcript here because I think he deserves a full hearing.

Hamas, Fatah, Americans, Israelis, Europeans, Arab governments, American foreign correspondents – just about everybody involved in any way with the conflict comes under some well-deserved fire. There's something here for just about everybody to like and dislike, and I’m publishing what he said without quote-shopping or cherry-picking his words for convenience.

________________________

Khaled Abu Toameh: When I finished high school the PLO offices hired me as a correspondent, and I worked for a PLO newspaper for seven years during which time I attended university in Jerusalem. After I graduated I had to make a decision: do I go back and work for the PLO, or do I try to become a real journalist? It took me about two seconds to make that decision. I decided to work with the international media and the Israeli media.

When I say "work with the international media," what does that mean? We have hundreds of foreign journalists who come to this part of the world – every year, every month, and sometimes every week – to cover the stories here. Now there are two stories here. There's the one that's happening inside Israel, and there's the one that's happening inside the Palestinian areas.

Fortunately for us, Israel is an open country that allows people to write whatever they want, criticize the prime minister, the defense minister, the IDF. You can write all these horrible things against Israel and still walk in downtown Jerusalem. But when it comes to covering the Palestinian territories, the story is completely different. You can't wake up in the morning as a foreign journalist and drive on your own into a Palestinian village. You can't just show up and say “Good morning, I work for the New York Times, can I speak to Hamas please.” It doesn't work like that for a number of reasons. You don't know the language and need a translator. You don't know your way around. And most important, it's not safe.

So foreign journalists who want to cover stories in the Palestinian areas rely on fixers. And that's where I fit in. For the past twenty years or so I've been working as a fixer, translator, advisor – call it whatever you want – with most of the foreign media. And of course in this work with the international media I got myself a number of jobs, one of which I'm still doing. I even have colleagues here. For the past twenty years I've been working with NBC News, and I was blogging for Commentary Magazine also. I was writing for U.S. News and World Report, occasionally for the Wall Street Journal, and a number of British tabloids. In the course of this work with the international media I became a writer and analyst of Palestinian affairs and a film producer for the BBC.

About eight years ago, when the Second Intifada started, I started writing for the Jerusalem Post about Palestinian issues. And I still work with the international media. My job is to serve as the eyes and ears of the international media.

Some of you may be wondering what's going on with this guy who started working as a journalist for the PLO and ends up writing for a Jewish newspaper. Some people ask me “when did you become a Zionist? When did you become pro-Israel?” Well, I'm not pro-anything other than the facts and the truth. As a journalist I don't have any problem working for any newspaper that provides me with a platform. I don't care if it's Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or even Buddhist.

And to be honest with you, I find it ironic that as an Arab Muslim living in this part of the world that I have to work for a Jewish newspaper or for the international media in order to be able to practice any kind of real journalism. Why? Because we don't have any free media. In the Palestinian areas we didn't have it when I was working there in the 1970s and 1980s, we didn't get one when we brought Yasser Arafat in to start the Palestinian Authority, and of course we don't have a free media today under Fatah, Hamas, and the rest of the gangs that are running the show out there. And this is very sad.

Sometimes I wish the problem with the media was the only problem that we have over there, but as you all know it's a very messy situation. I'm one of those who has been arguing for the past fifteen years that things have been going in the wrong direction in this part of the world. For a few months after signing Oslo we reached the point where many Jews and many Arabs missed the good old days before the peace process began.

Now, what do I mean by that? Oslo was not bad. Oslo was based on the idea of a two-state solution and ending the military occupation in one way or another. So the idea of Oslo was not bad. Separation between Jews and Palestinians who did not want to live together. And as such I supported it. I thought it was a good idea.

But the way Oslo was implemented brought disaster on both Jews and Arabs. The assumption back then in the U.S., in Israel, and in many places in Europe, was that if you bring the PLO and thousands of PLO fighters and you dump them into the West Bank and Gaza and you give them millions of dollars and guns that they will do the dirty job of policing the West Bank and Gaza. They would replace the occupation and fight Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They would do all these wonderful things. Why? Because they're on our payroll.

So the international community and Israel gathered all these PLO fighters from around the world, released thousands of PLO fighters from Israeli prisons, gave them uniforms and guns, and called them security forces. And the result was the people who had never received any basic training, people who had never finished high school, became colonels and generals in Yasser Arafat's Authority. He established sixteen different security forces with the help of the Americans, the Europeans, and the Israelis. And they started pouring money into this regime that they called the Palestinian Authority. Billions of dollars with the hope that Arafat would deliver.

Now, there's no need to elaborate. As you all know, Arafat turned out to be a crook. Most of the money that was sent to the Palestinian Authority literally went down the drain and supported the shopping sprees of Arafat's wife who was living in Paris. Instead of building us a hospital, Arafat built a casino in Jericho, as if the Palestinian revolution aspired for forty years to get us a casino. And the chutzpah was that he built that casino across the street from a refugee camp. So Palestinians did not see the fruits of peace.

My argument is as follows. The fact that Arafat was crooked didn't surprise us Palestinians. We were only surprised by the fact that the international community kept giving him money and refused to hold him accountable when he stole our money. Why didn't they invest something? They didn't want to believe it.

When I tried to alert my foreign colleagues in 1995, 1996, and 1997, to the fact that there was corruption in the Palestinian Authority, many of them asked me if I was on the payroll of the Jewish Lobby. I wanted to know where was this Jewish Lobby? If there was one maybe they would pay me.

I told them: “This is what I am hearing. The writing is on the wall. Come and listen to what Palestinians are saying.” And they told me they weren't interested in that story. They told me they wanted anti-Israel stories because it made their lives so much easier. They told me they didn't want to write anything bad about Palestinians, that Arafat was a man of peace and should be given a chance. I heard this from major American journalists, by the way. Leading American journalists. I don't want to give you their names right now, but I was really frustrated. And angry.

Listen. For all these years we've been attacking the military occupation. So why is it that when I tell you something that Arafat is doing, suddenly you don't want to report it and think it's Jewish propaganda? Most of these journalists did not even want to make any effort.

By depriving these people of money, what did Arafat do? He radicalized the Palestinians who did not see the fruits of peace. So that's reason number one why Palestinian society is radicalized.

But there are other reasons. Reasons number two is that you gave Yasser Arafat guns so that he could kill Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but instead he directed those guns against anyone who said they wanted reform or democracy. Arafat used your guns, your weapons, provided by the United States of America, to suppress the leaders of a new leadership.

Let me give you an example. In 1997, 29 Palestinian professors signed a petition demanding Yasser Arafat end the corruption. They found themselves either shot or killed or thrown into jail or they had to run away from the country. And of course this is not a story you would see on CNN. I don't think even the New York Times reported that.

So Arafat cracked down on the reformists and the democrats and the people who wanted good government. And he sent the rest of the people into the open arms of Hamas. He cracked down on the reformists and he refused to crack down on Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Reason number three. You gave Yasser Arafat money to open a TV and radio station. And on this TV and radio station Arafat said “Jihad, jihad, kill the crusaders, kill the Jews, kill the infidels, kill everyone but me.” Now you may ask yourself why Arafat was inciting against his peace partners in Israel, why was he inciting against the Americans and Europeans who were feeding him? It doesn't make sense.

Well, to us it does make sense. This is how our Arab dictators survive. They constantly blame the miseries of our people on the Jews and the West and the Crusaders and the infidels and the Zionist lobby and the imperialists. They use all these slogans. Arab leaders always need to make sure that their people are busy hating somebody else, preferably the Jews and the Americans. Otherwise their people might rebel, and God forbid they might demand reforms and democracy.

This is exactly what Arafat did, but he did it in Arabic. The international community – and even Israelis – did not want to listen to what Arafat was saying in Arabic. They only cared what he said in English. They said that what he said in English was good.

I said “Excuse me, folks, but in Arabic Arafat is telling people to kill you.” But they did not want to listen to the incitement. They underestimated it. They said “you Arabs are all corrupt and don't know anything about democracy so you deserve a dictatorship.”

This incitement drove people into the open arms of Hamas. Arafat was telling people how evil the Jews are, and people then said “Hamas is right, Jews are the sons of monkeys and pigs. Why should we make peace with them?”

A fourth reason, which is a lot less important in my view, is that Israelis brought the PLO into the Palestinian areas, armed the PLO, helped create all these security militias and gangsters and mafias, and then said they needed to protect themselves from their peace partners. And how did they protect themselves? By imposing restrictions and curfews, by surrounding Palestinian communities with checkpoints. Why? Because they needed to protect themselves from the militias and mafias that they brought into the West Bank and Gaza. So Palestinians lost faith in the peace process.

All this radicalized Palestinian society to the point that when Hamas decided to run in free and democratic elections under the banner of “change” and “reform” they won. It was all very obvious. The writing was clear on the wall that anyone who challenged Arafat back then....believe me that if even Ehud Olmert had run in the Palestinian elections promising change and reform and democracy he would have won. Because in January of 2006, the parliamentary elections that were held in the Palestinian Authority were largely about internal reforms in the Palestinian areas. Hamas was ready to deliver. What did they do? They came to the Palestinians and said “Listen, folks. You've tried all these PLO people. They're corrupt. They're bad. Arafat was a thief. Abu Mazen is also a total failure. These guys stole your money. These guys are US agents, they are CIA. Why don't you try us now? We will show you that we can establish good government. And, by the way, look at what we've done for you since 1988. We've established a vast network of educational, social, health, and economic services. Arafat built a casino, and we built two universities. Arafat gave his wife 100,000 dollars a month so she can do her shopping while we gave poor people money. Arafat built bars and restaurants in Ramallah while we built orphanages and charities.” So the Palestinians said “Let's try Hamas. If they come to power there is nothing left to steal. They can't be more corrupt than the PLO.”

That was the basic line. I'm not saying all those who voted for Hamas in 2006 were registering a vote of protest. We have to be very careful. Hamas does have a lot of supporters. What I'm saying is that had it not been also a vote of protest against the PLO , Hamas would not have won. Why? Because I know Christians who voted for Hamas. I know centrist Palestinians who voted for Hamas. I even know PLO people who voted for Hamas because the name of the game back then was “Let's punish the PLO.” And how do you do it? By voting for Hamas, their main rivals. And it worked. And Hamas came to power.

What has been happening since then is also very interesting. The U.S. government, with the help of some Europeans and some Israelis, after Hamas won the election, they went to the guys who lost the election and said “folks, here are guns and here is some money. Go bring down this democratically elected government.” And what was the result of this U.S. meddling in Palestinian affairs? It backfired. It played into the hands of Hamas and even boosted Hamas' popularity on the street.

What did Palestinians think when they saw Condoleeza Rice and George W. Bush openly campaigning against this democratically elected government? Their sympathies went to this democratically elected government even though it was Hamas. And when Palestinians see PLO people, the Fatah people, openly conspiring with the Americans and the Israelis to bring down a democratically elected government, they're going to hate the PLO even more.

So U.S. and European meddling in Palestinian affairs in the aftermath of the Hamas victory further strengthened Hamas to the point where in June 2007 Hamas says “Everyone is trying to bring me down. No one is giving me a chance. The whole world is against me. You corrupt PLO people are conspiring against me. I won in a free and democratic election. If you don't believe me, ask Jimmy Carter. He supervised the election. What does everyone want from me?”

And they staged a coup. Some people call it a coup. They threw the Fatah people out of Gaza. Fewer than 10,000 Hamas fighters defeated more than 70,000 American-backed Fatah policemen. The question is, how did they do it?

The answer is very simple. As soon as Hamas started shooting, these people did not fight. They ran away. They surrendered to Hamas. They basically went to Hamas and said “No, no, Hamas, please. We will give you all the guns, everything. Just leave us alone.” And they ran away.

First they tried to run away toward Egypt. But Mubarak is not stupid. He sealed the border. I was there when it happened.

