Gotta love this brit girl band. The 70s ambience, bad teeth and fab outfits make this video... What do you do, when the music stops?
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Quotes, musings, and tunes
The German exchange student who's been here since August is flying back to Germany tomorrow, so my "wow-I-can-actually-just-speak-German-without-trying-to-figure-out-which-words-she-probably-already-knows" buddy will be gone. **sigh** For her last day in town, we went out to eat at Surin West and then for coffee to Starbucks, and then shopping in a novelty place in Southside, where I found the following on a postcard:
"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag people along ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." --- Reich-Marschall Hermann Goering, at the Nuremberg Trials
It is so close to what was said and done in the lead-up to the Iraq war, I thought it couldn't possibly be real. But no, Snopes affirms that Goering indeed uttered these words in a private conversation with Gustave Gilbert on April 18, 1946. And it is sadly utterly true. We were brought to the bidding of our leaders, despite the fact that they were clearly not being truthful: reasons for attacking Iraq changed from week to week, posturing and empty, militaristic rhetoric were the rule of the day, rather than straight-forward honesty. And let's not kid ourselves, they're still lying to cover their butts as well as possible. There were countless voices who very accurately noted that 1) Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with Al Qaida and the attacks of September 11; 2) Iraq posed no immediate threat to the U.S.; and 3) attacking Iraq would prove to be a huge mess. But what does truth matter, when our honor is on the line? We're Americans, darn it, and as such can do no wrong.
You might write me off as being someone who "doesn't like this country", but that's not true. This is a great country to live in. People are usually friendly and fairly generous. Our school system needs some serious work, as do our priorities as far as taking care of those in need, but we're a country that values the individual and individual effort and creativity, and for the most part gives people the freedom to express themselves (as long as they don't choose to be gay or a commie).
But that belief, that as Americans we can do no wrong, is one of the most dangerous things in this country. We chose to start a preemptive war. Even though we would never accept that behaviour by another country, it's ok for us to do, because "we're good people". The Cute One (aka the One Who Wants To Be Called The Genius) has a great entry concerning this (see her "Shrub & Co." post). We've allowed our leaders to weaken our economy and our civil rights in the name of protecting us, but it's ok, because they're Americans and, like us, are therefore inherently good and can only do good things. They can go ahead and lie to us and bully anyone who doesn't agree with them and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands, because they are "democratically elected, god-fearing men". [Never mind the fact that we don't worry too much about whether a leader is "democratically elected" when we decide to depose or sanction the killing (Allende in Chile) of those we don't deem pro-America enough --- which means pro-American-business-and-capitalism. But I digress.]
There are very good things about this country, and about the people in this country, and I sure do wish we could get back to some of our better moments. Did you know, that during the Revolutionary War, George Washington charged his officers with treating prisoners of war with kindness and humanity? He said that because they were fighting for an honorable cause they should behave with honor. Imagine that. Many of the Hessian soldiers who had come to America in order to fight with the British as mercenaries were so shocked by their treatment that they ended up staying on after the war. How different things would have been, if we had remembered Washington's behaviour instead of doing our best to justify mistreatment of our prisoners.
Sorry about the rambling, but it's what's been on my mind today. There's nothing wrong with having a certain basic pride about who we are as a country, but we can't let it blind us to the fact that we are not perfect. We also cannot let it blind us to what our leaders are doing in our name, which is decidedly UNamerican.
On that note, a funny William Shatner and Henry Rollins song. It's the background music for someone's kitten video....
Power to the People, peace and comfort to the suffering.
