I think I'm going to start using a new blogging site instead of this one. Go here: http://www.jambogabe.blogspot.com
Climate Change and a New Report...
HOT TOPIC
by Elizabeth Kolbert
The New Yorker
Issue of 2007-02-12
Posted 2007-02-05
Except in certain benighted precincts—oil-industry-funded Web sites, the Bush White House, Michael Crichton’s den—no one wastes much energy these days trying to deny global warming. Credit Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” or this winter’s snowless ski season in the Alps, or the fact that it was seventy-two degrees in Central Park on January 6th. Still, the release last week of the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change represents an important, perhaps even historic, event.
Founded in 1988, the I.P.C.C. is a joint venture of the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. Every four or five years, it conducts an exhaustive survey of the available data and issues a multi-volume assessment of the state of the climate. By the time the I.P.C.C. publishes an assessment, it has been vetted by thousands of scientists, as well as by the organization’s hundred and ninety-odd participating governments. The process guarantees that I.P.C.C. reports are conservative—indeed, frequently out of date—since every statement has had to pass review not just in Paris and London but also in Riyadh and Washington. The first I.P.C.C. assessment, issued in 1990, was noncommittal on the source of the warming that had been observed up to that point. In each subsequent report, the organization has moved cautiously but inexorably toward assigning responsibility. Last week’s assessment, the fourth, put the likelihood that human beings are the cause of global warming—now evident from “increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level”—at ninety per cent. It went on to note that temperatures will continue to climb for decades, that heat waves and floods will become more frequent, and that the last time the Arctic and the Antarctic were warmer than they are today for an extended period—before the start of the last Ice Age—global sea levels were at least thirteen feet higher.
As it happens, the release of the report coincides with an important political shift. Though President Bush remains recalcitrant—he could barely bring himself to utter the phrase “climate change” in his State of the Union address last month—the Republican defeat in November has removed from power Congress’s most reliable obstructionists. In the Senate, James Inhofe, of Oklahoma, best known for having declared global warming the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people,” ceded the chairmanship of the Environment and Public Works Committee to Barbara Boxer, of California. “For the last twelve years . . . all we’ve been talking about is, ‘Is there global warming?’ ” Boxer recently told USA Today. “I’m over it. We need to move forward.” Boxer herself has signed on to a bill, sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, that would cut America’s carbon emissions by eighty per cent by 2050. Last week, when she held an unusual “open-mike” hearing to review legislative proposals on climate change, twenty-five senators showed up, including the Presidential hopefuls John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. (McCain, Obama, and Joseph Lieberman are co-sponsors of a bill that would cut greenhouse-gas emissions by two-thirds by 2050.) After Inhofe used his time to rail about all the “hysteria and political posturing’’ on global warming, Boxer remarked, “I’ll put you down as skeptical.”
On the House side, the Democratic majority has elevated Representative John Dingell, of Michigan, to the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Dingell assumes the post from Joe Barton, of Texas, whose tenure was marked by a series of investigations (or, if you prefer, witch hunts) targeting prominent climate scientists. Now eighty, Dingell has spent more than half a century in Congress protecting the American auto industry. Nevertheless, he has promised to hold hearings on climate change, and has invited Al Gore to testify. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has gone a step further, creating a Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, reportedly to be headed by Representative Ed Markey, of Massachusetts. “The science of global warming and its impact is overwhelming and unequivocal,” Pelosi said, announcing the committee’s formation last month. “Now is time to act.”
Almost as significant as the changes taking place inside Congress are those taking place outside it. Four days after Pelosi labelled the science of global warming “unequivocal,” James Rogers, the chairman of Duke Energy, one of the nation’s largest electric-power companies, said much the same thing at the National Press Club. Duke Energy is part of a new coalition, the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, whose members include Alcoa, DuPont, G.E., and Lehman Brothers, along with groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Resources Institute. At the press club, the coalition called on the federal government to enact a mandatory “cap and trade” system that would first stabilize and then begin to reduce CO2 emissions. “We know enough to act now,” Rogers said. “We must act now.” The coalition urged Congress to set a goal of cutting emissions by at least sixty per cent by mid-century.
