Please visit Carnival of the Liberals # 14 at Expert Opinion for some thoughtful liberal commentary.
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Brian Leiter at Leiter Reports has two comical examples of politicians speaking the truth inadvertently. Their self serving platitudes are meant to convey righteous indignation, but the delicious irony is not lost on us.
First…., Bush (speaking to a Venezuelan woman in Omaha, NE ): ”I’m a little worried about your country, I’m worried about it, a little worried about it. I think it’ll be OK.”
But, he added: ”It’s going to take awhile. Sometimes leaders show up who do a great disservice to the traditions and people of a country.”
Second…, Sen Edward Kennedy (on the failure in the U.S. Senate of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage): ”The Republican leadership is asking us to spend time writing bigotry into the Constitution,”
In response, [Utah Republican Senator] Hatch fumed: ”Does he really want to suggest that over half of the United States Senate is a crew of bigots?”
I just came across a third truthful "gem" spoken without a trace of irony.
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley easily beat back a GOP primary challenge from Ten Commandments judge Roy Moore.
Riley said voters saw state government has changed while he has been in office. "People appreciated the difference in the level of corruption we had in the past and the corruption we don’t have today," he said.
His challenger, Moore, the former state chief justice who became a hero to the religious right in 2003 when he was ousted after refusing to remove the Commandments monument from the state judicial building, said: "God’s will has been done."
Addendum: Note to Sen Hatch.
This afternoon on the Senate floor, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) stood before a large photograph of his family and shared this important fact: “I’m really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we’ve never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship.”
INHOFE: As you see here, and I think this is maybe the most important prop we’ll have during the entire debate, my wife and I have been married 47 years. We have 20 kids and grandkids. I’m really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we’ve never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship.
Inhofe is consistent in his professional life. His office says “he does not hire openly gay staffers ‘due to the possibility of a conflict of agenda.’”
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No shrinking violets – these right wing divas of the Republican Party. Although they admonish the rest of us women to curtail our reproductive rights, to cleave unto our men and busy ourselves with Kinder, Kuche und Kirche, the ‘Belles for Bush" are a fierce bunch in lock step with (and sometimes one step ahead) of their chicken hawk male counterparts. Any attack on their MAN and they will tear you apart like famished lionesses. Phyllis Schlafly, the Grand Old Scold of the Grand Old Party has not been seen much lately. But her latter day hipper incarnations, Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter are filling in the gap ably.
Ingraham recently accused journalists for not reporting the "real" news from Iraq and making up sensational stories from the comfort of their hotel balcony just before this and this happened. Ingraham, whose style is more like that of a hand to hand combatant, at least tries to bolster her lies and outlandish claims with a pretense of logic. The outrageous Ann Coulter on the other hand doesn’t even bother to temper her filthy outbursts with any semblance of reason or evidence. She is the grenade thrower of the "Slash, Burn & Swiftboat" squad of the Republican party. I won’t bother to catalogue the long list of her repulsive utterances. To find out who the latest targets of her poison pen (and vicious tongue) are, see here.
Update: Response to Coulter’s slander: here and here. (Thanks to Sujatha for the links)
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In the midst of the horror show that is the Bush administration, it is reassuring to find that people are going about their daily business and taking the time to be kind and generous in small and big ways – some in bigger ways than others. Houston philanthropist, Bernard Aptaker made the front page of today’s Houston Chronicle with his extraordinary personal story of triumph and love of animals.
Houston real estate tycoon Bernard Aptaker gives money to SPCA
Philanthropic deeds are his pet projectsMoney can do many things. It can buy a palatial home, furnish it with French antiques and marble statuary, put fountains in the yard and a Rolls-Royce in the drive. But it can’t buy you the love of a good dog. Houston real estate tycoon Bernard Aptaker, a millionaire many times over, knows that well.
Since arriving in New York almost six decades ago, Aptaker — struggling to overcome the trauma of years spent in a series of Nazi concentration camps — relentlessly worked his way to riches. From his first job as a deli hand, through stints as a dance instructor to dizzying peaks in the Houston apartment business, Aptaker never forgot the value of a dollar.