Israel was the only country in the world that sent troops and helicopters and gunships and ambulances to save Muslims from being slaughtered by Muslims, to save the PLO people from being slaughtered by Hamas. Israel took them and dumped them in the West Bank.

And where are we standing today? I told you before that I'm one of those people who support a two-state solution. I think it's a wonderful solution. But in the end we're getting a different kind of two-state solution. We have two separate entities. One in Gaza, and one in the West Bank.

The one in Gaza is an Islamic state run by Hamas and supported by Ahmadinejad, Syria, Hezbollah, and some people say Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. It's a very dangerous situation, and as a moderate Muslim that's the last place I want to live on this earth.

What we have in the West Bank is the secular, corrupt, powerless regime of the PLO. Abu Mazen, Abu Shmazen, all these Abus. The Arafat cronies who failed their people over the past fifteen years. Who lost the election in January 2006 because of the corruption. Who were kicked out of Gaza because they failed. Who have lost control over half the Palestinians who live in this part of the world. And they are sitting in Ramallah. These people are in power only thanks to the presence of the IDF in the West Bank. If the Israeli army were to leave the West Bank tomorrow morning these PLO people would collapse in five minutes and Hamas would take over.

The question we should ask ourselves in the wake of this scenario is whether or not there is really a partner on the Palestinian side for any deal, let alone a peace agreement. Any kind of deal. Is there really a partner on the Palestinian side? And the answer is simple. No.

Hamas is not a partner for any peace agreement because Hamas is not going to change. All these people who believe that Hamas will one day change its ideology, that pragmatic leaders will emerge in Hamas, these people are living under illusions. Hamas is not going to change. To their credit we must say that their message has been very clear. It's the same message in Arabic and in English. They're being very honest about it. They're saying “Folks, we will never recognize Israel. We will never change. We will not abandon the path of the resistance.” They're very clear about it.

After they won the election, by the way, the international community went to Hamas and said “Listen. If you want us to deal with you, accept Israel and everything will be okay.” And Hamas was very honest. They said “No. We are not going to renounce terrorism. We are not going to recognize previous agreements between Palestinians and Israel. And we are not going to recognize Israel's right to exist.” They were very clear about it. And they say the same thing today.

Ten days before the Hamas coup in Gaza I was invited by some U.S. diplomats to tell them about what was happening. I told them “Hamas is about to kick the PLO people out of Gaza because you are openly with the PLO and it has discredited them on the street. You're making them look like CIA agents.”

The U.S. diplomats said “You don't know what you're talking about. The PLO has 70,000 people. Who is Hamas? They will crush them. You will see.”

My prediction was not 100 percent accurate because I expected it to happen in three weeks. It happened ten days later. The writing was very clear on the wall.

There are so many things that are obvious in this part of the world that international leaders, diplomats, all these people in the West who are dealing with the Palestinian issue turn a blind eye to and don't want to see. Before we go to the Q&A and I take your questions, I want to give you one small example of how people in the West don't want to understand what's going on over here.

Before the January 2006 parliamentary election, the PLO people went to Condoleeza Rice and said “You are making a huge mistake by forcing us to go and have a free and democratic election. Our people don't trust us. We are corrupt and we will lose. Hamas will win. So please let's not hold an election. This is not the right time.”

“No, don't worry,” she said. “Let Hamas participate in the election. Hamas will not win. Everything will be okay.”

They asked her how she knew Hamas was not going to win. She said she warned the Palestinians that if they vote for Hamas, she will punish them.

That warning, by the way, gave Hamas ten more points in the election. Hamas took Rice's statement and made huge banners out of it that said Condoleeza Rice says no to Hamas.

So Rice, knowing that Hamas is a terrorist organization, did not set any preconditions for Hamas' participation in the election. Even in Israel, by the way, Hamas candidates were openly campaigning in Israel, in Jerusalem. In East Jerusalem, okay, but in Israel. They were campaigning openly. They were saying “reforms, democracy, and by the way we want to destroy Israel.”

What made Rice, after they won the election, say Hamas is a terrorist organization? Before the election they were not a terrorist organization? She bears responsibility for the fact that Hamas is in power. It was a huge mistake. Instead of learning from their mistakes after Hamas came to power, they continued with the same mistakes. And look at the mess we are in now.

I don't know how to solve this problem. Talking about a Palestinian state today is a joke. Where would that state be established? Israel controls nearly half of the West Bank. These PLO people can't deliver. If Israel gives up the West Bank, you will have to go to Cairo or Amman to take a flight back to America because snipers will be sitting on the hilltops above Ben-Gurion airport.

If you keep up this policy of supporting one party against the other, Gaza will move to the West Bank and we will end up with more anarchy and lawlessness and God knows what else is going to happen. It's a very unpleasant picture. It's very gloomy, I know.

Anthony Cordesman, Center for Strategic and International Studies: Let's see if we can steer this back to the Gaza issue. Given what you've said, what will the impact be on this fighting in Gaza and in the West Bank?

Khaled Abu Toameh: All those talking about how Hamas is finished or on the verge of collapse or that it's only a matter of time before the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip revolt against Hamas, I'm sorry to tell you that I don't share these assessments. Hamas may have suffered a major blow. Many of its institutions have been destroyed. It has been undermined in many ways. But what worries me is that Hamas still enjoys a lot of political support. Hamas continues to be as strong as it was in Gaza.

Why? I've been saying this for a long time: the only way to undermine Hamas and eventually bring about its collapse is to offer the Palestinians a greater alternative to Hamas. Not by bombing their headquarters and destroying their military arsenal. That's good, but it's not enough.

If I were the Americans and the Europeans after Hamas came to power, I would have gone to the PLO people who lost the election and, instead of giving them guns and money, I would have told them “Listen, folks. Hamas is in power because of your corruption, your mismanagement, and because you guys are thieves. Why don't you guys reform yourselves? Get rid of all these corrupt people in the PLO and Fatah. Form a youth party and challenge Hamas in the next election.” That's one way.

But I'm afraid that under the current circumstances Hamas is going to be around for a long time. Many Palestinians today will tell you that Mahmoud Abbas is a traitor, that all these people were actually in the IDF headquarters watching the war. Hamas is already saying that Mahmoud Abbas was passing information to the Israeli about the whereabouts of Hamas leaders.

These allegations are very serious, by the way. I don't know if you saw my story today in the Jerusalem Post about how Hamas in the past 48 hours has been waging a massive crackdown on Fatah in Gaza. They've killed or wounded maybe 100 Fatah people. They're dragging them into the streets and shooting them in the legs. They've even gouged the eyes of some of them out. Maybe you're going to have lunch later, so I don't want to go into graphic descriptions of what's happening to Fatah over there. But Fatah is really under attack, and I don't see anyone moving to save them.

I don't see a mass movement rising against Hamas. Not now. I've been talking to many people in Gaza. I haven't heard one person there blaming Hamas for the destruction of his house. I'm hearing a lot of voices against Israel and against the Arab states. And much of the anger is being directed against Mahmoud Abbas. This operation makes the moderate Arabs look like fools. It makes them look as if they were on the wrong side. When you have Al Jazeera, the most popular TV station in the Arab world, daily and nightly inciting against the Arab leaders and giving a platform for people who are saying our Arab leaders are traitors, that our Arab leaders are in collusion with the Israelis, that our Arab leaders were hoping to enter Gaza in Israeli tanks...you know, this is reverberating. Most of the protests on the Arab street in Cairo, in Khartoum, in Yemen, wherever you go, you will hear people chanting slogans against Arab leaders and Mahmoud Abbas before they chant slogans against Israel and America.

And now there's all this talk of bringing Mahmoud Abbas to Gaza. Excuse me, but if Mahmoud Abbas enters Gaza he will be executed in the public square within minutes. You have all these militias roaming the streets. Most of them weren't fighting. They were hiding. They became “civilians” as soon as the Israelis launched their attack. They were all in hiding or they were all dressed as civilians. When they were brought to hospitals they were without their guns. They were counted as civilians.

We don't know exactly what's happening over there, but I don't see any attempt by the local Palestinians or other forces to challenge Hamas openly.

Max Boot, Council on Foreign Relations: What about the Israeli expectation that with these attacks they will have established deterrence against Hamas? Do you think that's true?

Khaled Abu Toameh: Yes. Yes. Look. The West Bank was quiet during the attack in Gaza. Now, I was talking to many people. You know what they were saying? And this is the funny part. “You know what?” they said. “The Jews have gone mad. This is not the time to mess around with them.” And, you know, when you hear this from the man on the street, it really does create deterrence. I would rather see deterrence created in another way, but there is this perception on the Arab street today that the Jews have gone crazy, there are no more red lines, nothing, they don't care, and we should be careful. So in that sense, yes, there is some kind of deterrence, for the short term at least.

Before this war, four days before the war, I interviewed a number of Hamas guys. I published it in the Jerusalem Post. And the headline was Hamas Mocks Israel's Nonresponse to Qassam Attacks. What were they saying, the Hamas leaders? Basically that the Jews are cowards.

They think Israel ran away from Lebanon, that Hezbollah defeated them. They thought the Jews were scared and would not come into Gaza. They were really confident that Israel wouldn't fight back. Really. They were. They thought at most that Israel would send a few tanks into open fields just to calm Israeli public opinion. So the response really caught them by surprise, especially the first day.

So yes, there is this perception today in the Arab world that our neighbor has gone mad.

Anthony Cordesman: I was in the West Bank this summer, and it's amazing what they've achieved even though an awful lot of that money is still going to senior officials and not to the Palestinian people.

Khaled Abu Toameh: The other day someone came for the first time ever to this part of the world, and he called me and asked me to take him to Ramallah. So I drove him to downtown Ramallah and we stopped there. The man was shocked. He said “Where are the refugee camps? Where are the mud houses? Where's the poverty?”

I said “Why are you asking me these questions?”

He said “I'm shocked. Look how nice it is.”

You know, there are things that are contradictory and don't make sense over there. Some of the restaurants in Ramallah are more expensive than the restaurants in Tel Aviv. There are people with a lot of money.

The corruption hasn't been stopped, but it has been reduced. Some Americans and Europeans continue to pour money on the PLO people without holding them accountable under the pretext that this money will produce a moderating effect.

Max Boot: There does seem to be this sense that the West Bank has been doing better economically.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Yes.

Max Boot: Does that translate into better politics?

Khaled Abu Toameh: No.

Mario Loyola, National Review Magazine: One American strategy in the Bush Administration's foreign policy has been to make conditions in the West Bank so much better than in Gaza that the people in Gaza start to say, “Look, it's better under Fatah.”

Khaled Abu Toameh: They are saying that. But at the end of the day they're not going to vote for Fatah. Why? Look. People won't do that for two reasons, or they will vote for Hamas for two reasons.

One, Hamas is not corrupt in power, they didn't steal money. No one gave them a chance, so Palestinians won't hold it against them. Hamas are victims in the eyes of the Palestinians. And as such people's sympathies go to Hamas.

Two, when they look at the PLO guys, all these Abus sitting in Ramallah, they don't see any change. They don't see that the PLO people, the Fatah people, have drawn any conclusions from their own defeat. Fatah has been trying to hold internal elections for the past eighteen years, and they've failed. Mahmoud Abbas promised to hold general elections inside Fatah, two years ago, three years ago, fours years ago. The power struggle between the old guard and the young guard inside Fatah has been ongoing. People look at Fatah and don't see that there is a viable alternative to Hamas.

General Tom McInerney, Fox News Military Analyst: Is there a solution to this problem?

Khaled Abu Toameh: You Americans are always asking us that. Why are Americans always asking me if there is a solution? A solution to what?

Michael J. Totten: The whole thing.

Khaled Abu Toameh: What is the whole thing?

Anthony Cordesman: Is there anything useful that could be done this year?