Carbon dioxide is a by-product of just about every aspect of contemporary life—from driving and flying to farming and manufacturing and watching videos on YouTube. To reduce emissions by sixty per cent—or eighty per cent, as Senator Boxer advocates, or by two-thirds, as the McCain-Lieberman-Obama bill calls for—will thus require significant, and doubtless also disruptive, changes at every level of society. This may not seem an attractive prospect, but, as the latest I.P.C.C. report makes clear, change is not something that anyone at this point has a choice about. All that is at issue—and it is critically at issue—is how disastrous the change will be. Already enough CO2 has been pumped into the air to alter life on earth for thousands of years to come. To continue on our current path because the alternative seems like too much effort is not just shortsighted. It’s suicidal.
I went down to DC Tuesday for a meeting for work. Met up with Andrea, a friend from high school, for dinner. It was good. Andrea is such a real person. It is good to be around her. I can just talk to her about things in life, and she really answers, with what she really thinks, has really experienced, etc. This is a very refreshing thing. Andrea is a good person.
It brings back memories of high school, which tend to be amusing in retrospect. Most of my memories of her revolve around high school so it is a little strange to contextualize that within our current lives, especially the fact that we are adults now apparently.
In other news, I was very happy to see a new Ethiopian restaurant open in Boston. It's only 25 mins drive, much closer than the 40+ to the other one I always go to.
I received good news last week... The Air Force approved my separation with good severance package. I get to get out of the Air Force, and they are going to give me $66K to do so. Not a bad deal.
The next step is to figure out what I'm going to do. I've been spending time researching becoming a HS teacher. There is a lot to do. But this money gives me the flexibility to go back to school for a little while and concentrate on that.
Saturday I had one of the most fun days I've had in a month. I went to a gymnastics competition that two of my 10 year old girls were participating in. I watched them in a couple events. They are both good. One of them actually won the entire competition for the highest skill level at her age group. Afterward, went out to lunch with one of the girls and her mom. I spent an hour chatting with the coolest 10 year old. What an amazing kid! We didn't talk about anything really, besides chocolate and Disney movies and sleep overs with her best friend and whatever. But I had so much fun.
Then later in the night got to hang out with 8 of these kids for an hour at our soccer game. They are just beautiful. It's strange how they can give so much just by being who they are.
I wrote this email (a portion posted) to the parents of one of my soccer kids. It's been on my mind a lot lately.
I thought quite a bit over the last two days about our brief conversation about Emma and soccer/gymnastics. I wanted to share some of those thoughts with you if that is ok…
But first, a caveat to this email. 1) I’m not a parent and don’t have kids. 2) I don’t have a degree in child psychology/development. 3) I’m not an elementary school teacher or something similar. 4) I haven’t been coaching kids for that long either. So I cannot exactly claim to be an expert in anything I’m going to say! 5) I’m a bit partial to soccer as a sport in general so that skews my view on things. 6) I don’t know very much about gymnastics and the world of gymnastics. Although I must say, after watching the girls on Saturday, I am convinced that every kid should participate in gymnastics to some degree. I can’t think of anything better for their physical development, coordination, strengthening, agility, mind/body awareness, etc. I’ve already decided my kids (if that happens someday!!) are going to be enrolled in gymnastics.
So, it’s not a big deal to me if we lose Emma on the soccer team, in terms of her contributions to the team. We will be worse off for her absence, but that’s fine. I (and we) aren’t doing this (especially recreational indoor soccer) to recruit the best players and try and win every game. But from a somewhat selfish perspective, I’m going to miss seeing Emma every week. The more I get to know her and chat (which hasn’t been that much in the limited amount of time you have to chat with the girls 1 hour a week), the more I enjoy having her around. She’s a great kid. I’ll miss her if she isn’t playing with us, and I’m sure the other girls will too.
So the larger question of her life and future outside of our little indoor soccer team, doesn’t have much to do with me since I wouldn’t be coaching her anyway after indoor (that I could see now). But I do care about her, and want what is best for her in the future, whatever that might be. So this is why I write this email.
