[sociopolitical] 

Sporadic violence doesn't deter Iraqi voters

I have been breathing a slight sigh of relief that the Zarqawi-predicted election day bloodbath did not occur on any large scale, as Iraqis participated in their country's first ever national democratic election process.

One can at least hope that the majority turnout of eligible voters in yesterday's polling might send a message to the insurgents that so many in Iraq are willing to participate in their own nation's future. Well, maybe at least foreign elements like Zarqawi will start to realize how hypocritical they come off when they criticize the U.S. for imposing its will on foreign countries.

Or not.

But I'm still optimistic that the Iraqi people will start to feel a little bit of ownership in their own destiny now.

[personal/blog] 

"This is your life -- are you who want to be?"
-Switchfoot

Funky posted on the topic of Lent last week, wherein he was wondering what sort of background low-church Protestants like myself have on the subject. He was also curious as to how those of us who aren't Catholic might choose to observe Lent, if we do. I have been thinking about it, and now I'm seriously pondering what I might give up for Lent.

Lent isn't a part of the religious tradition in which I was raised; I have, until recently, been oblivious to the origins of Ash Wednesday, and its wanton little predecessor Fat Tuesday. I recall going to the doctor's office for a visit and telling my doctor that he had a smudge on his forehead. Normally, he's very clean and sterile, being a doctor and all, but he informed me that he had ash on his forehead, at which point I recalled something about it being Ash Wednesday.

Strangely enough, I didn't even get much of an education on these fine Catholic traditions from the two good Catholic girls I dated over the years, one of them I dated quite seriously, and even attended dozens of Catholic Masses with her. But as it pertains to the Catholic females I've dated, they struck me as more procedural than spiritual in their pursuit of holiness. So, it's been with some skepticism that I've come to take Catholic theory seriously.

But, as I said, lately I've been thinking that the concept of Lent is a good one, especially as I'm a Christian who believes in the grace and sacrifice of God, without which all of humanity is in dire shape. I don't normally delve into Gospel teachings here on the weblog, but it is pertinent background to what I believe and to the rest of these thoughts.

From my own limited understanding of Lent, I take it as a way of ridding oneself of certain distractions and maybe a symbolic practice of sacrifice, a time to dwell on the sacrifice offered for us by God. While it has always struck me as largely symbolic, I do believe symbolism can be useful, especially if people keep in touch with the deeper meanings of the symbolism.

So this year I'm thinking of giving up something for Lent. But I haven't figured out which of my favorite habits to abandon for the penitent season. When I start thinking about it, there are so many things I should give up, but I know if I get too ambitious, I'm bound to fail and get discouraged, just like all those failed New Year's resolutions of years gone by (none were made this year). So I thought of picking something relatively easy, and not all vice, like maybe TV. My brother-in-law still speaks glowingly of last year's Lent, during which he claims the absence of television refreshed his creative senses. But those other things I should give up, and not just for forty days -- I'll consider them non-Lent items, and resolve to work on them as time goes on, too.

[sociopolitical] 

In his column "Iraqi election is a story of great courage", The Toronto Sun's Salim Mansur writes:

"The Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's warning to Iraqis ahead of tomorrow's election makes unambiguously clear what the insurgency is about.

"Al Zarqawi warned in a taped message: 'We have declared a bitter war against democracy and all those who seek to enact it.' ..."

It's a good column that sums up what's really at stake this weekend in Iraq. I know quite a few people from each side of the debate on whether or not we should have gone into Iraq, but I'm hoping that wherever we individually stand on the war in Iraq, we can all agree that Zarqawi's agenda is not one with which we should sympathize. All of us who appreciate freedom, no matter whether we're fans of Bush, his policy, or the war, need to be pulling for a high-turnout, low-casualty election tomorrow.

Everyday is dangerous enough in Iraq, but this weekend is an especially good time to pray for threats of violence to come up small.

[sociopolitical] 

I was fascinated by this Alternet story from Dr. Chyng Sun, which begins with the following lines:

"Most liberal-minded people rush to defend pornographers' right to free speech. Maybe we should stop and ponder what we are defending. ..."

I like Alternet, mostly because it provides a liberal online outlet that occasionally manages to defy common expectations and stereotypes associated with liberal or progressive thought. For instance, one common argument expected from liberals when it comes to things like pornography and censorship is a sentiment like: "porn must be protected, not because it's any good, but for the sake of free speech." That is the crux of many an argument against censorship, and though I'm not sure how I really feel about free speech as a crutch for all things foul in our society, I know at least a few liberals who don't buy into it.

