Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Toll From Tsunami Rises to More Than 51,000

How to Help The Victims Of Tsunami (washingtonpost.com)

If you don’t find a charity that suits your taste on the Washington Post site, please consider also:

ELCA (Lutheran) International Disaster Response in South Asia. (This is where we’re sending our contribution.)

Oxfam America

CARE

It’s difficult to imagine surviving a disaster of this magnitude. Many will have lost their homes and all of their possessions. Many will have lost their families. Terrible diseases will follow the initial horror. A million people or more will have been affected by the time it’s all over. Though, for many, it will never be all over.

Please give what you can.

Million for Marriage

Dear Friends,

I believe that ALL Americans, including gays and lesbians, deserve the rights, responsibilities, and privileges that come with marriage. And right now, we have an unprecedented opportunity to make that dream a reality. Please, join me in adding your voice to a million voices raised in support of civil marriage for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples at www.MillionForMarriage.org.

It’s just plain wrong to deny the benefits of marriage to people because of their sexuality. Support Marriage Equality for ALL!

Gotta Love Dave Barry

No Thanks for the Memories (washingtonpost.com): “[In May of 2004] …the nation’s mood does not improve when the Department of Making Everybody in the Homeland Nervous raises the Official National Terror Index Level to ‘Stark,’ based on having received credible information indicating that al Qaeda terrorist cells are ‘probably up to something’ and ‘could be in your attic right now.’”

It’s “Just So”

Evolution Shares a Desk With ‘Intelligent Design’ (washingtonpost.com): “Essentially intelligent design posits that the human cell, among other organisms, is too finely tuned to have developed by chance. ‘The human cell is irreducibly complex — what we find in the cell is stuff that looks strongly like it was designed by an intelligence,’ said Michael J. Behe, a biology professor at Lehigh University and leading advocate of intelligent design.”

This is like the foolish person who, looking at his parents, marvels at how much they resemble him. Of course human cells look like they were designed by an intelligence! We see what we already know and understand and then we congratulate ourselves on being so perceptive!

The Christmas Truce of 1914

Remembering a Victory For Human Kindness (washingtonpost.com): “On Christmas Day near the village of Fromelles, members of the 6th Battalion of the Gordon Highlander Regiment met their German enemies in a 60-yard-wide no man’s land and together buried about 100 bodies. A service of prayers and the 23rd Psalm was arranged. ‘They were read first in English by our Padre and then in German by a boy who was studying for the ministry,’ a 19-year-old second lieutenant named Arthur Pelham Burn wrote to a friend. ‘The Germans formed up on one side, the English on the other, the officers standing in front, every head bared. Yes, I think it was a sight one will never see again.’”

90 years ago today, goodness and simple decency prevailed, for a little while at least, over hate and violence. I think most people have this desire for peace within them–if they can only put aside their political and social prejudices long enough to recognize how much they really have in common with others.

The issues that divide us are so petty compared to all that unites us.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I Want to Be Helen Thayer When I Grow Up

At the Wolf’s Door (washingtonpost.com): “Thayer is an explorer-naturalist of a breed that in the modern age is more threatened than wolves. She is not a millionaire, an academic, a government scientist or the sponsored face of a large corporation. In the beginning, she wasn’t even a writer. Instead, she’s a self-taught, self-financed and self-effacing woman whose chief interest in life has been to do difficult and interesting things. Her adventures are a mixture of climb-it-because-it’s-there feats of endurance and quasi-scientific efforts to satisfy her own curiosity.”

This is very cool. First, the Washington Post refers to Thayer and her husband as “a middle aged couple”. Read on and you discover that Thayer is 67 years old. Her husband is 78. Yep, that’s right. She’s 67 years old and she’s trekking around the Yukon studying wolves and–this is the best part–neither she nor the Washington Post’s writer seem to think there’s anything particularly unusual about that.

They Hate What America Stands For

Salon.com News | Nearly half in U.S. say Muslim civil liberties should be restricted: “The survey found 44 percent favored at least some restrictions on the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Forty-eight percent said liberties should not be restricted in any way.”

That 44% is the group that hates what America stands for: our civil liberty, our freedoms of speech and religion, all those good things the founding fathers wanted for us.

Put aside your fear, people, and stop this madness. Remember: It’s not really freedom if it doesn’t apply equally to everyone.

Tavis Smiley Leaving NPR

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | “It’s not National Some-of-the-Public Radio”: “There’s an old adage that says, ‘He who breaks through the brush first, gets the thorns.’ So, I’m leaving with a few thorns that I’ve picked up here and there, but I can tell you this: I don’t know that I made NPR any better, but NPR has sure made me better. I leave NPR not bitter, but better. Better as a person, better as a man, better as a talent, this experience for me — it’s made me feel better about America. I cannot begin to tell you how this program has made me smarter. I’ve learned so much just hosting the show. I’m going to miss that intellectual vigor, that challenge every day … I so much appreciate the opportunity and experience that I’ve had. I just hope that the decision that I’ve made will, for future generations, be a plus in terms of making this network sound more like America looks.” [Tavis Smiley]

I had never heard of Tavis Smiley until earlier this year when I noticed a TV listing for his show on Public Television. He was going to be interviewing Prince–whom I have always considered a really interesting, intelligent, and very talented kind of guy. Prince didn’t disappoint, but I was particularly impressed with Tavis Smiley’s interviewing skills. He asked good questions that really showed a lot of insight and he gave Prince plenty of space for providing answers. (I really loathe interviewers who don’t give people enough time to provide complete answers. Of course, some interview subjects really aren’t capable of providing more than rehearsed sound-bites.)