Khaled Abu Toameh: Listen. Look. We must stop dreaming about the New Middle East and coexistence and harmony and turning this area into Hong Kong and Singapore. If anyone thinks a Palestinian will wake up in the morning and sing the Israeli national anthem, that's not going to happen. If anyone thinks an Israeli Jew will go back to doing his shopping in downtown Ramallah or to see his dentist in Bethlehem or eat fish in Gaza City, that's not going to happen. There has been a total divorce between Jews and Palestinians. We don't want to see each other.

I think that's good. Separation is good. Separation doesn't need harmony and coexistence. Forget about that. That's not going to happen. Let's focus on managing the conflict. Instead of talking about real peace, let's first of all try to stop the violence, reduce the level of bloodshed, and maybe that will pave the way for future peace. The only solution now is total separation between these two communities. Israel should not be involved in the internal affairs of the Palestinians, but at the same time Israel has the right to look after its own security. They should disengage from the Palestinians completely and tell them, “Listen, folks. Don't mess around with us anymore. We're going to strike back if you fire rockets at us. And if you want to have Hamas, Fatah, or whomever, go and do it over there without our help.” That's the only way. I don't see a real peace emerging over here. We should stop talking about it.

Max Boot: But earlier you said that if Israel disengages from the West Bank, Hamas will be in power in five minutes.

Khaled Abu Toameh: I mean the Israelis should disengage under the proper circumstances. Under the current circumstances, they should not disengage. Only if they have a partner on the Palestinian side.

Max Boot: The circumstances aren't going to change any time soon.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Yes. Okay. So don't do anything. You know what? Some Israelis ask me what they should do. I say “Nothing. You just sit there. And wait.”

If I were an Israeli Jew I would go to the Palestinians and say “Listen, folks. I'm prepared to give you a Palestinian state and the Israeli majority approves of that, not because we love the Palestinians, but because we want to be rid of the Palestinians.”

There's a majority of Jews today who want to disband most of the settlements and take only two percent of the West Bank. My Israeli Jewish friends say to me, “You know, Khaled. You Arabs can take whatever you want. Just leave us alone. It's no longer a territorial dispute for us. We'll give you anything you want if you just go and leave us alone.” Some of them even go further than that. Some of them say “Just leave us Tel Aviv, the airport, and the beach.”

In the wake of these positive changes that have happened inside Israel, all you need is a strong partner on the Palestinian side. There is some hope, but only if there is a strong partner on the Palestinian side.

General Tom McInerney: But not Hamas.

Khaled Abu Toameh: I don't care. If I were Israeli I would talk to any Palestinian who wants to talk to me, and I would shoot any Palestinian who shoots at me. I wouldn't ask if they were Hamas. You know what? Believe me, if you listen to Hamas and Fatah in Arabic there isn't much of a difference, especially these days. Fatah fought alongside Hamas in Gaza. Today they said they lost 36 fighters and fired 900 rockets at Israel. Fatah.

Mario Loyola: Hamas pretends its casualties are lower, and Fatah pretends its casualties are higher.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Look. Look. As I said before, let's stop saying “Fatah” and “Hamas.” Talk to anyone who wants to talk. Talking to Hamas does not mean that you recognize Hamas or that they become your buddies. The funny thing is that Israel went to war against a party that it doesn't recognize. And in the end Israel made a cease-fire unilaterally and negotiated with the Americans and the Egyptians for how to end it. And Hamas is still sitting there.

There's nothing wrong with Israel talking to Hamas if they want a ceasefire. Israelis can't ignore the fact that Hamas is in power. And Hamas continues to enjoy tremendous support over there.

Dr. Barry Posen, MIT Security Studies Program: I'm interested in going back a couple of steps and asking for your assessment of Hamas' strategy to let the ceasefire lapse and accelerate the firing of rockets. You already mentioned that they miscalculated the Israeli reaction, but what were they hoping to benefit? And what does that tell us about deterring Hamas in the future?

Khaled Abu Toameh: I think this is something many people in Israel and the West don't hear. I hear it in Arabic, and I hear it directly from them.

Dr. Barry Posen: That's why I'm asking you.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Just before the ceasefire expired, Hamas went to Egypt and said “Listen, folks. We agreed to the previous ceasefire because you, the Egyptians, promised us you would open the Rafah border crossing. And it didn't happen. And we, Hamas, were committed to this. We did our best to honor the ceasefire.”

Okay, there were some violations here and there, but Hamas did in a way honor the ceasefire. They arrested people who were firing at Israel.

Mubarak said “To hell with it. I'm not going to open the Rafah border crossing unless you allow Mahmoud Abbas to come back into Gaza. Do whatever you want. I'm under pressure from the Israelis, the Americans, and Mahmoud Abbas not to open the Rafah border crossing.”

Mahmoud Abbas went to Mubarak before the ceasefire expired and said “President Mubarak, please don't reopen the Rafah border crossing because that will strengthen Hamas. If you want it to be open, only give it back to me in line with the 2005 US-brokered agreement.”

And so, if you think about it, Mahmoud Abbas and Hosni Mubarak bear indirect responsibility for this war. When Hamas saw that they weren't going to open the borders, Hamas said “To hell with the ceasefire” and started firing rockets again. Israel reacted and now we are where we are today.

So now we are back to square one. Hamas is still making the same demand. They said “Okay, we agree to a ceasefire, but reopen the border.” They keep saying “reopen the border.”

Max Boot: Do you think there is going to be any change in Mubarak's attitude? Is he going to do anything to help out that he wasn't doing before?

Khaled Abu Toameh: No. We're back to square one. Look. For Mubarak it's better if these weapons go into Gaza and kill Jews, because if these weapons don't go into Gaza to kill Jews they might end up on the streets of Cairo. They might end up in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Smuggling is a business. We're doing Hamas an injustice by saying they're the ones who established the tunnels. These tunnels have been there since 1967. In the 1970s I visited some of the tunnels. In the 1980s I visited the tunnels. When Arafat was there I visited the tunnels. These tunnels are part of the culture. It's a cultural thing over there. If you have your own tunnel it's like you have your own business. Hamas now takes taxes and gives people a license to build their tunnel.

Listen. The Egyptians are hypocrites. They are busy killing African refugees who are trying to get asylum in Israel. They opened fire on an African mother and son who were trying to run away from Sudan and were trying to seek refuge inside Israel. I haven't heard that the Egyptians are destroying tunnels or anything. I haven't heard it.

Dr. Barry Posen: What was Hamas' theory about how the rocket fire would work? Was the rocket fire meant to being hawks to power in the election here? Were they trying to bring back attention? Were they trying to affect Israeli-Egyptian elections? Because in a weird way it seems to me that this war had a funny objective, that both Israelis and Hamas were fighting for Egypt.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Look. I believe this war could have been prevented. Really. Had we gone to Hosni Mubarak and the Americans and said “Okay, let's forget about the 2005 agreement. Let's come up with a new agreement.” Hamas would have agreed to have some Palestinian Authority representatives at the border in return. But no one wanted to listen. They all said “Bring down Hamas, bring down Hamas.”

To answer your question, Hamas thought that if they fire rockets at Israel that the Israeli public would revolt and start complaining and would go to their leaders and say “Go and find some kind of solution.” Israelis don't want war and can't afford to have war on the eve of elections. So they thought the Israeli public would revolt, that the Egyptian government would come back and negotiate a new ceasefire of Hamas' terms. They really thought these rockets would bring about some kind of international response or a response from the Israeli public.

Mario Loyola: Isn't violence for Hamas both a means and an end?

Khaled Abu Toameh: Of course. Of course. But in this specific case they used the rockets to put pressure on Israel and the West and the Egyptians with the hope that they could extract some concessions. Hamas believes they have created a balance of terror with Israel, and they're trying to imitate Hezbollah.

Anthony Cordesman: What are Palestinian attitudes going to be toward Iran and Syria? And what are Palestinians going to think about Europeans?

Khaled Abu Toameh: First of all, Hamas and Fatah are fighting over who is going to receive the international aid. This is very bad, and they are already accusing each other of stealing some of the aid that has come in from the West and from the Arab countries.

Now Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, the Muslim Brotherhood, all these people are playing a very negative role in this part of the world. Iran did not want Hamas to sign the ceasefire. Iran wants to fight to the last Palestinian. And they will do it through Hamas, through Hezbollah. They have their own agenda, these Iranians. Hamas could not have taken control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 had it not been for support from Iran and Syria. They had logistical and financial support, which means weapons. Most of the weapons coming into Gaza are being financed by Iran and facilitated by Syria.

So how do the Palestinians relate to them? They are some Palestinians who will tell you that the Iranians are bad, that we don't want them meddling in our affairs, look what they've done, these Iranians and Syrians are responsible for the divisions among Palestinians, they are inciting Hamas. Others will tell you they welcome Iran. There are mixed views. But I don't think the majority would like to see aid from Norway, Switzerland, or Canada instead of from Iran and Hezbollah.

Post-script: If my work from the Middle East is worth something to you, please consider a contribution and help make independent reporting economically viable. More dispatches are coming from Iraq, from Lebanon, and from the border with Gaza.

Hamas vs Israel

2009-01-15T12:15:00.000-08:00

Here in St. Paul we have the wonderful opportunity to witness students and protesters from local colleges snarl traffic on Snelling and Summit accusing the Israeli's of being terrorists, of being responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent children, and the perpetrator of the entire conflict. To placate my frustration at an inability to counter those demonstrators I offer a piece of international reporting from Melanie Phillips:

When asked at Monday’s press conference whether UNRWA was indeed a Hamas front John Ging, UNRWA’s Director of Operations in Gaza, stalled:

He was ‘just not going to answer’ allegations that UNRWA had been infiltrated by Hamas. No evidence had ever been provided by any authority, at any level. Absolutely no official allegation had been made.

It is left to those in Israel who are aghast at the vicious moral inversion of the west’s response to the Gaza crisis to put events into context. Thus Ben Dror Yemini writes ironically:

The refugees believed they found safe haven. They were wrong. The air strike didn't spare their lives. Over 100 were killed. This is not an account of the tragic bombing of the UN school in Gaza. This is the story of the bombing of Korisa in the former Yugoslavia, the strikes carried out by NATO planes, which took place nearly 10 years ago on May 13th 1999. There are other accounts of this type of catastrophe. On April 12th NATO planes killed, accidentally of course, 12 civilians. April 14th saw the death of 70 refugees. On April 27, 16 civilians were killed. On May 1st, 23 civilians were killed when a bus was bombed. On May 6th, 16 were killed by a cluster bomb. On May 19th, a Belgrade hospital was bombed, 3 dead. May 30th saw 11 die when a bridge was bombed. On the very same day an old age home was hit and 20 residents were killed. The next day 11 more died. About the same time, the Chinese embassy was bombed, and a misdirected missile flew 30 miles off course and hit the Bulgarian Capital of Sofia. ‘It was a mistake, sorry’ was the NATO spokesperson's standard response.

This is what happens during war. It is sad and lamentable. Europeans are not called upon to cast their memory all the way back to the bombing of Dresden; all they need is to look back to events that happened less than a decade ago, ere they start wagging their admonitory finger at Israel. Because Israel has not killed, nor will it kill, even a tenth of the number of innocent deaths incurred by European democracies in just wars... Thousands of Taliban fighters die each year as compared with ‘just’ a few tens of European soldiers. Hundreds or thousands of civilians die in Afghanistan, as compared to zero civilian casualties in Europe. So you, in Europe, purport to lecture to us, Israelis, about war ethics and ‘proportional responses?’ Are you for real?

In a magisterial analysis, Professor Haim Harari of the Weizmann Institute ponders the way Israel is actually behaving in Gaza and the way this is being so wickedly misrepresented by the western media:

During the current operation, when the Israeli Air Force wants to blow up a house which serves as a missile storage, Israel phones every family in the house and gives them 15 minutes to evacuate. The Hamas is then sending the women and children to the roof of the building in order to prevent the Israeli aircraft from making the kill. Israel has now developed a tiny arrow-like missile which can be sent to the corner of the roof, making a loud noise and harming no one, in order to scare away the women and children on the roof, before the real bomb destroys the missile collection or the explosive storage place. Often, the women and children used by the Hamas as a human shield, escape and the house is then blown up, with a spectacular secondary explosion of the stored missiles or other war materials. On other occasions, a Hamas person gets to the roof and prevents the women and children from leaving. In those cases, the operation is not completed by the Israeli Air Force, in order to spare civilian lives, at the risk of having the rockets launched into Israel on the following day.