The last two days I’ve been thinking about Emma and gymnastics, her gymnastics coach and his opinions (from what I’ve gathered) on what his girls should be doing, the decisions you will have to make about her future in gymnastics and soccer, etc. I’ve had a lot of things come to mind that I hope you will be willing to think about (and I’m sure you probably already have before this). If not, then I guess you can just delete this email. J
I will start bluntly. I think Emma’s coach is off the wall in expecting/suggesting that his girls should be choosing one sport at the age of 10, not playing soccer, etc. If we’re trying to get some of these girls to compete nationally, have a shot at the Olympic Team, that’s about the only reason it makes sense to me. But I have to tell you, if there is such a motivation, I think it’s questionable. I have watched gymnastics here and there (Olympics mainly) and listened to some of the dialogue about having children, who will peak in their sport at the age of 16, pushed from a very young age to be able to get to that level and compete at that level when they are 16 year old girls. I have no firsthand experience in athletics at such an elite level, so I can’t intelligently comment from the outside looking in. But it has to be an enormous sacrifice, to childhood, to growing up as a kid and experiencing life as a kid… Maybe in some situations it is worth it. Maybe some kids have that dream, and are willing to get there with the intensity of their personal drive and their passion for what they are doing. Maybe then, if it is a decision these kids are making after considering all the pros and cons, and are making this decision in the absence of adult pressure, who may not have their best interests at heart, maybe then this particular child/teenager can invest that much of themselves into something.
But, in the absence of Olympic/National dreams, why does a 10 year old child need to pick one sport (not including the kid that maybe just likes one sport and doesn’t care much about the others)? I cannot think of a single reason beyond the one above, which has an awful lot of ifs to it. Why does Emma need to choose between soccer and gymnastics? Assuming she likes both, what is the harm in doing both? Well, I suppose she won’t be able to invest as much in one sport and won’t be as good. Does it matter? Isn’t life, especially for children, about experiencing life and learning from life and everything that it has to offer? And what is she going to lose by only participating in that one sport? What experiences will she miss?
Specifically when it comes to soccer, I can think of several (and these would apply to other sports too, like basketball, lacrosse, etc.). 1) It’s a team sport, and there are so many life lessons to be learned from working in a team (especially as she gets older and teamwork becomes more important). 2) Soccer is a life-long sport. She could play until she is 50+, an important tool in life-long physical fitness/mental wellness. 3) Soccer is a very creative/dynamic/flowing game. Very little is scripted. To be good at soccer requires a lot of creativity, vision, instantaneous decision making, etc. 4) Soccer provides a fantastic environment for people to practice leadership (and many other things), which translates into the “real” world. 5) I don’t know for sure, but I would think that soccer would provide more educational opportunities (for women) in terms of scholarships for college, than just about any sport save basketball. I’m sure I could sit here and think of many more great things about soccer. Anyway, my point just being, soccer is a great sport.
So maybe the decision must come down to the availability of hours in the day for Emma’s schedule, and for mom and dad’s schedule in driving her all over. If she goes forward with gymnastics and is supposed to practice 5 days a week, that doesn’t leave much time for other stuff. I must admit, I don’t understand the practicing 5x a week thing, for a 10 year old, unless you are trying to get them to National competitions or ensure college scholarships (and I already talked about that).
But what it all comes down to in the end for me, is what does Emma want? If it is about what is best for her, and she is choosing between things that are all good options, then I think it would make sense for it to be her decision. If this was a decision between sitting at home and playing video games every day, vs. playing SOME sport of some type, and she decides video games is the way to go, maybe the parental decision should trump the kid’s decision! But this is not the case.
So what does Emma want? Explain all of the choices and constraints… This many hours in the day, this many activities, this many things mom and dad can support, what tradeoffs would she have to make (maybe there is no alternative to practicing 5x a week for level 7, take it or leave it… (That’s not a very good option in my opinion however)) Maybe in the end she loves gymnastics enough that she would want to quit soccer. Or maybe she wants to do both (and this might mean she isn’t going to be on the podium in the future at every gymnastics meet… Is that ok with her? Might she worry that if she wasn’t placing every meet that she would be treated different by the adults in her life?). Or maybe she has an entirely different idea.… Maybe this is hard to get at, as children can be so influenced by the spoken and unspoken desires of parents, coaches, adults, and friends. But hopefully what she really wants will come out.
Emma’s 10, she has a multitude of amazing experiences to look forward to while she’s a child, a teenager, a young adult, and an adult… But now, more than ever, my feeling, from being around these kids, is that they should have all the freedom and opportunities to experience everything that life has to offer them. There are warning bells that go off in my head when someone is trying to close doors to the infinite possibilities in life, especially for a child. There will be plenty of time later in her life to make these option A or option B type decisions. Maybe she’s a freshman or senior in HS and her heart is set on gymnastics in college, or soccer for the women’s national team, or playing the piano in front of 1,000’s of rapt Mozart fans, or becoming an astronaut, or doing research to cure disease! And maybe at that point she makes sacrifices to get there.