Now, at age 80, Aptaker is giving much of his wealth away. And first on his list of beneficiaries are homeless horses, down-on-their-luck cows and other large abandoned or abused animals in need of a little comfort.
For Aptaker, a lifelong bachelor soured on humanity by his wartime experiences, the late-life gift is an opportunity to do something special for animals, some of whom have been among his best friends…..
….. Born in the largely Jewish village of Zakrzowek, not far from Lublin, Aptaker was only 13 when the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Aptaker clearly recalls the arrival of German troops and their Polish collaborators at the family home.
"They knocked on all the doors and took people away," he said. .. Two German soldiers came and knocked on our door, and with them were three Polish firemen — they were showing the Germans where the Jews lived.
"I had a small dog, and she had three puppies. The dog barked at them and grew more agitated. The little dog tried to defend me. A German finally pulled his Luger and shot it. The Polish firemen — they wanted to kiss up — they stomped the puppies. They kicked me and then left. My father was not at home."
Rest of Aptaker’s story here.
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Ever since the surreal 2000 presidential elections, the world has been reeling under blow after stunning blow from natural and man made disasters. I am not the superstitious type. I don’t believe in the inauspicious confluence of planetary forces or evil demonic powers exercising their destructive will on the routine circadian rythm of life. But George Bush’s horror filled regime has shaken up even prosaic skeptics like myself who are beginning to waver in our rejection of the supernatural. To live under the stewardship of this administration is like having Typhoid Mary cook your supper on Friday the 13th.
Suspense / horror movies fall into essentially two broad categories. The Manchurian Candidate, North By Northwest, Dr. Strangelove, Clockwork Orange and all James Bond movies deal with the natural capacity of the human mind to spread evil in order to satisfy greed and lust for power. For a long time I thought that the Bush administration belonged in this class – selfish, brutish, power hungry men who wreak havoc on the world by their evil genius for secretive, cruel and murderous plots. In this scenario, G.W.B. appears as the hapless puppet in the hands of ruthless and shrewd puppeteers like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove, Wolfowitz and other assorted neo-cons. This premise can explain some of the recent events but not all.
George Bush’s frightening tenure makes you wonder if mere human forces could do so much damage in five short years. What if the "puppet" himself – of the seemingly harmless, comical and even affable appearance, IS the true fountainhead of evil and the hand pulling the strings belongs to no earthly being? Think now of the second genre of horror movies to find a parallel. The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby, The Shining, Carrie and other spine chilling cinematic works about otherworldly phenomena. Could that indeed explain the tsunami, hurricanes, earthquakes – along with Iraq, Iran and 9/11? Well, the always funny and "off the beaten track" blogger, Matt certainly thinks that there is something to it. Read his hilarious and almost convincing explanation at Cerulean Blue.
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Readers may have noticed a paucity of political posts and a preponderance of art and culture related writings on the blog in the last week or so. It is not because I am not thinking of politics. I am – almost all the time. But I am numb, exhausted, bereft and too demoralized to collect my thoughts into cogent commentary.
My mind criss-crosses the devastated landscape of our national and political scene and comes to the unmistakable realization that there are not enough checks and balances in our system to counter the toxic effects of putting grossly incompetent leaders at the helm. The Bush administration and the usual culprits in its midst, have by their own misdeeds, facilitated corruption and incompetence in all other branches of our government. Executive missteps have been so many and the mischief so pervasive that one doesn’t know where to begin. What have I been thinking of but cannot bring myself to write about in a calm and collected way? Here are only a few of the many thoughts that keep spinning in my brain and make me dizzy.
- I have been thinking about Haditha where US marines, who we are told, are on a mission of mercy spreading freedom and democracy, went on a rage filled rampage and killed civilians including children.
- I have been thinking of nameless soldiers and well known journalists who continue to lose their lives and sustain serious injuries in Iraq.
- In the above two contexts, I think about right wing cheerleaders and warmongers who continue to whine that "good news" in Iraq is being blacked out by the "liberal media."