Never in history, has any country made such an enormous effort to avoid civilian casualties, in fighting against murderers who target only civilians and never anything else.No one in Kosovo, Serbia, Georgia or Iraq, was offered such a courtesy by the bombing and attacking powers. This fact is never mentioned by the western media. Many of the heroic commanders of the Hamas are hiding in the central hospital of Gaza, in an elaborate network of bunkers, trusting that Israel will not attack the hospital. Hamas spokesmen issue proclamations from the maternity ward of the same hospital, knowing that Israel will not hit them there.

...But the same western media repeatedly show the pictures of injured or dead children, some of whom were indeed accidentally injured or killed by the Israeli attacks on military and terror targets, and some are obviously fake pictures with red paint smeared on children faces. At least in one case, the same child, obviously painted and not injured, has been paraded in front of various TV cameras by several different men, each declared to be his father by a different network.

Children and innocent civilians are, indeed, killed and injured, in spite of all the enormous precautions and efforts of the Israeli forces. This is truly tragic. But the only alternative for Israel is to sit still, absorb the thousands of missiles on its civilian population and wait for bigger, deadlier and longer range missiles to start destroying everything in Israel. Israel is offered a choice between a complete national suicide, on one hand, and an attack on the terrorists, with extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties, but with the knowledge that such casualties must occur when the other side is using children as human shields, storing explosives in mosques, shooting mortars from schools and hiding the perpetrators in hospitals.

stranger II

2009-01-13T13:54:00.000-08:00

It's an interesting path we walk, twists and turns, unexpected changes, generally speaking you never know what's going to happen next. So I have this nice long post about how we don't watch much TV. Which is true. But what do we do for Christmas? We use some gift money to buy a new HDTV, 23", and some cables to make the Wii look better with the newer technology. And a new antenna so we can if we choose, watch the nonsense in Hi-Def. Including the pathetic Vikings.

Since we watch mostly movies it has been a great upgrade to the old TV. And we finally subscribed to NetFlix instead of heading off to the atrocious local alternatives. We had to play with aspect ratios and other settings, but mostly it's worked out well.

Interestingly enough, some of my kids have had extensive TV watching elsewhere and have come to my side about TV viewing. Some have not. But the new technology will actually help me control the TV viewing because it requires the new antenna to receive analog broadcasts, sticking a pin or hanger in the port won't work anymore.

But I draw the line at getting Cable or Dish. NO WAY.

The Stranger

2008-12-08T11:47:00.001-08:00

It's been awhile (again) since I posted. So it's about time. I came across this article today, and thought it very pertinent. The rest of my remarks are afterwards.

"The Stranger"

"A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small Tennessee town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.

As I grew up I never questioned his place in our family. In my young mind, each member had a special niche. My brother, Bill, five years my senior, was my example. Fran, my younger sister, gave me an opportunity to play 'big brother' and develop the art of teasing. My parents were complementary instructors-- Mom taught me to love the word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it.

But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spell-bound for hours each evening.

If I wanted to know about politics, history, or science, he knew it all. He knew about the past, understood the present, and seemingly could predict the future. The pictures he could draw were so life like that I: would often laugh or cry as I watched.

He was Iike a friend to the whole family. He took Dad, Bill and me to our first major league baseball game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several movie stars. My brother and I were deeply impressed by John Wayne in particular.

The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn' t seem to mind-but sometimes Mom would quietly get up-- while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places-- go to her room, read her Bible and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave.

You see, my dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt obligation to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house-- not from us, from our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used occasional four letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted. My dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in his home - not even for cooking. But the stranger felt 1ike we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often.

He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (probably too much too freely) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes sugestive, and generally embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of the man-woman relationship were influenced by the stranger,

As I look back, I believe it was the grace of God that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents. Yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave.

More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the young family on Morningside Drive. He is not nearly so intriguing to my Dad as he was in those early years. But if I were to walk into my parents' den today, you would still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name? We always just called him TV."

-Told by Keith Currie

__________

We made a decision awhile ago to pretty much not have a TV in the house. We watch movies on a computer hooked up to a large monitor, and I even purchased a USB device so we could transfer some tapes to DVD. We only really brought a "TV" able to receive actual broadcasts, back into the house when we purchased a Wii.

I occasionally catch the kids sticking a fork into the tuner to watch cartoons, or some TV shows. But then they catch heck, and we don't watch anything for awhile. During the football season we have the TV on more to watch the Sunday game. Or sometimes the Monday night game. And my kids sit with me. As we watch the commercials of the regular trash, I have the discussion again, about why we don't watch TV. There's really not much value in even the news. Certainly in my mind, and many disagree with me, there's not much good that warrants wading through the bad.

And I don't think my kids suffer for it. They sometimes feel left out of some conversations because we don't see the shows other students see. And some kids that watch the shows really don't have a problem. But I have multiple age groups in the house. And what MIGHT be marginally ok for the older teens is certainly not ok for the younger. But they aren't getting seperate TV's for their rooms, so too bad.

I'm such an overbearing, stuck in the mud dad.

the onion - obama win

2008-11-12T06:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's good to have other friends perusing the web, otherwise we wouldn't come upon things like this, courtesy of Stephanie Rumpza:
The onion

or this, courtesy of Abe Olson:
Businessweek

Since the election I've been trying to have conversations with people I know voted for Obama and understand why he was an acceptable choice. It's an interesting discussion. I still can't reconcile the notion that millions of Catholics voted for a radically pro-abortion candidate. My youngest kids came home the day before the election and said their class voted 80% for Obama, at a Catholic gradeschool! And of course, they did as well. Before they talked to dad. The next day they went in and convinced at least one other person to vote for McCain. Kids understand abortion.

Neuhaus - Election/Freedom of Religion

2008-10-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

So I'm doing the unusual, I'm reprinting here an article from First Things. Here's the link to the original FirstThings article.

In the People of Praise, and in the Catholic denomination, there are Obama supporters. I just want you to understand the implications of your vote. The Obama positions listed here are a matter of public record, you can look them up if you care to.

_________________________________________________________________________

Why this Election is About the Freedom of Religion

By Richard John Neuhaus
Friday, October 31, 2008, 12:01 AM

One can argue that every presidential election is a “historic” election. But some are more historic than others. Daniel Henninger had a provocative column yesterday making a strong case that this one is a “tipping point” between America continuing as an entrepreneurial society or going the way of the European “social democracies.” He cites the late Senator Pat Moynihan who said the big difference between Europe and America is that the former gives priority to equality and the latter to liberty. I’m not sure that Henninger is right in saying there would be no turning back after four or eight years of President Obama and an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress imposing their passion for a government-directed program of redistribution and social coordination, but the future he depicts is both plausible and ominous.

There is another dimension of this ideological passion for the expansion of government control that is at least equally worrying. It has to do with the freedom of religion in the American constitutional order and the indispensable part that religion plays in checking the ambitions of the modern democratic state. Obama has said that he thinks it is “tragic” that the Supreme Court has declined to advance the cause of redistributive justice. That refers, of course, to economic redistribution. But the language of healing divisions and bringing us all together—under government auspices—applies also to the social dynamics of American society.

There are several issues, all closely related to religion, on which Obama, for all his undoubtedly sincere talk about his own faith and the importance of religion in public life, is manifestly hostile to the vibrant diversity of American life. The first is abortion, of course. The protection of innocent human life should not be seen as an exclusively religious concern, for it is grounded in scientifically-informed moral reason that should be compelling to all. Nonetheless, the pro-life cause is largely driven by the religiously motivated.

Obama makes no secret of his intention to shut down that cause and disenfranchise the millions who are committed to the abolition of the abortion license imposed by Roe. This is evident beyond doubt by his repeated and enthusiastic endorsement of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would, among other things, eliminate all state regulation of abortions—such as informed consent and parental notification—and provide government funding for abortions. FOCA aims to extinguish once and for all the single issue in American public life on which the free exercise of religion has had greatest potency in the last several decades of our history. Similar dynamics are in play in the court-imposed laws favoring same-sex marriage, of which Obama has expressed his approval, such as the California ruling now being fiercely contested in a referendum.

Consider also Obama’s consistent hostility to parental choice in education, even though for millions of African-Americans in our cities having an alternative to the failed government school system is their only hope for a decent education. Parental choice in education is by no means an exclusively religious concern, but religious and moral concerns are typically pronounced among supporters of charter schools, vouchers, and homeschooling. Here again, Senator Obama, in lock-step with the public-school teachers’ unions, is the champion of monism against pluralism in American society.

Then there is his position on the faith-based social initiatives advanced by George W. Bush. Obama says he favors such initiatives, but he also insists that faith-based institutions using government funds must not be permitted to “discriminate” in their hiring policies. This would, quite simply, mean the end of such institutions being faith-based. If an institution is not free to choose leaders who affirm its guiding and motivating mission, it is, in fact, forced to surrender that mission. That applies to any institution, but in this case it clearly violates the free exercise of religion by those for whom the most important thing in faith-based is faith. It is fatuous to say they are not forced to accept government funds. If they are denied government funds because they are determined to maintain their religious character, that is clearly discrimination against religion. Nobody suggests that Planned Parenthood, which also receives government funding, should be disqualified because it refuses to hire leaders who oppose abortion.

On these and other issues, Senator Obama is an ideological statist, determined to impose a monist vision on a pluralistic society. Although some were more explicit about it than others, the American Founders understood that religious freedom is the foundation of all the other freedoms they intended to protect. It is not entirely by accident that the first freedom mentioned in the First Amendment is the freedom of religion.

To contend for the free exercise of religion is to contend for the perpetuation of a nation that is, in Lincoln’s words, “so conceived and so dedicated.” It is to contend for the hope “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Despite the perverse jurisprudence of recent decades, most Americans still say with the Founders, “We hold these truths.” And, with the Founders, they understand those truths to be inseparably tied to religion, both in their origin and in their continuing power to elicit assent.

This is not to say that the founding truths cannot be supported for reasons unrelated to identifiably religious warrants. They can be. But in their origins and continuing power to elicit popular adherence, they are inseparable from religion. Remove that foundation and we remove the deepest obligation binding the American people to this constitutional order.

The words from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, under God, were added to the Pledge of Allegiance only in 1954, but, as recent debates over removing those words have made clear, for most Americans they are inseparably connected to their understanding of this constitutional order. There are those who make no secret of their wish that the American people were not as religious as they are. One is reminded of the observation of the playwright Berthold Brecht. After the June 1953 uprising in East Germany, the secretary of the communist party’s writers union distributed leaflets declaring that the people had lost the confidence of the government and it would take redoubled efforts to win it back. To which Brecht responded, “Would it not be easier in that case for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?” Church-state decisions by the Supreme Court, and by the judiciary more generally, sometimes seem to be aimed at replacing this inconveniently religious people with another people more to its secular fancy. His rhetoric about the importance of religion notwithstanding, these are the decisions that, whether explicitly or by logical inference, Senator Obama supports—only adding that he wants a more interventionist judiciary to press for their full implementation.

The free exercise of religion can be inconvenient, and sometimes more than inconvenient. Sometimes—reluctantly, and in cases of supreme and overriding public necessity—the claim to free-exercise protection for certain actions must be denied. Where such lines should be drawn is a matter of both constitutional law and democratic deliberation. It is sometimes simply a matter of prudence, civility, and common sense that does not require the invocation of high constitutional doctrine. In this age and this country, as Lincoln might say, the limits on the free exercise of religion must themselves be legitimated to the satisfaction of those who care, and care deeply, about religion.