But does that have to happen when she is 10?
I watched Whale Rider tonight, for the 3d or 4th time. I feel like every once in a while, a year or two, I come back to this movie, and it reaches out to me in a time when I am struggling. This world is so painful at times, to see all of the suffering that is happening. I feel like there is so little hope. What does it all mean? Why is there so much pain and suffering?
But this movie speaks to me, more deeply than any film I have ever seen. I don't exactly understand why. It is hauntingly beautiful. There is something about it that reflects the most beautiful aspects of our souls, that part of ourselves that is distinctly pure. It is like I sense it; somehow this film puts me in touch with that aspect of our humanity that is there within all of us that is of god.
Our world has lost the mythology of this film... There is something missing. I'm not sure I even understand what that is.
But I see it here... It is a beauty that is infinitely transcendent of our seemingly simple lives.
It is here in the life of this 12 year old girl and the power of this film.
http://wherethehellismatt.com/
This is very silly but cool. This guy quit his job and for the last 2 years has been traveling around the world. Every place he goes he films himself dancing. He's a big dork but he sounds cool...
I'm thoroughly enjoying coaching my two girls teams. For fun, have a U-12 team. They are just wicked awesome, so cute, just great to be around. The U-15's I really like. You can carry on pretty adult conversations with them, but they are still silly and like to have a lot of fun. You can expect a lot more out of them, they are more serious about soccer. Very quickly I'm becoming very invested in caring about each of them. I have yet to have one of the 22 girls on the team constantly piss me off. With my boys team, yah, no. There were many of them that would constantly get on my nerves for one thing or another.
Just read a wicked good book about Gender and Competition. Very insightful into the ways in which women and men approach competition, teams, etc. Has given me a lot to think about and insight into how to be a more effective coach in understanding the girls on my team.
Funny, I learn a lot of lessons about life and human interaction and leadership through coaching. But since I don't care much about my job, they tend not to carry over as much into work. I guess a little unfortunate.
Was in Seattle 2 weekends ago. Went to see a friend of mine play soccer. Her team made the final four of their conference. They won the semi's and then in the finals, went to double overtime and won with a golden goal. It was so amazing. This is a team in which I know one of the players and have known her for like 4 years. I know the coach because I set up a soccer scholarship for his program. It was just really meaningful and much more emotional to be a small part of their success, having a vested interest in the team. Awesome.
This weekend, off to North Carolina to watch more soccer! This time the women's Division 1 NCAA final four. Friend from Spokane is meeting me there. Also, get to see Jayna, a fantastic kid I coached last year. I miss her.
Anyway, I think sleep is in order.
Have you seen the movie "Garden State"? Wicked good... I've seen it before, but just watched it again.
I finished coaching my boys soccer team not too long ago. It was an interesting couple months. 9th grade boys can be giant shits. They are so incredibly different from 9th grade girls, it's like a different species of life in the universe. As long as I wasn't trying to compel them to do something different from what they were naturally doing (goofing off and screwing around having fun with their buddies, giving each other endless shit, trying to one-up each other...), they were cool. I liked talking to them and messing around a little. But god, try and push them in some other direction in which you were trying to accomplish something different, and it was like trying to climb a glass sky scraper with nothing but a couple suction cups attached to your arms. I can't say I'm that sad the season is done.
In stark contrast, I show up to practice with my freshmen girls and they are like god's divine light shining down on earth. Ok, not really, but it feels like it at times.
Where do boys come from? Hell, all you read about these days is how much they are struggling, how lost the gender is in our world. I can see why. I don't think it is their fault.
The female gender seems to constantly prove to me that they are the superior sex on this planet. Probably not inherent in their genes, but whatever combination of psycho-social factors we grow up with makes the difference.
This is a generalization, and there are always exceptions.
I made a new friend. Those that know me may be surprised to hear that this person is a guy. Lol... He's really cool. I met him at a soccer coaching course. We started hanging out around soccer. As we started to talk, it's interesting how much we have in common outside of soccer. He's a real person, has thought a lot about the world, has read a lot... Rare.
I found a new song on the radio I really like. It's called Chasing Cars, by Snow Patrol. I have only vaguely/possibly heard of Snow Patrol before. But I love this song.