"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag people along ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." --- Reich-Marschall Hermann Goering, at the Nuremberg Trials
It is so close to what was said and done in the lead-up to the Iraq war, I thought it couldn't possibly be real. But no, Snopes affirms that Goering indeed uttered these words in a private conversation with Gustave Gilbert on April 18, 1946. And it is sadly utterly true. We were brought to the bidding of our leaders, despite the fact that they were clearly not being truthful: reasons for attacking Iraq changed from week to week, posturing and empty, militaristic rhetoric were the rule of the day, rather than straight-forward honesty. And let's not kid ourselves, they're still lying to cover their butts as well as possible. There were countless voices who very accurately noted that 1) Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with Al Qaida and the attacks of September 11; 2) Iraq posed no immediate threat to the U.S.; and 3) attacking Iraq would prove to be a huge mess. But what does truth matter, when our honor is on the line? We're Americans, darn it, and as such can do no wrong.
You might write me off as being someone who "doesn't like this country", but that's not true. This is a great country to live in. People are usually friendly and fairly generous. Our school system needs some serious work, as do our priorities as far as taking care of those in need, but we're a country that values the individual and individual effort and creativity, and for the most part gives people the freedom to express themselves (as long as they don't choose to be gay or a commie).
But that belief, that as Americans we can do no wrong, is one of the most dangerous things in this country. We chose to start a preemptive war. Even though we would never accept that behaviour by another country, it's ok for us to do, because "we're good people". The Cute One (aka the One Who Wants To Be Called The Genius) has a great entry concerning this (see her "Shrub & Co." post). We've allowed our leaders to weaken our economy and our civil rights in the name of protecting us, but it's ok, because they're Americans and, like us, are therefore inherently good and can only do good things. They can go ahead and lie to us and bully anyone who doesn't agree with them and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands, because they are "democratically elected, god-fearing men". [Never mind the fact that we don't worry too much about whether a leader is "democratically elected" when we decide to depose or sanction the killing (Allende in Chile) of those we don't deem pro-America enough --- which means pro-American-business-and-capitalism. But I digress.]
There are very good things about this country, and about the people in this country, and I sure do wish we could get back to some of our better moments. Did you know, that during the Revolutionary War, George Washington charged his officers with treating prisoners of war with kindness and humanity? He said that because they were fighting for an honorable cause they should behave with honor. Imagine that. Many of the Hessian soldiers who had come to America in order to fight with the British as mercenaries were so shocked by their treatment that they ended up staying on after the war. How different things would have been, if we had remembered Washington's behaviour instead of doing our best to justify mistreatment of our prisoners.
Sorry about the rambling, but it's what's been on my mind today. There's nothing wrong with having a certain basic pride about who we are as a country, but we can't let it blind us to the fact that we are not perfect. We also cannot let it blind us to what our leaders are doing in our name, which is decidedly UNamerican.
On that note, a funny William Shatner and Henry Rollins song. It's the background music for someone's kitten video....
Power to the People, peace and comfort to the suffering.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
NPR this morning...
Two things jumped out at me listening to NPR as I got ready this morning ---
The first was a horrible crime that happened in Brazil recently. The blurb at NPR says that this child's "gruesome death [...] emphasizes the daily reality of violent crime in Rio de Janeiro." The boy, 6 years old, was strapped into the backseat of his parents' car, when they were carjacked by two gun-toting teenagers. They weren't able to quite get him out of his seatbelt when the carjackers drove off, dragging his little body down the street. By the time they stopped the car and ran away, he was of course already dead. It's created an outcry in Brazil, and only horror here. But what haunted me most was the comment by the author Paulo Coelho, who said that we are all victims, but also all the murderers. We are all at fault when part of our society is so horribly brutalized as to commit such a crime.
The other commenters pointed out that a major part of the problem in Brazil is that so few of the violent crimes (2%) are punished, so the criminals feel they can act with impunity.