We have in this last half century drifted far from the constituting vision of this novus ordo seclorum. The free exercise of religion is the irreplaceable cornerstone of that order. In his famed Memorial and Remonstrance, James Madison wrote: “It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society.” The last line bears repeating: This duty is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. That is the truth that the Religion Clause is intended to protect from the overweening ambitions of the modern state.

The great problem today is not the threat that religion poses to public life, but the threat that the state, presuming to embody public life in its entirety, poses to religion. The entire order of freedom, including all the other freedoms specified in the Bill of Rights, is premised upon what Madison calls the precedent duty that is signaled and sustained by religion. When the American people can no longer publicly express and give public effect to their obligations to the Creator, it is to be feared that they will no longer acknowledge their obligations to one another—nor to the Constitution in which the obligations of freedom are enshrined. The word enshrined is used advisedly.

Those who belong to what St. Augustine called the City of God on its pilgrim way through time are careful not to sacralize any temporal order short of their destination in the New Jerusalem. Along the way, however, as the prophet Jeremiah counseled the Israelites in Babylonian exile, we seek the peace of the temporal city in which we find also our provisional peace. In this penultimate world of temporal orders, the First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom touches upon the sacred. Upon its vigorous defense rests the hope of novus ordo seclorum—the hope that this experiment in representative democracy may be a new order for the ages.

I am sure that Senator Obama shares that hope. I am also sure that—based on his above-mentioned positions and his enthusiasm for a monistic and government-directed rather than pluralistic and free society—he does not begin to understand why that hope depends on the first freedom of the First Amendment, the freedom of religion.

Richard John Neuhaus is editor in chief of First Things.

References:
The True Meaning of “Historic Vote,” by Daniel Henninger

American Thinker article.

2008-10-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

As the election approaches I'd suggest some interesting reading. It's a bit long but very good. You may not agree with it's conclusions but I think no one will go away without thinking about the elections differently.

American Thinker - Walid Phares

Nathan is 14 today

2008-10-09T09:25:00.000-07:00

The name Nathan means Gift of God, or more formally, He(God) has given. I distinctly remember thinking about the circumstances of his conception and how appropriate this name would be. He was literally a gift of God to us when, already blessed with two beautiful girls, we weren't thinking of having another child for awhile.

Nathan has many wonderful talents and gifts. He loves to talk, not just about typical 14 year old issues, but is quite capable of having in-depth discussions on just about anything. I remember a discussion between Nathan and an older sibling about Robin Hood, the morality of his actions, and what God might think about them. That conversation was at least 3 years ago. You can watch his mind go through a conversation and see him make logical connections to different tangents. Getting him to slow down and really thing about those tangents is an evolving aptitude. He did win an award last year in speech club for his ability to take a tabletop discussion and consistently present a compelling argument for his position.

Musically he's very gifted. While his primary instrument is currently the violin, he has a wonderful voice and a good ear for pitch. I love hearing him really get into playing a difficult piece with good intonation. Athis recitals he sometimes plays a duet with his instructor and it really develops in me an appreciation for the instrument and the broad variety of styles the violin can cover. Playing with the Trinity Orchestra is teaching him how to play in an ensemble which will provide him opportunities far beyond his HS experiences. Now we need to find him a full size violin to encourage him to persevere with the instrument. Lessons and orchestra take a lot of time which leaves him sometimes frustrated at not being able to do other things.

Like most young men, Nathan has some athletic abilities. He can play just about any sport at some level. He would love to play football but since Trinity doesn't have a team it's not really an option. Soccer and wrestling are his primary interests, wrestling probably his better sport. It's an awesome thing to watch him get intense at a match and just flip a guy on his back and pin him. He bought his first weight set a week ago and is starting to put the effort into sports training that will be required at the HS varsity level.

I think Nathan has a great sense of what is good and true, and beautiful. While undergoing all the emotional twists that adolescence brings, he know, knows, in his heart the truth about most issues and circumstances. That makes some conversations very easy. It provides a foundation for more difficult discussions over extended periods. He exhibits great perseverance in adversity, and demonstrates a willingness to lay down his preferences when necessary.

As you can tell, I'm a bit proud of my oldest son. It's an emotional roller coaster having children and trying to raise them and guide them and see them move from toddlers through preschool to their emergence as the fine young men and women. And Nathan is on that path. But he's still young enough to sit with me this past week on the couch and just veg and watch a movie together. With copious amounts of popcorn of course. Now when he want the car keys.......

Happy Birthday Nathan. I love you.

TC 10 mile recap

2008-10-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I ran in the Twin Cities 10 mile run, the precursor to the serious Marathon runners. We start at roughly the same place but, as the shirt says, the 10 mile is the "short cut to the capital" and is all I can handle at my current level. It may be all I ever handle. I was beat after only 10, I can't imagine running 26.

My wife dropped me off at about 6:45 for the 7:13 start. A slight mist but I left my jacket in the car. I get to the starting line and bend down to tighten my shoes and observe that, with less than 20 minutes to start, I have the wrong shoes on. Lovely. The one major piece of equipment for runners and I have the wrong shoes. Fortunately I can run in them its just not as good for my feet or my body. They're fairly new cross-trainer type shoes but lack the cushion my asics have. It's one of those "nothing I can do about it now" moments. Either I run in these or don't run at all.

I'm in the third corral cause I'm poky. Actually, I'm recovering from an injury and I knew I wasn't going to be very fast so it's fine with me. It just worries me that instead of starting in the first corral, I have fewer people behind me and the real possibility of finishing last crosses my mind.

But the calf doesn't bother me too much, I run a nice easy race actually finishing ahead of last year when I was sick the week before the race. The rain held off until I was in the chute after the finish line waiting for my banana and bread, water, a medal and tinfoil rap (to keep you warm), picking up my end-of-race goody bag that had all kinds of snacks in it, and most importantly, the finishers t-shirt.

And I realized that no, I didn't bring my bus card so I could get home, I brought my security card for the office. No bus fare! Fortunately the 21a driver was kind and let me on for the .50c that I had in reserve to call my wife in an emergency.

It's interesting to watch the various individuals running, some in incredible shape (to run that is) and some in incredible shape that still manage to run 10 miles. I saw Elvis! And a guy running holding the American flag. People holding in-depth conversations while passing me. Thousands of spectators standing in the rain cheering us on.

It was a good race. Not necessarily fun because with my leg injury I couldn't run as fast as I'd hoped for. And the recovery period for these things keeps getting longer. It's Tuesday after the race and I'm still hobbling around like an old man who forgot his arthritis medicine. But it's a good race. A beautiful race. I may run again next year.

presidential quotes regarding banking

2008-10-02T09:59:00.001-07:00

Here are a series of quotes from US Presidents regarding banking. In times like these with the markets fluctuating, the economy wavering, I think the best response is to pray more, and say as St. Ignatius did (and I'm cheating here - I copied this from the web - translation at the end - sort of a challenge for you Trinity grads):

Suscipe, Domine, universam meam libertatem. Accipe memoriam, intellectum, atque voluntatem omnem. Quidquid habeo vel possideo mihi largitus es; id tibi totum restituo, ac tuae prorsus voluntati trado gubernandum. Amorem tui solum cum gratia tua mihi dones, et dives sum satis, hec aliud quidquam ultra posco.

_____________________________________________________________________

Quotes are from David Haase, libertarian party candidate in Alaska

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks...will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.

... The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating. -Thomas Jefferson

History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance. -James Madison

If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations. -Andrew Jackson

The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity. -Abraham Lincoln

Issue of currency should be lodged with the government and be protected from domination by Wall Street. We are opposed to...provisions [which] would place our currency and credit system in private hands. - Theodore Roosevelt

Despite these warnings, Woodrow Wilson signed the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. A few years later he wrote: I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men. -Woodrow Wilson

Years later, reflecting on the major banks' control in Washington, President Franklin Roosevelt paid this indirect praise to his distant predecessor President Andrew Jackson, who had "killed" the 2nd Bank of the US (an earlier type of the Federal Reserve System). After Jackson's administration the bankers' influence was gradually restored and increased, culminating in the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Roosevelt knew this history.

The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial
element in the large centers has owned the government ever since
the days of Andrew Jackson... -Franklin D. Roosevelt
(in a letter to Colonel House, dated November 21, 1933)

_____________________________________________________________________

Receive, O Lord, all my liberty. Take my memory, my understanding, and my entire will. Whatsoever I have or possess Thou hast bestowed upon me; I give it all back to Thee and surrender it wholly to be governed by Thy Will. Give me love for Thee alone along with Thy grace, and I am rich enough and ask for nothing more.

from http://www.secondexodus.com/html/prayers/suscipe.htm

“Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will — all that I have and call my own. You have given it all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me.”

alternate translation found at http://susanjoan.wordpress.com/

one busy woman

2008-09-30T13:56:00.001-07:00

I stumbled (literally, if you haven't used stumble! you should) across an article that described some of the things Cindy McCain has done in her life. I don't think I'll create a list comparing my accomplishments to hers. Of course she has money and opportunities that I don't have. But what could I be doing with the resources that I have that I'm not? I may not agree with all her politics, and I haven't fact checked all the details listed here. But it still causes me to pause and think about my time and how I spend it. And I think about the POP missionaries that are making this type of impact on the world around us, the college students who put education on hold for a year or two and serve God in a very distinct and personal way. Don Ferber has retired and is looking for new ways to serve God and build his kingdom. His wife Meg is choosing to run for political office to try and make a difference in a government sadly in need of moral direction. They certainly aren't looking to retire to the country and sip lemonade for the next 20 years.
_________________________________________________________
Cindy McCain is the first in her family to graduate from college? Cindy McCain graduated from the University of Southern California, not an Ivy League college, and went on to teach special needs children in the state of Arizona. Her life story is outstanding and that of a role model: the mother of four selflessly aids victims of land mines, birth defects, genocide, starvation, deprivation, and disease.

-- 1988: Mrs. McCain founded the American Voluntary Medical Team (AVNT) and led 55 medical aid missions into war-zones over a seven-year period.

-- 1994: Mrs. McCain witnessed the Rwanda genocide first hand when her team risked their lives to help victims of gang rape, murder, hunger and disease. Mrs. McCain says she had to step over dead bodies to find those still alive.

-- Mrs. McCain serves on the board of Operation Smile, a non-profit organization providing surgery to children born with cleft lips. 100,000 around the world children can smile because of Operation Smile.

-- Mrs. McCain is a member of the Halo Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to removing land-mines. Halo has removed 7,000 land mines in 10 countries around the world.

-- Mrs. McCain volunteered for missions to Morocco, Vietnam, and India. On one trip to India 17 years ago, Mother Teresa handed Mrs. McCain a newborn child born with a cleft lip -- surgery was the only thing that could save the baby’s life -- asking her to take the child to a hospital in the U.S. Mrs. McCain, who says she could not part with the baby when she reached the U.S., told Sen. McCain: “meet your new daughter.” The beautiful young woman named Bridgette McCain stood beside her mother and siblings to introduce her father at the Republican National Convention.

In 2004, Mrs. McCain suffered a stroke from high blood pressure. Once fully recovered, she not only joined her husband’s campaign but went back to being an aid worker, joining mission teams around the world.

-- She travels with the World Food Program: in 2008, Mrs. McCain joined WFP on a trip to Rwanda to deliver food and medicine to famine victims.

-- 2008: On the trip to Rwanda Mrs. McCain met a group called Women For Women International, an organization helping female survivors of war get educations, jobs, start businesses, receive counseling, rights, food, water, shelter, and medicine.

-- Mrs. McCain also works with Pour Un Sourire d’ Enfant (For a Smile of a Child) providing support and education to abused children in third world counties where the basics are not available without the help of volunteers like Cindy McCain who are willing to hike through the most unpleasant situations to help others.