We'll do it all
Everything
On our own
We don't need
Anything
Or anyone
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel
Those three words
I said too much
They're not enough
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life
Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads
I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life
All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see
I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all
If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
For the first time in years, I feel a small amount of hope that our country might have a chance of a positive future. Fuck... It's not that the democrats are god's gift to mankind, but they have got to be better than the devil's gift of Bush to the world.
Maybe there is some hope for a better future.
One of the things I’ve realized is that I am very unsure of so many things. I was talking to a friend of mine not too long ago and she was asking me questions about God and life and evolution and stuff like that, and asking me what I believe. Well, I didn’t have good answers for her on any of her questions. My responses basically came down to “I’m not really sure.” After I had several such responses to her questions, she commented that I didn’t seem to be very sure about very much. Lol. Well, it got me thinking and she is right. There was a time, or times, in my life, where I have felt very certain about a lot of things in life, in what I believed, etc. But for some reason, that has mostly changed. You could ask me a question about something, and I would have many thoughts on the subject, but I would likely be non-committal on espousing one particular belief/opinion, because frankly I’m just not sure.
I don’t know what this means either. It seems like in life most people are so sure of so many things, what they believe. In contrast, I’m NOT so sure of so many things. Granted, there are some things I’m quite certain of. For example, ask me what my opinion of Bush is and I am quite convinced he is an idiot. I guess there are many more things I’m quite certain of. But when it comes to larger questions, philosophical/metaphysical/political questions, I’m not certain about nearly as much.
So, that brings me back to my question, what is the meaning of life? From what I wrote above, the simple answer would be “I’m not too sure.” But I will write some of my thoughts lately… Perhaps the meaning of life is to discover for yourself what the meaning of life is for you. That’s very relativistic in some ways, in that there is no absolute meaning of life, (for example, following God or something like that). Now, that doesn’t mean that my meaning of life may be to kill innocent children, and that’s ok or something… Hardly. But maybe each individual has a different sort of purpose in life, a different path, and to find that path and to live it is what is meaningful. For one person, that might be a devout faith in God. For another person it might be a dedication to Buddhist teachings. Another person might be an atheist who is dedicated to social justice issues. Another it might be to be a great mother or father… I guess what these all have in common is that there is a certain element of service to the world community on some level. I don’t think someone’s meaning of life would be to become as rich and powerful as possible. That’s twisted and does nothing for the greater good of humanity.
So, perhaps the meaning of life is to find out why you are here. The meaning of life is to find out what the meaning of life is… That’s a bit paradoxical I suppose.
But maybe there is something deeper than that. Most of the examples I gave are occupational, like jobs. That may be too specific. Maybe something broader is what I said about contributing to the human community. But even beyond that, another thought crosses my mind which is similar yet different to everything I’ve said so far. Maybe the meaning of life is to search for truth. That’s rather nebulous, I guess. Maybe we are supposed to be constantly searching for meaning, understanding, truth, and then to take some action from what we find, as we grow as a human being?
Hmm. That raises a lot of questions in my mind though. I don’t think I’ll go into them now.
Well, like I said at the beginning, I’m really not sure what the meaning of life is. I often wonder if I will ever really know. Maybe that is one of those things you can never completely understand. You can spend a lifetime searching for this truth, along the way continuously growing as a human being and getting closer to the answers you seek, but you will never actually get there completely.
It has been a long time. I don't know why, but just haven't cared to write anything on this in a while. Don't know...
This whole Israel and Lebanon thing is sickening me, especially what Israel is doing. They had a great example to follow with the US and Iraq, however, so taking it a couple steps further isn't that big of a deal...
This is a good response I read today
The new war in the Middle East
by Jim Rice
What is the proper, appropriate response of a nation to violent attacks by terrorists or other radical extremists? We have seen one model illustrated in the response of the British government to last year's attacks on London's public transportation system, in which 52 people were killed and 700 injured. The British rightly understood the attacks as terrorist acts, but responded in a measured manner, dealing both with the investigation of the terrible crime and the need for enhanced security in its wake. Pointedly, the British did not opt for a military response to these acts of terror.
We have also, of course, seen an altogether different model of response, perhaps most clearly exemplified by the U.S. invasion of two countries - one of which was an actual source of the terror - following the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001.