- I think disgustedly of a hypocritical and cowardly congress bent upon hiding behind the cover of "separation of powers" to keep their bipartisan corruption and thieving beyond public scrutiny.
- I think with disbelief about big name insurance companies who operate Ponzi schemes instead of being "good neighbors" as they promise in their ads. They commit daylight robbery while an impotent and well lobbied Congress watches – taking money from customers while the sun shines and pulling up stakes and leaving town when disaster strikes.
- I have been thinking why in the recent immigration debate, we carefully account for the monetary benefits that "illegal immigrants" draw from our system but we are vague about how much we ourselves benefit from their desperation and the cheap labor they provide.
- I have also been thinking that I am exhausted from repeating the same things over and over again but see little hope of improvement any time soon. Like a refugee in a disaster zone, I am waiting to be rescued. Perhaps as early as 2006 or at least by 2008. But the rescue is contingent upon how the clueless Dems play their presidential politics -whether they will pick the right guy or choose the wrong dame.
I could have written a substantive post on any one of the above topics but I was afraid of launching into an unseemly and enraged rant. So for the sake of etiquette, I have immersed myself of late into art, poetry, social issues and the politics of other countries.
I have also been thinking that fish rots from the head as we non-vegetarians know well. I have been wondering why it is that a country which was eager and ready to tar and feather a recent past president for a sordid personal dalliance which deserved only a few guffaws and clicking of tongues, still continues to tolerate Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld in positions of power. But today I came across the Mother of All Rants (via Leiter Reports) and it is a beauty ! It has relieved a lot of pressure that was building up in my brain. It says everything I feel like screaming from the roof top. Thank you Will Durst ! You sure don’t need a thesaurus and I won’t try to give you a lesson in punctuation.
NOTE: Sujatha adds one more to the list of things to rant about.
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From the Danish cartoons to the French riots – it has become increasingly clear to me that Continental Europe is quick to criticize the US on race relations and what Europeans see as a lack of liberal social policies in America. But when it comes to dealing with their own minorities, especially the Muslims, Europeans are either too angry or too scared. The Netherlands, one of Europe’s most liberal democracies, has recently had its share of troubles with its Muslim citizens and residents, most of whom immigrated from north African countries. The Europeans want their immigrants to assimilate – fair enough. But pretending that they don’t exist and sweeping uncomfortable truths and irritants arising out of a huge culture gap between the majority and minority communities is not just unwise but dangerous. If the British government could for years protect one of its fiercest critics, Salman Rushdie, from the murderous brigade of Ayatollah Khomeini, can’t the Dutch assure the safety of a member of their own parliament ? Or could it be that they don’t want to? Those who rock the boat, even on behalf of free speech, religious freedom, human and civil rights, become inconvenient "trouble makers" in the eyes of the cowardly Europeans.
An inconvenient woman (Houston Chronicle)
"AYAAN Hirsi Ali is easy to applaud from afar. The Somali-born activist fled a forced marriage and found refuge in Holland, where within a decade she became a member of parliament. In perfect Dutch, she has denounced abuse of women in Holland’s Islamic ghettos — and in traditional Islam worldwide. When her co-producer in a film on this theme was murdered, a note on his corpse warned Ali was next. Still, she continued to speak out.
But Ali has ended up leaving Holland. This month, in a hailstorm of controversy, she announced she’s moving here (USA) to work for the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. Actually, she had to leave. Dutch immigration chief Rita Verdonk stripped Ali’s Dutch citizenship this month because she’d lied on her application for asylum.
No one could call this revelation news. Its first source was Ali herself, who disclosed the application lie in 2002 and voiced remorse. She used a relative’s surname, she explained, because her powerful Somali father was pursuing her. It was only when a Dutch TV show revived the issue this month that Verdonk acted.
The affair has drawn intense criticism within the Netherlands and perhaps more internationally. Even before the asylum question, Ali already was making many Dutch uneasy. In a tiny nation that prizes its ethnic tolerance and civic calm, Ali insisted on discussing the brutality in Holland’s Muslim enclaves. After her film partner’s murder, Ali became an uncomfortable reminder of the unaddressed tensions in Holland’s multicultural society.