Mrs. McCain is not just another pretty wife of a politician in designer clothes. Cindy McCain doesn’t just talk about lending a hand, she acts. Cindy McCain has, in reality, gone out into the world and made a profound change in thousands of lives for the greater good of mankind.

www.thecatholicthing.org

2008-09-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this site today while reading one of my favorite sites, First Things. And I thought it deserved mention because of the article highlighted today regarding Catholics and abortion. It references Lincoln and his insistence at highlighting that particular issue among all the other pertinent issues of the day. Go have a read. Also stop by First Things and have a look at the September 12th Neuhaus article labled "A New Order of Religious Freedom" , referencing Lincoln as well.

Since I am Catholic and I have great frustration with Catholics who insist on voting pro-abortion candidates, whatever I can do to persuade various individuals to rethink their position I take note of . I'm still trying to figure out how to "win" that conversation. Abortion is an intrinsic evil, that's a statement of fact, not a matter of preference or opinion. An objective truth. As such I'm not going to defend it. It is what it is. And real people make that choice every day. Thousands of them.

Our parish priest had a great homily Sunday. While I'm not great at remembering everything priests say at the pulpit, which is many times a good thing, the focus of his remarks were in fact, political. Essentially, that looking for a government security net isn't what Christians ought to be doing. That isn't where our trust needs to be. Standing on the alter celebrating the Eucharist is a great counter point to reasoned political debate.

Sarah Palin

2008-08-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

A surprise pick for VP, but the more I think about it the more I like it. I'll say more later on that, but here's a link of one persons perspective on Sarah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2oVFWaEPu8&feature=related

Back to blog

2008-08-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting this blog for awhile, spending a bit more time on an alternate technology, facebook. It's an intriguing use of resources and has it's place I suppose. But I encourage my kids (and myself) to not spend time on-line in place of "realtime" encounters. One of my children has taken to getting on the computer and watching a contact list to see if any of "the group" gets on to IM with.

I happened to notice while I was eating lunch that a good friend Don Ferber had listed his blog in gmail. Since I didn't know he was blogging I of course checked it out. I was amazed to see how many people in POP had blogs! Which led me to read Jon Balsbaugh's blog that contained a few subjects I had been thinking about, and some interesting video clips. And that's what prompted me to get back on and write!

The primary topic is culture, and what is and isn't right for today, how should I raise my kids, where should the boundaries be. Since I have six kids it's always a pertinant topic, especially trying to allow the older to do things while protecting the younger. I'm always generating conflict when I say no to something that might be ok for the older but not in the presence of the younger, or that their friends get to do but they can't. Video games, music, appropriate dress, all are potential areas of conflict. I suspect I need to lighten up on some things, but it's an interesting balance. I'm probably more of a cultural fundamentalist (JPB term)in some areas. For instance, even though I'm very much a technical person, I don't necessarily think that children need e-mail accounts from date of birth. My standard had been 15, but I'm re-evaluating. It depends on the child and maturity levels. I very much dislike the cultural norm that says kids have to have cell phones, e-mail, facebook to be modern, hip, cool, connected. It seems it happens to the detriment of real personal interactions. I think the evidence exists to suggest retarded social development by excessive reliance on the on-line experience.

But it's a cultural reality as well, and I actually told one child to get on and create a facebook account. Not that they need to spend hours at it, but used properly it has it's place. For instance, Jim Rolland sent me a video of Victor Wooten, one of the worlds best bass players, giving some times in youtube. Very beneficial to me. But youtube has lots of garbage as well, so mostly it's blocked on my home network. Subject to the sys admin removing blocks for good reasons, like watching wrestling matches to learn technique. NOT for more anime videos! Praise the Lord and turn on disk quotas!

Now What - 2

2008-07-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Last week I started a posting with the reflection that I think about or read about something and then I come across an article or presentation exactly about what I was thinking about. Today it happens again. Yesterday my post was titled " Now What?"

In today's First Things posting, here's a quote in the 2nd paragraph:
"Not only did the space program give a general boost to all the technological sciences, but after we landed on the moon, what goal was left?" Or, Now What.

They give a perspective in the article:
"To be a religious believer is to know that the hungers of the human heart will not find fulfillment without God, but even religious believers benefit from goals short of the ecstatic vision of the divine. A people without any temporal horizons—without any historical purpose or vision of the future—grow enervated and decadent, and they begin to follow strange gods, who promise them meaning."

Is having a bad goal better than having no goals? Maybe in the absence of defined goals a base goal of nature, acting in ones best self interest, becomes dominant and we become, as in the animals in the chronicles of Narnia, less talking beasts and merely beasts. I can applaud my children for having a goal to beat a particular computer game. I can encourage them to redirect that energy toward something more useful for life. Although, I know a certain person who might argue that playing Bubble Trouble for a few hours is really a form of relaxation that clears the mind of the mundane and refreshes the soul for more philosophical pursuits. Sort of cleansing the palate between sips of wine. Or maybe it's just fun.

Now What

2008-07-09T06:15:00.000-07:00

In the Disney Movie Robin Hood one of the animated characters, a young fox around 8 years old, gets involved in a little role playing and winds up rescuing maid Marion from the evil clutches of Prince John and flees to the forest (some handy trees) where they plop down to rest. Having accomplished his task he remarks "Now what"

I've always wanted to ask the bad guys in history, and especially hollywood movies this question. You've just finished conquering whatever it is your inflicting your will upon, now what. So you've killed off all the good people and hold an entire nation hostage to your every whim and desire. Now what? The only people who like you are the ones who benefit from your evilness and that's a tenuous loyalty at best. Is your life better? are you happier now that most everyone else is unhappy? I'm sure there's some psychological complex that makes the bad guy think everyone will love him for his benevolent destroying of everything important to free society and embrace his dictatorial whims. Maybe it's the only way he gets a decent date, coercion. I use "he" cause I can't think of too many female meglomaniacs (is that a word - quick internet search -Yep!)

I wonder about that "Now What" factor in some of the activities we do as individuals. I happen to be interested in moving to Burnsville to be closer to friends in the People of Praise and four siblings in the immediate area. Part of that would include expanding any house we might buy to facilitate life for our larger family. As I was thinking about a particular house and how we might renovate it, I thought of this question. So I expand the house and put in all the goodies we want. Now what? There's lots of answers to why we would do certain things, set certain goals and achieve them, but after we achieve them comes the "Now What".

So we graduate from highschool, graduate from college, marry, get a job, the question always seems to be there, "Now What". What's the reason, whats the purpose of all this activity. Aside from being a meglomaniac, most of us have some form of goals that are benevolent and relatively useful for living life well and purposeful.

Being purposeful - to what purpose? Or how about ordered? How are we ordering the affairs of life toward a specific end.

I suppose this isn't really a new or novel topic, but I was just thinking about it more frequently as it relates to activities in my life and I have this blog I ought to occasionally write to so....

I want to find a way to discuss the priciple of subsidiarity in here somewhere but need that requires a bit more time. And that's the problem with writing a blog is it takes time, and I've spent enough this morning. Time to work, my "purposeful" activities that allow me to feed my children and enable them to think about living a purposeful life.

what it means to be human

2008-07-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

So many times I'm thinking about something and I come across an article or hear something on the radio, maybe engage in a conversation, that is exactly about the topic I've been thinking about. It may be a coincidence but it happens a lot when I read a scripture passage and then attend mass on Sunday and that's the reading for the week. Today it comes courtesy of the on-line version of First Things. I've included a snippet from the article here and encourage you to visit the site to read the rest. It's well worth it.

The article is about Grassroots Film’s latest documentary, The Human Experience
_______________________________________________
Then there are glimpses of grotesque suffering and nearly unbearable anguish: a man riddled with leprosy, flies feeding off the rotting flesh of his rag-wrapped feet. “We are happy about the community,” he tells Jeff and Clifford, struggling to explain the inexplicable: the problem of, and answer to, pain. True, in the leper colony there are others who understand and share his suffering, but that isn’t enough. He, in return, is able to understand them, to give them strength by returning their compassion. And he is able to look on the healthy faces of Jeff and Clifford without resentment, but with love: “We are all the same. You are my brother.”

The dialogue trips and stumbles, at times, but there’s something very real about that. The Azize brothers are not actors, visiting exotic places for a nice and moving show. They are residents of St. Francis House for young men in Brooklyn, founded in 1967 by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. Now the home is operated by Joseph Campo, who trains many of the residents in film technology while drawing from their firsthand knowledge of street life and the MTV generation. “Some call it a halfway house or a group home,” says Jeff. “We just call it home.”

The residents—so-called throwaway children—come from broken and abusive families, and most say that they would be on the streets, in prison, or dead were it not for this second chance. “I was a surprise baby,” Jeff explains, groping for words. “I wasn’t intended, you know, I wasn’t planned.” And so when he encounters the unquestioning fellowship of the New York homeless, the joyful resilience of the abused Peruvian children, the familial love of the African leper colony, the experience is haunting, and hauntingly beautiful. Paradoxically, the people who have the least give the most. What they give is not ideas and ideals, but living answers to what it means to be human.

Omnipotence

2008-06-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

Good quote I came across today:

“Indeed we must say this: as God did not will the fall, and yet always wills all things toward himself, the entire history of sin and death is in an ultimate sense a pure contingency, one that is not as such desired by God, but that is nevertheless constrained by providence to serve his transcendent purpose. God does not will evil in the sinner. Neither does he will that the sinner should perish (2 Peter 3:9; Ezekiel 33:11). He does not place evil in the heart. He does not desire the convulsive reign of death in nature. But neither will he suffer defeat in these things."
David Bentley Hart’s The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami?

Political discourse

2008-06-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

Chuck Colson has a daily blog that I receive via e-mail. Today's posting contained this:

"Russell Kirk... said that ideology is "the abstract designs of coffee-house philosophers." Most tend to be utopian and end up serving not the welfare of the people, but the interests of power-seekers.

Conservatism, on the other hand, is not a set of doctrines, but "a state of mind, a type of character, a way of looking at the civil social order."

On Wednesday this week I was visited by a political door knocker. As usual I came out to the front porch and just smiled and waited to find out which liberal organization she was representing. This time is was NARAL, I have to lose the smile, it puts them on guard. But it's fun cause they know, they know, they aren't getting any money and they have to decide if they going to run or fight. She was kind enough to stay.

Unfortunately, she had nothing of value to say. I haven't heard some of these really, really old arguments for quite some time. I thought I was in the 60's. "If we outlaw abortions, more woman will die of back ally abortions". She didn't flinch when I mentioned they seemed to die at regular abortion clinics as well.

Everything was based on moral relativism. I hit her with the fact that Obama is in favor of infanticide. That gave her pause, and she asked for clarification. Obmama voted against the Child Born Alive act, which says that any child born alive after a botched abortion attempt needs to be given care. Obama thinks thats an undue burden to women. I just did a search to find the exact quote and found this site: Top Ten Reasons

It's astounding that any Catholic could even consider voting for this guy, yet I know they do and most probably will. But thats for another post. One of Obamas views was repeated over and over by the NARAL volunteer: "[W]e live in a pluralistic society, and that I can't impose my religious views on another" Her remarks were that we can't legislate morality. We don't have any business making laws that peer into the bedroom and say somethings illegal. My argument was while I people are free to do various things that aren't good for them, I object to them creating legislation that prohibits me from saying it's wrong and bad for them and for society, AND, which then labels me irrational for holding that belief. And in a nutshell, that's what hate crime legislation is all about. We covered a lot of ground in about 30 minutes. I felt that was 30 minutes she couldn't bother someone else.

My favorite part of the exchange was that our social order was broken and needed to be fixed. I said it wasn't broken, just difficult and nobody wanted to live by the rules. (my G.K Chesterton moment) Our moral order wasn't broken, a large number of people just didn't want to live by it, and when you don't follow the directions, thinks break. In this case being short a pinky was a good visual effect. She had no good arguments for anything. And she used statistics that when I pointed out their inherent flaws, admitted they we're flawed. (divorce statistics) Admitted they were based on the UK cultural issues, not the US! (did you know that in the London there are Christian "No-Go" zones, because they are Muslim areas?)