Unfortunately, it seems to be in the latter spirit that Israel responded to terror attacks in the past fortnight. Provoked by the Hamas kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, Israel not only invaded the northern Gaza Strip but also destroyed a significant portion of Gaza's infrastructure, including airstrikes against Gaza's power grid.
Likewise, days later, when the Syrian-backed terror group Hezbollah seized the opportunity to raid northern Israel and capture two Israeli soldiers, Israel responded with a massive attack on Lebanon's civilian structures, from the Beirut airport to a dairy factory, civilian buses, bridges, power stations, and medical facilities, according to reports. Hezbollah responded by firing hundreds of rockets a day - more-modern, longer-range rockets than in the past - aimed intentionally at neighborhoods in Haifa and other Israeli cities. The result, not surprisingly, has been the death of many civilians on all sides.
The situation is clearly complicated by the role of Hezbollah as a part of the coalition government of Lebanon, which seems unable or unwilling (probably both) to disarm Hezbollah, which effectively controls the southern part of the country. The new warfare in the Middle East is also made worse by the sinister political manipulations of both Syria and Iran, who seek to increase their own power in the region no matter the human cost.
But Israel's use of military attacks in response to acts of terror raises many questions. The most important, perhaps, revolves around the issue of legitimate self defense vs. collective punishment. Israel is indeed surrounded by sworn enemies, including many who are demonstrably willing to violently destroy Israel. But does the real need for security justify the massively disproportionate response to an act of terror? Is the collective punishment of an entire population ever morally and ethically justified? As Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, put it in statement July 14, "The Holy See condemns both the terrorist attacks on the one side and the military reprisals on the other," stating that Israel's right to self-defense "does not exempt it from respecting the norms of international law, especially as regards the protection of civilian populations." The statement said further, "In particular, the Holy See deplores the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation."
Even apart from the ethical questions raised by Israel's massive retaliation, there are significant issues of efficacy: Does it work? Is Israel made more secure by a militarized approach? Israel has destroyed 42 bridges in Lebanon this week, along with 38 roads, communications equipment, factories, runways and fuel depots at the Beirut airport, and the main ports of Beirut and Tripoli. And along with the material devastation, the attacks constitute a terrible, possibly even fatal, threat to Lebanon's fragile and fledgling democracy.
Does the destruction of much of Lebanon's civilian infrastructure, so painstakingly rebuilt after years of civil war and occupation by both Israeli and Syrian forces, bode well for future peace between the neighboring states? In sum, will the Israeli attacks bring long-term security for Israel, or will they further ensure that the next generation of Lebanese and Palestinians - across the theological and political spectrum - grow up with an undying hatred in their hearts?
The violence of Hezbollah and Hamas should be unequivocally condemned and opposed. It cannot be ignored or underestimated that the two terrorist organizations have as their goal the eradication of Israel. However, much U.S. media coverage of this new Middle East war paints a misleading picture of a tit-for-tat equivalency between the two sides: Hezbollah explodes a bomb in Israel, Israel responds in kind. While their intentions are indeed malevolent, the two terrorist groups have nowhere near the military capability of Israel, which wields one of the most powerful military forces in the world (with the aid, of course, of more than $3 billion per year from the United States). The death toll in Lebanon in the first six days of the war has been tenfold that in Israel - according to The New York Times, 310 people, most of them civilians, have died in Lebanon while Israel has suffered 27 casualties, 15 of them civilians, since Israel began its attacks. (Similarly, 4,064 Palestinians and 1,084 Israelis have been killed since Sept. 29, 2000, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the Israel Defense Forces, respectively.)
One of the most difficult aspects of trying to be a peacemaker in the Middle East context is the "separation wall" of understanding between the two peoples. The very definition of what is happening is understood in vastly different ways by the two sides. Supporters of Israel see the country attacked by its sworn enemies, and see in its response a necessary and justified act of national self-defense. Others see the region's most powerful military force (supported by the world's most powerful military force) illegally occupying Palestinian land and engaging in massive, disproportionate attacks on innocent civilians.
As Christians committed to the cause of peace, our role is not to "take sides" in the struggle, in the traditional sense, but rather to constantly stand for the "side" of a just and secure peace. We can ignore neither the horror of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians (including direct attacks on school children) nor the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories (with all its "collateral damage" to Palestinian children). We must have the vision and courage to stand against the acts of violence by terrorist organizations, as well as the massive state violence by the region's military superpower, while avoiding the trap of positing a false "equivalency" between actions that are not equal.