Anyway, so I’ve heard parts of a few of his NPR broadcasts and they were interesting. I never got the impression that his shows were geared specifically to black people and I believe that’s the key to his success. If you’re doing a show where you’re talking about, for example, how poverty affects a person’s access to education, you don’t need to say much about race because poor people–regardless of race–pretty much all have the same problems in this regard.

Certainly, there are issues that are race-specific but there are fewer of them than a lot of people think. When something is race-specific, of course it makes sense to talk about race. Dragging race into every discussion, though, is–in my opinion–really just divisive. I like how Tavis Smiley’s NPR show didn’t make race a part of everything he talked about. It was inclusive. So…I hope that when he talks about “making this network sound more like America looks” he’s not wanting to make race more of an issue than it needs to be.

Yes, there are different races and different cultures in this country and that’s a very good thing. (One of the things I particularly appreciate about living in the Washington DC area is the cultural diversity.) But, in the immortal words of Star Trek: “The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity… and in the way our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.” It’s that combination that interests me much more than how our differences might divide us.

What’s Wrong With Them, Anyway??

It’s men I’m talking about here. Men.

I know you’ve all become accustomed to “An American Housewife” maintaining a breezy attitude of domestic efficiency but I’ve got to have my say on this and, frankly, things could get dirty.

I came home last night from having spent a few days out of town and was disappointed to find that, as usual when I’m not around to monitor things, the house was pretty much a mess. Petrified cat food was stuck to the kitchen countertop. A thin layer of cat litter sand covered the kitchen and bathroom floors. Fruit that needed refrigeration was sitting out. The doggie training pads that I’d left for our little old dog’s emergency use while the spouse was gone all day at the office had been put down on the floor–but wrong-side up. (Clue: the plastic side goes down to protect the floor. The fluffy absorbent side goes up to collect dog pee.) Dishes were put in the dishwasher all goofy–bowls set in such a position that they’d have simply filled with water during the cleaning cycle. I won’t even describe the situation around the bathroom toilets.

None of these un-done or done-wrong tasks are particularly difficult or time-consuming.

A chimp could master this stuff.

So…what’s wrong? Why do men have such a problem with it?

I’m seeing a couple of possibilities:

1. Men think that if they act all incompetent and helpless about household chores, women will feel needed.

I’ve got news for you men. When we’re wiping urine up off the bathroom floor for the zillionth time or have stepped on one of your toenail clippings in our bare feet because you didn’t clean them up, we’re not thinking “Oh, isn’t that cute! He’s not able to take care of himself! He neeeeeds me!” It’s a lot more likely that we’re thinking something along the lines of, “You repulsive pig!” These are not the kind of thoughts that lead to romantic snuggling in front of the fireplace.

2. Men are completely oblvious to the condition of their surroundings.

I’m going to give men the benefit of the doubt and assume there may be some genetic programming going on here from which a lot of them are having difficulty breaking free.

“Man hunt wooly mammoth! Bring home meat! Woman clean cave!”

Come on guys, it’s time to evolve. It’s not like you just climbed down from the trees yesterday.

I Love These Things…

Please, read through the message below:

Dear Sir,

Naturally this mail will come to you as a surprise, but if I may crave your indulgence, I am Pascal Johnson, the first son of Kgaswane Johnson, the most popular black farmer in Zimbabwe who was recently murdered in the land dispute in my country. I appeal to you to exercise a little patience and read through my mail and I guarantee you will not have wasted your time.

Before the death of my father, he had taken me to Johannesburg to deposit the sum of US21.5 Million (Twenty One Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars) in one of the private security companies, as he foresaw the looming danger in Zimbabwe. This money was deposited in a box as gemstones to avoid much demurrage from the security company.

This amount was meant for the purchase of new machines and chemicals for the farms and establishment of new farms in Swaziland. This land problem came when Zimbabwean President Mr Robert Mugabe introduced a new Land Act Reform, which affected the rich white farmers and some few black farmers. This resulted to the killing and mob action by Zimbabwean war veterans and some lunatics in the society. In fact a lot of people were injured and some killed because of this Land reform Act for which my father was one of the victims. It is against this background that, I and my family fled Zimbabwe for fear of our lives and are currently staying in a European country where we are seeking political asylum and more so have decided to transfer my father’s money to a more reliable foreign account since the European Union (EU) Law prohibits a refugee (asylum seeker) to open any bank account or to be involved in any financial transaction throughout the territorial zone of European Union.

As the eldest son of my father, I am saddled with the responsibility of seeking a genuine foreign account where this money could be transferred without the knowledge of my government who are bent on taking everything we have got.

I am seeking for a partner who I have to entrust my future and that of my family in his hands and must let you know that this transaction is risk free. If you accept to assist my family, and me all I want you to do for me, is to make arrangements with the security company to clear the consignment (funds) from their affiliate office in the Netherlands. I have already given directives for the consignment to be brought to
the Netherlands from South Africa.

I have two options for you. Firstly, you can choose to have certain percentage of the money for your assistance in this transaction. Or you can go into partnership with me for the proper profitable investment of the money in your country. Whichever option you want, feel free to notify me. I have also mapped out 5% of this money for all kinds of expenses that will be incurred in the process of this transaction. If you do not prefer a partnership I am willing to give you 20% of the money while the remaining 75% will be for my investment in your country.

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If you are interested and willing to assist me you are at liberty to contact me via my private e-mail [deleted to protect Pascal's privacy and also just in case some poor doofus reads this and thinks they ought to get in touch with him].

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I implore you to maintain absolute secrecy and confidentiality in this transaction.

Yours Faithfully,

Pascal Johnson