And yet nothing I said had ,at least at the time, any affect on her view. Because she wasn't looking for truth, she was arguing for ideology. And ideology has a poor foundation. How can we reach people who have no concept of a moral order? There was no depth for this person who I think was a college grad. I have no idea how to reach them.

Musings - addendum

2008-06-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

So I suggest going to:
http://www.capostudios.org/library-hls/unending-love.html

and listen to this song for awhile. I remember after hearing it the first time I couldn't stop thinking about it for 2 weeks.

Musings

2008-06-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

“Christ didn’t give us a religion. He gave us the Kingdom of God.” Father Alexander Schmemann

I came across this quote today while reading First Things (and you should too!). Many people may think about that on a regular basis. If I do its probably not consciously put it in those terms.

So why don't we (maybe I should just say I) live our lives immersed in the reality of the KOG? I suppose some may argue there is no evidence of any external supernatural power, but that seems to fly in the face of empirical evidence. I personally know many examples of supernatural healings and happenstance that some might attribute to chance, only because to do otherwise seams irrational. It perhaps comes down to knowing. How do we know things. A person who experiences the presence of God knows God, and the answer in some regards is settled. Thomas didn't believe till he stood in the room and Christ appeared again. The centurian believed his child would be healed without Christ needing to travel in person. He knew Christ had power and he reasoned and believed.

So what does the KOG mean today? What kind of "power" ( and who's power) do we have when Christ says "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these" John 14:12 I pray with faith, and God works, but I'm not raising people from the dead, and my life reflects lots of inadequacies. So I think I don't really live the faith of a saint. I still don't live a properly ordered life. Why not? I teach my kids God First, everything else second. Maybe they'll do it when I start living it. What holds me back? Nothing but my personal choices.

That could be a long philosophical/theological discussion but in the end doesn't the answer comes down to the will, and me saying my will be done rather than Father, your will be done? By reason and experience I know my will for me isn't as good as His will for me but in my freedom I continually choose my own. As we like to discuss around our house, rather we experience Gods mercy than Gods justice. I'll take love over law any day, not disregarding the necessity of law, but emphasizing the primacy of love and in fact law as properly ordered existing under love and a function of Gods love. Hmm. I'll have to think about that statement.

Misc items

2008-06-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted so I thought I'd put some items out there.

I return to the surgeon this week to have my finger checked. The greatest hindrance so far has been trying to wash my right arm, which usually requires my left hand, which isn't supposed to get wet. I had to have my wife and daughter scrub my arm after painting the youngest boys room and my arms we're almost as white as the ceiling. Everywhere I go people are asking if I need help when they see the bandages. Fortunately I'm right handed so I can sign my name. I'll try the bass this week, first time since the accident. Not too much pain which is good since my pain medication has about run out. I see the doctor Wednesday morning and find out what restrictions I'm supposed to have and how long a recovery for the nerves damage

Just added a link to the blog for http://electmegferber.com Meg is a good friend running for House District 64a in St. Paul MN. A seasoned mother 6, she's a great conservative choice for St. Paul. Primarily a pro-life candidate, her greatest asset is integrity. I'm not afraid of electing her and then watching her turn into a social and fiscal democrat. She thinks things through and isn't afraid to take a difficult stance, or to change an opinion when warranted for sound reasons.

It's back to work today after a week off. Rather, it's back to work at Lawson. I've been working frantically at home with various projects. I completely painted one room, sanded completely the floors in two rooms, made a trundel bed (see previous posts about the little things). I'm back at work to relax. Hundreds of e-mails. But it's good to be back.

Now that school is winding up for the kids it will be a challenge to keep them occupied all summer. Katherine's looking for a job, Rachael's going to do some babysitting at home while Barb works. Nathan's sort of looking for a job but he's still a little young. He may mow neighborhood lawns. Hopefully he'll explore St. Paul more on his bike. The challenge will be to keep them off the computer and outside playing. We have four playing soccer on various days. Nathan and Katherine I suppose could explore the bike trails. Maybe they'll fix all the bikes so we can take a bike trip this summer. Better than driving.

little things II

2008-05-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

"All our peace, while we are in this mortal life, rests more in the humble endurance of troubles and of things that are irksome to us, than not feeling them at all". - author? I know who it is just want to see if anyone else does.

Losing a pinky is irksome. Having nerve damage is irksome. I had the nerve repaired in the ring finger Thursday. It seems to have gone well. Time will tell.. I'm curious to see how God will use this accident to further his kingdom.

It brings up the question of evil in this world. This could be seen as a very personal evil. One of the things I use the finger for is playing music, mostly Praise and Worship, for People of Praise and for the local Catholic church. Is this part of the spritual warfare, or just the consequence of being lazy? Do we have to view everything through the lense of spiritual warefare? Is burping spiritual warefare or just the consequence of eating too much spicy food?

Yet, I know that I considered the way I had the wood setup and a fleeting thought that I should support it better. What if I had listened to that small voice a little more - maybe I'd still have the whole finger.

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me. I've been amazingly peacful about the whole thing, even the embarrassment of having done such a dumb thing especially for a somewhat experienced individual. I don't do this professionally but I've done it enought to know better. One of my old bosses at Lawson told me the next tool I get will be labled FisherPrice.

I had the three left fingers taped with the whole hand being very restricted, but now they're individually taped and I can use the middle finger to type. It's amazing how much even one extra finger adds to your typing speed.

As I was on the table in the OR, one of the attending nurses and I conversed about life, and I mentioned I played music for People of Praise. She knew of them through Trinity, she new my local priest because of NET ministries, a local Catholic Youth ministry. So God provided a Christian friend to be in the OR with me. Just a little thing that, to me, showed how detailed and specific the Fathers love for me really is.

The little things

2008-05-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

As in little pinkys. I'm making some trundle beds for my boys and was a little sloppy with the circular saw and now I have less pinky on the left hand. God had mercy on me and I only cut the next two fingers, one may require a bit of surgery to repair the nerves.

As I was laying on the ER bed I was contemplating all the things that little pinky will affect. Bass playing, piano, holding a golf club, holding my wifes hand. It's truly amazing how all our parts work together and provide a synergy beyond themselves.

I was amazingly peaceful about the whole thing. It happened. I wish it hadn't, wish I paid more attention to the wood, but I didn't. And now I lost part of my finger. But for perspective, I think of China, or other recent world disasters. I didn't lose a child, a house, job, my overall health. I'm inconvenienced. It's real, it hurts, I'm sad. But it's really really small compared to watching your child get swept away in a cyclone or hurricane, or buried under a school building.

Or dealing with family turmoil. I was just talking to a friend who remarked his family was experiencing some things. I'd much rather lose a finger than lose a childs heart, or a spouses friendship and partnership.

It's also an interesting teaching moment for the kids. For experiencing the need to ask for help, and the opportunities for people to serve not out of duty, but out of love. Not out of some misguided social justice paradigm, but true samaritan love. I want to go somewhere with that but my hand is starting to hurt. God is good. And merciful.

Quote to ponder

2008-05-06T06:30:00.001-07:00

"Every human life is, in principle, sufficient for the discovery of every truth."
Stephen H. Webb, from First Things Blog, 05/06/2008

"Christians believe that God became human in Jesus Christ. If so, it follows that there is something called humanity. That is, humans have a nature, a shared or common nature. Human nature is not just a social construction. Human nature is real. And if it is real, then it is the same everywhere and at every time. It is, in a word, universal."

If Human nature is universal, and we know it's universally flawed, it universally needs healing. And as the first part of the quote states, every human life is capable of finding that truth. But if it's a universal truth that means it can't be an individualistic, relativistic truth except in the sense of applicability to whatever individual state your in compared to that universally well formed , flawless human nature. I'm sure there's a much better philosophical vocabulary for this but I'm at work and supposed to be working.

This reminds me of something I was thinking of concerning pastoral care. Everything we come in contact with, everyone we speak to, can be, and is, a means to affect change in our lives. How we receive it determines its effectiveness. At the Demontraville retreat center they speak of being disposed to hear God speak and you can't be disposed when your listening to your iPod, even if it's in Japanese. (not a rebuke mind you)

So what does the noisy family on the bus say to me and am I disposed to hear it? Is it saying anything to me at all? What does my interaction with co-workers say to me? Especially the thoughts they can't hear but God can? How's that saying go, virtue is what man does when nobody's looking? I was just having a conversation with a co-worker about swearing. Is there a difference between spelling H E L L or just saying it? Is there a heart difference between saying frigging and the more vulgar variences? My mother used to encourage people to say sonofmugatcha, a nonsensical utterance that allows an emotional outburst without offending generally speaking anyones sense of right speech.

Anyway, I would have more to say on this but time constraints....

Family affairs

2008-05-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

Very busy weekend, full of activities. I traveled with the 4 boys Friday evening to just outside Nelsen WI for the annual arrows campout. Arrows is a People of Praise ( http://peopleofpraise.org ) creation targeting boys k-6 grade for the purposes of fellowship with each other but also with dads to provide opportunities for imparting, nurturing, modeling, all the things our young sons need to become virtuous young men. At least we try and exhibit virtuous, manly behavior.

So we had soccer and baseball, capture the flag, climbing a 300 foot bluff, tenting, water fights, cigar smoking, 22, bb, 20 gauge weaponry, hay in the barn loft, a campfire the whole weekend, fireworks, a very large telescope for viewing the stars, dam building and dam wrecking, arguments, sharing, no injuries this year, good food, rain and cold. Lots of good things that provide opportunities for life, real life, stuff that young boys need to experience. We came back Saturday evening to prepare for Sundays activities.

Sunday we slept in, had a wonderful brunch with the entire family, cleaned the house, and prepared for all the guests that would hopefully come to celebrate Matthews first communion. It's interesting to watch him at Mass, fidgets, and generally dislikes sitting for an hour. But he was reverent and purposeful as he strode forward to receive Christ present in the Eucharist.

Afterwards we had a reception where friends and family came along to mark this milestone in his life. It was very low key, and a lovely day so the kids could play in the yard, parents could converse quietly and share ice cream and coffee. This is family. Not just blood relatives, but the body of Christ, coming together celebrating the gift of a life poured out for us, reconciling us to the Father.

And as I watched everyone pass by during the communion procession, I was just observing and wondering about the souls walking past. What issues and stories of their lives are playing out and how receiving the Eucharist can effect change in each situation. In my situations. In my children's lives. And I'm thankful. Come Holy Spirit.

2008-04-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

Incredible! I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. Maybe I'm missing the point. Even the Schizophrenic Philosopher posts more frequently.

This post is directly because of her brother and a cool quote I found on his facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1282650020&ref=nf

"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful you will win some false friends and true enemies; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you've got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway. "
-Mother Teresa-

Politics and college visits

2008-04-01T12:40:00.001-07:00

So it's been awhile since I've posted. Life is busy with six kids.

Politics
I added a new link for melaniephillips. I find it interesting reading compared to the watered down nonsense that appears in the local papers. It seems to me the US is headed in the same direction if it isn't already there. I anticipate a bit more political commentary as the election approaches.

I have a good friend, Meg Ferber, who's going to be running for political office. An admirable endeavor, especially since she's a mother of 6, grandmother of around six, and is probably not considered by many to be an electable candidate. It seems to me we ought to have more citizens like her who take up the burden of promoting ideas that don't appeal to modern liberalism. She's a good conservative candidate, socially and fiscally. Will people vote for her? Catholics ought to, since she advocates the true Catholic position on most if not all issues. She understands social justice is more than socialism, in fact, is a contradiction to socialism. More on Meg later

College Visits
It's begun. My oldest daughter, a junior at Trinity School in Eagan, has made her first college visit to Benedictine college in Atchison Kansas. A nice school, smaller but nicely conservative with a good philosophy department, good music program, a nice campus life that takes its Catholic heritage seriously. It helps that she visited with a cousin, has a cousin already there, and several friends from Trinity that we ran into while visiting.