We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by the political, strategic, and moral complexity of the situation to stand back and do nothing. A first step toward a more comprehensive resolution is an immediate operational cease-fire. But that must be followed by a new way of thinking because, as a U.N. official put it yesterday, "The Middle East is littered with the results of people believing there are military solutions to political problems in the region."
Americans are stupid when it comes to world knowledge:
After more than three years of combat and nearly 2,400 U.S. military deaths in Iraq, nearly two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 still cannot find Iraq on a map, a study released Tuesday showed.
The study found that less than six months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, 33 percent could not point out Louisiana on a U.S. map.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/index.html
Amazing isn't it?
Fundamentalist religious idiocy at its finest...
Monday, May 01, 2006
SCIENCE: Concerns of Muslim space travellers
As Malaysia prepares to pick its first astronaut, the country’s space agency is hunting for solutions to the problems it expects devout Muslims to face while in orbit, such as in which direction to pray.
One of the five pillars of Islam requires the faithful to pray five times a day, and to face Mecca, the birthplace of Islam, while doing so. Astronauts aboard spaceships could have difficulty meeting these requirements. “Among the astronaut’s needs, if he is a Muslim, are guidelines on performing prayers in space, and other aspects of life according to Islamic principles,” Malaysian government official Mohd Ruddin Abdul Ghani told a two-day meeting of scientists and religious experts to thrash out solutions.
There are three Muslims on a shortlist of four candidates from which Malaysia must pick two in May to begin training as astronauts. The programme was launched two years ago, after Russia offered the country a free trip into space aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. The trip, meant to sweeten a deal for Malaysia’s $900-million purchase of Russian-made fighter planes, will see the best man or woman blasting off with Russian astronauts in October 2007 to spend six to eight days aboard the International Space Station. The effort aims to boost public support for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s push for new “growth industries” such as biotechnology, space science and information technology to help broaden Malaysia’s economy, which relies heavily on its reputation as a low-cost manufacturer.
Following Earth time and facing in the direction of Earth are the key elements to solving the problem, said Zainol Abidin Abdul Rashid, a professor at the space science institute attached to the National University of Malaysia. Zainol said he had written a computer program with the help of his graduate students to calculate the correct prayer times and directions for astronauts, once their positions are keyed in. “It can be set up on a computer or even a personal digital assistant, and figuring out your location is as simple as connecting to the Internet,” Zainol told Reuters.
After securing the go-ahead from Islamic experts, he said he expected to be able to offer free programe downloads from 2007. But other perplexing questions remain — what about ablutions before prayers, and how does one kneel in zero gravity? Orthodox answers to these questions include using alternative cleaning modes, such as tissues or napkins, or praying in a seated position, strapped into one’s chair, experts at the conference said. A group of muftis took a pragmatic approach in tackling these questions in advice recently published on the Web site IslamOnline.net. “According to an established principle of Islamic jurisprudence, if for any reason we are unable to fulfil a certain condition or a prerequisite on which the validity of a certain act of worship is dependent, then we must still perform the act without the condition,” the site said. Reuters
I guess I've been somewhat uninspired to write in blog lately. Not sure why.
Work is going ok, actually somewhat good in the grand scheme of things. Better at least than other times.
Soccer with the girls is going really well. I'm enjoying coaching the team and having fun with the girls. They are awesome. An acquaintance of mine, Liz, I asked to help me coach. She's great with the girls and I'm glad she is helping out. The most difficult part is reaching all the girls. We have such a wide disparity of soccer skill. Some girls have barely played, some are awesome for being 11. So it's really hard to coach to all their levels at the same time.
My favorite girl on the team is Jayna. I've gotten to know her a good amount outside of soccer practices, gone to her house for dinner, other activities with her family, etc. She's an amazing kid. Her family is moving away in June, and it kills me. It brings tears when I think about it. I'm going to miss her deeply. It's fascinating to me when I step away and look from the outside in, that spending 5 months around this kid could touch me as she has. I don't quite understand it.
I went out on a lunch date, if you will, with this girl I sort of know from work. The more I get to know her, the more I rather like her. She has a super-fun personality, smart, likes some geekie science stuff like I do, eats very healthy, exercises a lot, is way cute... I guess I have a little crush on the girl, although I've only spent about 1.5 hours total talking to her.