My Mom and I were discussing the high crime rate in New Orleans yesterday. It's much worse now than before Katrina. It's easy to sit in the safety of a house in the suburbs, thinking "oh, how horrible for those poor people"... but like Coelho said, we are also victims and perpetrators. To use a tired cliche, if we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem. I don't know what can be done to make the lives of children born in poverty materially better, so that they don't grow up in a dangerous and brutal environment, but I think we all need to be thinking about it and coming up with solutions, because this can't go on. Although we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world, our crime rate (and a few other less than excellent statistics, such as the fact that we still have capitol punishment) -- put us in an ugly neighborhood: we are right down there with Brazil and the Middle East and some of the countries in Africa. Not in every neighborhood or city in our country, to be sure, but having one child grow up with drive-by shootings and goodness knows what else is one too many in a country this wealthy. It's not ok.
The reason Mom and I got into the discussion is because she mentioned the situation with the projects in New Orleans. There are several families who want to move back. The buildings themselves were not flooded or damaged. But the city doesn't want to let them move in. They would rather raze the buildings, and then create low-income housing dispersed throughout the city, so that there is not such a concentration of low-income families (and crime). Mom had a great idea: why not allow the families to move back into the buildings, which are good, sturdy buildings. But instead of just putting them back into the same situation, help them refurbish their apartments and make them nice. Each family could then have the opportunity to purchase their apartment, so that they would someday have something of their own. In this way, they would feel a sense of pride and a sense of ownership. The projects would not become as run-down, and the families, the good people who live there, would be able to keep the bad element out, with the help of us and the authorities. What do you think? I'd welcome any ideas for ways to improve not only New Orleans, but our other urban centers, and make our cities better places for all children, not only those with the good fortune to have parents with a decent job.
The other series I've been listening to on NPR, is entitled "God, Darwin and Dixie" -- today's installment had to do with the labels they've placed in the beginning of all science books in Alabama stating that Evolution is "just" a theory. Nevermind the fact that this demonstrates that the people (proponents of Intelligent Design) using that rhetoric are willfully disguising the fact that the term "theory" when used by scientists is much stronger than its everyday usage. A scientific theory is something that has been put to the test by a number of scientists (in this case for over 100 years), and which they have not found to be wrong. This doesn't mean it won't ever be shown to perhaps be mistaken, when we have learned more, but until then, it's the best explanation for all of the phenomena we see. Now I'm a Christian and I believe that God created the earth and all that is in it ... the fact that scientists have discovered that things evolve, that we may have evolved, does not bother me in the least. A god who is powerful and intelligent enough to say "Let there be light" and poof, there was light, is certainly capable of coming up with a system as intricate as evolution. Imagine the foresight involved.
Anyway, that's enough for today. I hope you have a wonderful one!!!
The first was a horrible crime that happened in Brazil recently. The blurb at NPR says that this child's "gruesome death [...] emphasizes the daily reality of violent crime in Rio de Janeiro." The boy, 6 years old, was strapped into the backseat of his parents' car, when they were carjacked by two gun-toting teenagers. They weren't able to quite get him out of his seatbelt when the carjackers drove off, dragging his little body down the street. By the time they stopped the car and ran away, he was of course already dead. It's created an outcry in Brazil, and only horror here. But what haunted me most was the comment by the author Paulo Coelho, who said that we are all victims, but also all the murderers. We are all at fault when part of our society is so horribly brutalized as to commit such a crime.
The other commenters pointed out that a major part of the problem in Brazil is that so few of the violent crimes (2%) are punished, so the criminals feel they can act with impunity.
My Mom and I were discussing the high crime rate in New Orleans yesterday. It's much worse now than before Katrina. It's easy to sit in the safety of a house in the suburbs, thinking "oh, how horrible for those poor people"... but like Coelho said, we are also victims and perpetrators. To use a tired cliche, if we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem. I don't know what can be done to make the lives of children born in poverty materially better, so that they don't grow up in a dangerous and brutal environment, but I think we all need to be thinking about it and coming up with solutions, because this can't go on. Although we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world, our crime rate (and a few other less than excellent statistics, such as the fact that we still have capitol punishment) -- put us in an ugly neighborhood: we are right down there with Brazil and the Middle East and some of the countries in Africa. Not in every neighborhood or city in our country, to be sure, but having one child grow up with drive-by shootings and goodness knows what else is one too many in a country this wealthy. It's not ok.