I don't know if she'll wind up their, but it's a standard by which other schools can be measured. Next visit for her is probably University of Chicago, quite a bit more secular but also considerably stronger academically. Other options might be St. Olaf, and the University of Portland. Now for that winning lottery ticket.

Marriage and Society

2008-02-29T14:26:00.001-08:00

Since this is such a hot topic across the nation and one that affects everyone of us, or will affect everyone of us if we choose to go the way of Canada, I thought I'd reprint this testimony from Peter Sprigg. Very simple, very elegant, wish I'd said it.

Testimony by Peter Sprigg

Vice President for Policy, Family Research Council
Resident, Montgomery County, Maryland

IN SUPPORT OF HOUSE BILL 1345 - MARYLAND'S MARRIAGE PROTECTION ACT (CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT)

IN OPPOSITION TO HOUSE BILLS 351 AND 631 REGARDING CIVIL MARRIAGE;

IN OPPOSITION TO HOUSE BILLS 570 AND 1112 REGARDING CIVIL UNIONS; IN OPPOSITION TO HOUSE BILLS 848 AND 1174 REGARDING DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIPS

Maryland House of Delegates

Judiciary Committee

February 28, 2008

I come before you today in support of House Bill 1345, a constitutional amendment to protect marriage.

I would like to briefly address just two specific issues related to this debate. One is the relationship between marriage and religion, and the other is the issue of the financial and legal "benefits" that flow from civil marriage.

Some people who support this amendment, as I do, may argue that the historic definition of marriage should be preserved because of religious tradition. Opponents of the amendment, and advocates of so-called same-sex "marriage," may respond that it is illegitimate to impose a "religious" definition of marriage on the civil law.

But I would argue that both of these lines of reasoning are flawed. If you remember only one thing from my testimony, please remember this: Marriage is not primarily a religious institution or a civil institution. At its heart, marriage is a natural institution, rooted in the order of nature itself. Marriage existed before civil government and before religion as we know it. Neither religious institutions nor civil government create marriage; they simply recognize and regulate it.

Marriage arose as a fundamental social institution for two reasons. The first is because society needs to reproduce itself, and such reproduction takes place almost entirely through the sexual union of a man and a woman; and the second is because children need the mother and father who produce them to cooperate in raising them. These are facts of anthropology under every religion and every form of civil government. Religion alone is not reason enough to define marriage in a particular way; but the "separation of church and state" alone is not reason enough to change the traditional definition of marriage, either.

You will also hear some people testify as to the personal hardships they claim to suffer because they are denied the legal and financial "benefits" attached to civil marriage. But such anecdotes are ultimately irrelevant to the question before you. Society does not give "benefits" to marriage because individuals want them or would be helped by them. Society gives "benefits" to marriage because marriage gives benefits to society. Therefore, when those who are not married, such as people in homosexual or cohabiting relationships, seek to receive such public "benefits," they bear the burden of proof. They must show that such relationships benefit society (not just themselves) in the same way and to the same degree that the authentic, natural institution of marriage between a man and a woman does. This is a burden they cannot meet. Only the union of a man and a woman can result in the natural reproduction that is essential literally to continue the human race. And research clearly demonstrates that married men and women-and children raised by their married, biological mother and father-are happier, healthier, and more prosperous than people in any other living situation. These are the true "benefits of marriage."

The legal and financial "benefits" of marriage are not an entitlement for every citizen regardless of lifestyle. They give an incentive to enter into the socially beneficial relationship of authentic marriage, and give protection to the social institution of marriage. Awarding such benefits to the unmarried makes no more sense than giving veterans' benefits to people who never served in the military.

For these reasons-because of the natural meaning of marriage, and because of the benefits which flow from marriage, not to it-I urge you to support House Bill 1345.

single dad for the week

2008-02-19T10:15:00.000-08:00

5:00 Saturday morning I dropped by my wife and oldest son at the the HHH terminal sending them on a long week to Florida. I've been getting regular updates on how their frolicking in the pool, watching the sunset over the ocean, eating at all kinds of nice restaurants, basking in 80 degree weather. I suppose sometime this week they'll make it to Disney, or Cape Canaveral. My son may play golf with the Grandpa. I know they've already been shopping. More to come I'm sure.

The Minnesota bound have suffered through some severe cold, but for the most part life has gone well. I have two beautiful daughters who have been a tremendous help with the younger kids. They both know how to cook, wash dishes, do laundry, clean rooms. Sometimes they need a bit of encouragement, and sometimes the carrot looks like KFC. The house gets cleaned and they eat out at home. The Wii has been helpful during the cold snaps, and last night I closed the draps while the girls and I did a four mile walk with various contortions to an exercise DVD.

Sunday we watched a movie, and then I needed to head to cub for essential supplies (peanut butter and Mac & cheese). On the way to the store I had a very strange feeling. It took me awhile but I finally figured out what it was.

We had just watched a movie that happens to stir me in philosophical, theological and otherwise creates an emotional disturbance in my personal biosphere. Driving to the store I was thinking about the movie and various tangents, and I felt this huge sense of loss. A bit of melancholy, but from what? I wanted to talk about the movie, and I didn't have anyone to talk to. My best friend and confidant was miles away across space and time and I couldn't share any of my thoughts with her. I suppose I could have whipped out the ol' blackberry and called, but even then it's not the same. My girls are quite the conversationalists, but they aren't my wife. I was lonely.

What a great gift, the opportunity to reflect on my wife Barbara and the relationship seasoned by trials and tribulations, joys and sorrows, creating that love we have today. So while I enjoy a little the extra space in bed, it's not as cozy. I can dictate what we eat for dinner, but the ambiance is a bit off. It's fun to see the kids perk up when mom calls home, even if the conversation is short so they can get back in front of the toe-heater in the kitchen.

So while I don't celebrate valentines day per se, I do love my wife and thank God for the blessing she is to me. Here's to you Barb. I wouldn't be me without you.

a widening divide? Politics today

2008-02-11T12:01:00.001-08:00

Working from home today because two children have the flu, or at least something that caused them to participate in undesirable activity requiring buckets. They're better now. I should send them back to bed but since they can't go out for physical activity at least they can play Wii.

Working from home has it's advantages, most notably you can read First Things when it arrives in the mail as you wait for your production servers to come back on-line. Reading on-line is ok but not the same as holding and bending and folding the printed word.

Richard John Neuhaus details in the Public Square section a very serious topic that I've been thinking about, but he thinks about it so much better than I do. Actually, he's got some quotes that are very pertinent to the election this year, specifically from a Mr. Angelo M. Codevilla writing in the Claremont Review, that indifferent to religion is one source of America's problems in Iraq and elsewhere. "Because the U.S. foreign policy establishment is religiously illiterate, because none of it's members can imagine serious people taking God seriously, it cannot understand a world that is overwhelmingly religious. " To which Newhaus adds a quote from Steven Pinker of Harvard, where the inclusion of any required religion topics for undergraduates is being debated. "For us to magnify the significance of religion as a topic equivalent in scope to all of science, all of culture, or all of world history and current affairs, is to give it far too much prominence. It is an American anachronism, I think, in an era in which the rest of the west is moving beyond it".

This was a debate I had with teachers and parents at a local St. Paul charter school. How can we discuss the United States, it's formation, the great cultural battles, without including the religious underpinnings of those debates and actions ? Regardless of how well we've acted on them, we and Europe have a Christian pedigree. It's undeniable and the only way around it is historical revisionism.

To say we are moving beyond is to voice the hope of atheists everywhere and ignoring the historical fact of a society that has not abandoned it's roots, but is growing in the realization those fundamental rights are being threatened by a vocal activist minority. And even if the West does move past it, Codevilla tries to remind us the world has East, North and South along with the West and our arrogance as a superpower engenders anger and resentment among even our allies. Per Codevilla, how can we propose solutions when we don't understand the fundamentals?
In the U.S., I think we are clearly not moving beyond but in fact the culture clash is growing more intense. This is an old complaint but still relevant. Media, and generally speaking University education in the U.S. is not disposed to neutrality but indoctrination and obscuration.

How many people would support Obama if they new that he supports shelving live, aborted babies to die because it would otherwise be burdensome to mothers? That should be posted in every Church in the United States.

I suppose we could support Clinton, who's husband Bill received this advise:

"Expressing the eugenics principles behind abortion, Weddington told Clinton he should "start immediately to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy and poor segment of the country. … Our survival depends upon our developing a population where everyone contributes," he wrote. "We don’t need more cannon fodder. We don’t need more parishioners. We don’t need more cheap labor. We don’t need more babies."

I don't know very many people who advocate this position, even those who are pro-abortion. And yet Clinton consistently receives the black vote.

No, I think we are far from being "beyond" religion. What we aren't beyond is the turmoil and upheaval that this sharpening clash is bringing. We've barely entered the storm. What Codevilla observers for foreign policy rings true for domestic as well. We cannot hope to create domestic policy without regards for those who actually practice what they believe. It's historical and most importantly, constitutional

Reflections for today

2008-02-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

I headed into work late today. I've been very tired the past 3 days and after getting the kids up and started toward school headed back to bed. I didn't need to catch whatever my wife had yesterday.

So I walked to the bus stop at a later time than normal and noticed all the kids waiting for school buses. I'm wondering where the heck they came from since I've never seen that many teenage kids in the neighborhood during the summer days. Of course, I don't hang around street corners during the day so I suppose I miss a lot. I don't get teenagers catching a bus at 8:45 and k-8 walking in the cold between 6:30 - 7:45. And at 12 deg. F, these teenagers were not wearing coats! I walked by in my winter coat with gloves and hat firmly in place. I'm getting old.

Blogs
It's very interesting now that I've started a blog to go and peruse what's currently out there. From a social perspective I'm curious about the place blogs are taking in our social fabric and what it might say about us living a shared experience. Some people are very detailed and very personal, more personal than in person. Some use it to post pictures. I can't imagine doing twitter, sharing thoughts every minute or so, a real-time posting of life's experience. Not for me. I don't have that kind of time for one.

I don't let my kids spend that much time on-line. My argument is I don't believe blogging ought to replace real-time interaction with all the verbal nuance and physical signs that 1-1 conversation brings. Can't happen no matter how good the emoticons can get. Using computer audio and video is a better solution but still lacks the interpersonal dimension of smelling someones bad breath. And typing is much slower than speech. Speech doesn't highlight poor spelling. But IM or blogging allows anonymous posts and perhaps removes a bit of inhibition (for better or worse) and maybe allows an individual to communicate honestly instead of being intimidated by someone else. Real people need real people and need to interact with real people and overcome real emotions to ask real people for help they can't get from a computer screen. I suppose you can form a particular type of relationship via IM not unlike pen-pals from days of old. A shadow of the real thing, but I suppose a shadow is better than nothing.

Politics
I read James Dobson is not going to vote for president if McCain is nominated for the Republicans. I might agree with some of his sentiment but it seems a poor choice for someone who advocates political participation as means to affect culture. Whoever is elected has coat-tails and I'd prefer a McCain coat-tail to a Clinton or Obama. A priest once advocated the last election that there wasn't a real pro-life candidate and that it wouldn't make any difference who was elected. My daughter politely informed him differently and now we have Chief Justice Roberts. Not a trivial coat-tail.

First Post

2008-02-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

So I've decided to try blogging. I chose the url name because mushbrain was already in use, and the blog title because that's what I'm doing, just using this space to write about various things I might be trying to think about. I don't know that anything will become of it or if it will appeal to anyone besides myself. Nor do I know how often I'll post since I'm still sorting out what my purpose is in starting a blog. I myself don't spend that much time reading blogs, so writing one will be very interesting.

So ends the first blog. Very boring, but as the title says, trying to think. Some days it may be thinkwell, somedays notthinkingatall. Should be an interesting adventure.