Uneasy with the tumult surrounding her, Holland’s authorities defended her half-heartedly. Given police protection, Ali was nevertheless evicted from her apartment when neighbors claimed her presence jeopardized their own safety. And even as she enraged extremist Muslims and discomfited authorities, Ali alienated other groups as well. In the eyes of some moderate Muslims, Ali’s harsh critiques fueled anti-Muslim hate rather than Islamic reform.
Finally, Ali blamed Holland’s mass immigration as a conduit for anti-democratic, anti-woman values. A sincere critique, her view was eagerly co-opted by xenophobes in Europe and this country, too.
Pro-woman, pro-West and intellectually fearless, Ali is sure to thrive here. But as challenging as this self-described "Muslim atheist" has been for the Dutch, she may be more so for Americans. A colleague of Ali’s, for instance, told Time magazine that Ali sharply opposes Christianity’s incursions into U.S. public life. America will be the better with Ali’s bold, original voice. And it should brace for some uncomfortable ideas."
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This report combines a couple of peculiar and oddly unexpected (for different reasons) stories that were recently in the news – one from the world of entertainment and the other from the annals of medical research.
Contrary to what scientists have long suspected, smoking marijuana does not appear to cause any increase in the risk of developing lung cancer.
"The smoke from burning marijuana leaves contains several known carcinogens and the tar it creates contains 50 percent more of some of the chemicals linked to lung cancer than tobacco smoke. A marijuana cigarette also deposits four times as much of that tar as an equivalent tobacco one. Scientists were therefore surprised to learn that a study of more than 2,000 people found no increase in the risk of developing lung cancer for marijuana smokers."
Marijuana’s usefulness in the alleviation of pain for cancer patients has long been touted by those who have lobbied for the legalization of medical marijuana. The illegal but tantalizing weed has also shown promise in arresting cancer of the brain.
"The current debate over medical marijuana hinges on its use as pain medication. But an extract of the plant could one day form the basis of cancer treatments. New findings indicate that Cannabis extracts can shrink brain tumors by blocking the growth of blood vessels that nourish them. ….. The scientists also tested the therapy on tumors taken from two patients who had not responded to conventional therapy for their glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer. After the cannabinoid injections, both tumors exhibited decreased VEGF levels. Writing in the current issue of the journal Cancer Research, the team notes, however, that a combination of therapies will most likely be required to obtain significant clinical results."
Potheads, please pause and think before celebrating by rolling out the joint and firing up the bong. A serious study needs to be conducted on how marijuana affects the normal brain and judgement of long term users. After all, if it can cut off blood supply to tumors, then in all likelihood it does the same to healthy brain tissue.
If the following report is any indication, the effects of long term drug use are not encouraging at all ! I admit that the conclusion here is based on a one man study. But the man in question is a veritable walking laboratory. Keith Richards, the inimitable guitarist for the Rolling Stones who gives new meaning to familiar terms like "Rock n’ Roll" and "potted palm," recently made news by hurting his head (how can one tell?) by first falling off a palm tree and soon thereafter from a jet ski, while vacationing in Fiji. Richards is the withered and by far the weirdest member of the Stones and that is a feat in itself when you are competing against Mick Jagger. He has defied all actuarial odds of longevity for a man whose life has been somewhat on the wild side, to say the least. The story is a few weeks old but I am still puzzling over why anyone, let alone a 62 year old aging hipster, would climb a coconut tree unless he was totally bananas!
"Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who fell out of a palm tree and was later involved in a jet-ski crash while vacationing in Fiji, has been airlifted to a hospital in New Zealand, local media reported on Sunday. According to New Zealand’s Sunday Star-Times, the palm-tree plunge left Richards with a serious headache, but he still had the energy to jump on a jet ski — and get into another accident.
The paper provided no details on the jet-ski crash, but quoted Suva Private hospital spokesperson Dr Uzzel Kanti Dhar as saying that Richards was admitted to the hospital, in the Fijian capital, last Thursday, the day of his fall from the coconut palm."