I was in D.C. last week and got to see a friend from high school, that I haven't seen from high school actually. Andrea Martin. She is since married and has a 10 month old. We got to hang out for like 2 hours. It was really cool to see her. I've always like Andrea.
Spring is here, just starting. It's becoming beautiful, buds on the trees and bushes. I cannot wait for the flowers to bloom everywhere. It's going to be fucking amazing.
Ok, I'm off to bed.
I've always been a little incredulous that prayer directed at events such as in this study, recovery from heart surgery, has any benefit whatsoever. Assuming that there is a God as described in the Bible, I find it doubtful that the life or death of a seriously ill person can be influenced by prayer. Seems too contrived to me... Well, here is a study to back my opinion up.
By Rob Stein, Associated Press | March 31, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Praying for other people to recover from an illness is ineffective, according to the largest, best-designed study to try to examine the power of prayer to heal strangers at a distance.
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The study of more than 1,800 heart bypass surgery patients found that those who had other people praying for them had as many complications as those who did not. In fact, one group of patients who knew they were the subject of prayers fared worse.
The long-awaited results, the latest in a series of studies that have failed to find any benefit from ''distant" or ''intercessory" prayer, came as a blow to the hopes of some that scientific research would validate the popular notion that people can influence the health of people even if they don't know someone is praying for them.
The researchers cautioned that the study was not designed to test the existence of God or the benefit of other types of prayer, such as praying for oneself or at bedsides of friends or relatives. They also did not rule out that other types of distant prayer may be effective for other types of patients.
''No one single study is ever going to provide an answer," said Jeffery Dusek of Harvard Medical School, who helped lead the study being published in the April 4 issue of the American Heart Journal.
While many studies have suggested that praying for oneself may reduce stress, research into praying for others who may not even know they are the subject of prayers has been much more controversial. Several studies that claimed to show a benefit have been criticized as deeply flawed. And several of the most recent findings have found no benefit.
The new $2.4 million study, funded primarily by the John Templeton Foundation, was designed to overcome some of those shortcomings. Dusek and his colleagues divided 1,802 bypass patients at six hospitals into three groups. Two groups were uncertain whether they would be the subject of prayers. The third was told they would be prayed for.
The researchers recruited two Catholic groups and one Protestant group to pray ''for a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications" for 14 days for each patient, beginning the night before the surgery, using the patient's first name and the first initial of the last name.
Over the next month, patients in the two groups that were uncertain whether they were the subject of prayers fared virtually the same, with about 52 percent experiencing complications regardless of whether they were the subject of prayers.
Surprisingly, however, 59 percent of the patients who knew they were the targets of prayer experienced complications.
Because the most common complication was an irregular heartbeat, the researchers speculated that knowing they were chosen to receive prayers may have put them under increased stress.
''Did the patients think, 'I am so sick they had to call in the prayer team?' " said Charles Bethea of the Integris Heart Hospital at Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, who helped conduct the study.
Global Survey Finds Many Believe Iraq War Has Increased Terror Threats
The results come as another new poll has found dwindling support for the Iraq war around the world. A BBC survey of over 40,000 people in 35 different countries found that 60% believe the Iraq war has increased rather than decreased the chances of major terrorist attacks. Only 12% believe the war has made the chances of an attack less likely.
More issues with Iraq...
Poll: 72% of US Soldiers in Iraq Want Exit Within Year
A new poll from Zogby International shows nearly three-quarters of US troops in Iraq believe the US should pull out within one year. One-quarter of those surveyed believe the US should leave now. And only one in five US troops want to heed President Bush's pledge that US forces stay "as long as they are needed." The poll also found an overwhelming majority of US troops believe the widely discredited theory that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks. 90% said the Iraq war was a retaliation for Saddam Hussein's supposed role in 9/11.
Study: One in Three Iraq Vets Seek Mental Health Treatment
Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting an Army study has found that more than one in three US troops who served in Iraq later sought help for mental health problems. According to the report, soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq reported more distress than those returning from Afghanistan and other countries. More than half of all service members returning from Iraq reported that they had "felt in great danger of being killed" there, and over 2,400 reported having suicidal thoughts. Steve Robinson, head of the National Gulf War Resource Center, said: "In Vietnam, there were safe areas where people could go to rest and recuperate. That doesn't happen in Iraq; every place is a war zone."
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