The reason Mom and I got into the discussion is because she mentioned the situation with the projects in New Orleans. There are several families who want to move back. The buildings themselves were not flooded or damaged. But the city doesn't want to let them move in. They would rather raze the buildings, and then create low-income housing dispersed throughout the city, so that there is not such a concentration of low-income families (and crime). Mom had a great idea: why not allow the families to move back into the buildings, which are good, sturdy buildings. But instead of just putting them back into the same situation, help them refurbish their apartments and make them nice. Each family could then have the opportunity to purchase their apartment, so that they would someday have something of their own. In this way, they would feel a sense of pride and a sense of ownership. The projects would not become as run-down, and the families, the good people who live there, would be able to keep the bad element out, with the help of us and the authorities. What do you think? I'd welcome any ideas for ways to improve not only New Orleans, but our other urban centers, and make our cities better places for all children, not only those with the good fortune to have parents with a decent job.
The other series I've been listening to on NPR, is entitled "God, Darwin and Dixie" -- today's installment had to do with the labels they've placed in the beginning of all science books in Alabama stating that Evolution is "just" a theory. Nevermind the fact that this demonstrates that the people (proponents of Intelligent Design) using that rhetoric are willfully disguising the fact that the term "theory" when used by scientists is much stronger than its everyday usage. A scientific theory is something that has been put to the test by a number of scientists (in this case for over 100 years), and which they have not found to be wrong. This doesn't mean it won't ever be shown to perhaps be mistaken, when we have learned more, but until then, it's the best explanation for all of the phenomena we see. Now I'm a Christian and I believe that God created the earth and all that is in it ... the fact that scientists have discovered that things evolve, that we may have evolved, does not bother me in the least. A god who is powerful and intelligent enough to say "Let there be light" and poof, there was light, is certainly capable of coming up with a system as intricate as evolution. Imagine the foresight involved.
Anyway, that's enough for today. I hope you have a wonderful one!!!
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Liberals Unite!
Some may call the mainstream media liberal, but here are some true bastions of leftist ideals, and some of my favorite sources of online news:
1) Democracy Now! - take an hour and watch the whole show, or just choose the headlines that intrigue you. Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez take on the big issues in the "War and Peace Report". The musical interludes between stories are always a treat. On February 2nd they featured John Fahey Holding to the principle of being "independent media", they present voices from both sides of the political fence. One of the most fun recent features was their interview of Bolivian President Evo Morales.
2) Mother Jones - their tagline says it all: "Mother Jones online is your home for investigative news, politics, commentary, analysis and hellraising." I really like their timeline of the Iraq War: "Lie by Lie".
3) Slate - currently featuring a piece on gay sheep and one of the best Bible blogs ever.
4) FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
1) Democracy Now! - take an hour and watch the whole show, or just choose the headlines that intrigue you. Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez take on the big issues in the "War and Peace Report". The musical interludes between stories are always a treat. On February 2nd they featured John Fahey Holding to the principle of being "independent media", they present voices from both sides of the political fence. One of the most fun recent features was their interview of Bolivian President Evo Morales.
2) Mother Jones - their tagline says it all: "Mother Jones online is your home for investigative news, politics, commentary, analysis and hellraising." I really like their timeline of the Iraq War: "Lie by Lie".
3) Slate - currently featuring a piece on gay sheep and one of the best Bible blogs ever.
4) FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
Friday, February 02, 2007
It's Official!!
That beloved groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil (I just wanted to see if I could really spell that ... not without much help), did not see his shadow today, so it looks like spring is on the way. That's if you believe in German superstitions. Anyone know of any stats about Phil's accuracy? I'd be curious to know how often his predictions end up panning out.
Have a great February 2nd!!
Have a great February 2nd!!
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