But Richards, in spite of his drug addled mind, remains sober (shrewd) enough to remember that he has an unorthodox public image to maintain. He does not like to wear shiny new shoes (or new anything) – they don’t go with his rebellious persona. So Richards has good friend, ardent fan and fellow rebel, Johnny Depp break in his size 10s for him, until they are scruffy enough for the fastidious fashion standards of the frenzied guitarist !
"The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is such a fan of Johnny Depp that he asked the Hollywood star to break in his shoes for him. And the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, who famously drew on Richard’s trademark appearance for his role as Captain Jack Sparrow, is happy to help his idol out."
Richards’ wardrobe designer Robert Cary-Williams says, "Johnny idolizes Keith. Everyone knows Depp modeled his character in ‘Pirates’ on Keith, so he’s happy to oblige. The thing with Keith is that he doesn’t like things to be new or too obvious. Sometimes you have to leave clothes about the place for him to find, as opposed to just offering them to him."
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As a lifelong, incorrigible aelurophile, I could not resist linking to this story. It is about a particular cat – the author’s ferocious cat Frederika. But there are enough interesting historical and scientific facts and factoids here about the frisky felines to warm the hearts of all cat lovers.
It is interesting to note that among famous people who loved the company of these haughty, mostly untamable, independent and pefectly formed creatures were Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, T.S Eliot, Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Hemingway and many more of the creative types. And notorious cat haters? Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Ghenghis Khan, Napoleon, Benito Mussolini and no surprise, Adolf Hitler. See the pattern of the link between free enquiring spirits and aelurophilia and extreme controlling trends with its opposite – a phobia for cats. I am not surprised at all.
My own cats have all been big, fat, laid back and extremely affectionate tom cats who came to me as very small kittens. I have not had the adventure of coping with a killer feral cat like Frederika (who has nevertheless exercised hypnotic charm on her human companion) who sounds a bit like my daughter’s cat, Noori. I can’t say how I would react to such a creature lurking around my home. But from her photos, Freddy looks gorgeous and very lovable. Don’t miss the last picture which shows her as a blur, jumping through the air – probably at an unsuspecting victim!
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Paraphrasing Andy Rooney’s eloquent Memorial Day message:
Those who lose their sons, daughters, parents or best friend in a war rarely ever set aside a special day or moment to remember their loved ones. The memories of lives cut short can flit in and out of their minds any time, any day … in the middle of ordinary chores. For the rest of us, who rarely spare a thought to calculating the human cost of war, Memorial Day ought to be a day that looks to the future instead of the past .
"Remembering doesn’t do the remembered any good, of course. It’s for ourselves, the living. I wish we could dedicate Memorial Day, not to the memory of those who have died at war, but to the idea of saving the lives of the young people who are going to die in the future if we don’t find some new way – some new religion maybe – that takes war out of our lives.
That would be a Memorial Day worth celebrating."
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IN THE GALLERY
Steel shadows Fluid contours
Passing into
Darkness
Within and without
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Souls wrapped in gunny bags
Stiff creases and starched stitches
Headless bodies
Regimented in rows
Chests waiting for bullets
Nature’s finishing touches.
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They are “Coming and Going Pieces”
of art
She said,
created
Out of live tree trunks
Always in transition
Always waiting for
Something to happen
A withering or a blossoming
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Sukrita
Sukrita Paul Kumar is a professor of English in New Delhi, India. These three short pieces form her impressions after a visit to a gallery in Washington D.C. Sukrita is also a published author and painter. See here and here for more about her.
Note: Thanks to Sujatha for providing the link to the photo of the wrapped bodies. The third picture is a live tree art representing the "peace" symbol. See more examples of live tree art here. The picture accompanying the first poem about "shadows," is one of my own paintings. It is not a complete "original." I got the idea from a south western painting I saw in my teacher Joan Furrow’s studio. It goes well with Sukrita’s poem, so I am attaching it. Click on photos for larger image.
(In my next virtual exhibition, I will post some of the better "copies" and "inspired copies" that I have painted and the why and the how of it.)
Accidental Blogger 