The story makes several good points, one of which is the effect of pornography on the expectations of younger people with little or no sexual experience. Sun observes that most interview subjects for an upcoming documentary professed to having first been exposed to pornography in their early teens or younger, and there appear to be links between this exposure and the increasing commonality of casual, detached sexual activity among youth. Sun also notes that in interview subjects of both genders, there were similarities between the gender roles observed in pornographic material and the roles the interviewees seemed to identify with.

And one way that pornography apparently affects men, especially those exposed to it prior to first-hand sexual experience, is that it fosters unrealistic expectations of what real women are like, and Sun suggests that this can actually bring about a fear of or anxiety toward real women -- this general warning was offered to me and my fellow male classmates at the parochial school I attended, and I suppose it's a common enough warning, as it always sounded perfectly sensible.

I tend to think Dr. Sun's observations and conclusions are fairly accurate, but in the end, for some people, it really does come down to whether or not we subjugate these concerns to free speech, or vice-versa.

[writing/literature] 

"True Love" by Robert Penn Warren

I like this one, another rhyme I've just barely discovered.

For those who never wander that far, I have a short list of poetic links on the smedley drafts home page, among them a link to the American Academy of Poets, where I found this week's poem. I recommend it for those interested in being introduced to a wide scope of poetry and writings about poetry.

[sociopolitical] 

I'm no champion of smoker's rights, but there's something chilling about an employment policy that can displace workers for activities like smoking on your own time.

Okemos, Michigan-based Weyco Inc., has instituted a pervasive no-tobacco policy, and has taken to discharging employees who refuse to take a urine test to rule out their use of tobacco products -- on or off the clock. Though it's being done in the name of health and cost-cutting, I have a hard time seeing this withstanding a legal challenge. But if it does, the companies overweight employees are forewarned; Weyco's president plans to target them next.

There are other perspectives in the discussion, like the Detroit News (Firing Smokers Is Wrong Way to Curb Health Costs), the Richmond Times-Dispatch (You vill not smoke -- und ve're not sure ve like your tie, either), and Law.com (Heat Rises Over 'No Smokers Hired' Policy) -- but yours is always appreciated, too.

As a non-smoker, I absolutely applaud not being forced to breath smoky air against our will, but does anyone else think this is a little too much?

[sociopolitical] 

Man gets 10 to 20 years for raping child

-this from the local paper this morning. Apparently 10 to 20 is double the mandatory minimum, a fact which shocked me more than the sentence itself, which I perceived as light on first glance. The man probably needs some heavy duty psychiatric help himself, but neither of the young people involved are likely to ever fully recover from what he did to them.

I have strong feelings about this kind of abuse, and I'm not normally known as the law and order type, but how can 10 to 20 be twice the mandatory minimum for a case like this?

[personal/blog]  [sociopolitical] 

Tom Carter has posted consecutive gems that at least peripherally deal with anti-Semitism. The first shares some thoughts on the Holocaust during WW2, and the second is about a news story on some measures being considered in Russia to curb Jewish organizations. It's not a topic I deal with much, if at all, but it still interests me very much, and I consider Tom's posts recommended reading, as so many of them are.

The posts are linked below, by title:
Remembering the Holocaust
Anti-Semitism in Russia

[movies]  [personal/blog]  [sociopolitical] 

"Is there a cure among us
from this processed sanity?
I weaken with each voice that sings."
-Collective Soul

I just saw The Assassination of Richard Nixon, and I thought it was fairly interesting, not to mention thought-provoking. The movie is based on real events that took place in 1974, and it tries to fill in some of the unknown plot points of a man who hatched his own plan to crash an airplane into the White House. But it wasn't actually about crashing a plane into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, nor was it really about Richard Nixon.

The story is more focused on Sam Bicke, the film's almost sympathetic villain, as he spirals into his own little underworld, descending into a reality where the world is full of lying and deception. He comes to identify Richard Nixon as a target for his frustration, though throughout the movie he finds enough blame for his situation to place on just about every set of shoulders besides his own. Of course, he's not totally off-base in his assessment of society's dishonesty, and certainly the Nixon White House wasn't a bad example of such an ethic, either.

The problem with the Sam Bicke character is his response to the perceived problem. And that led me to consider one question: how did he end up that way? Was it serious mental illness, or was it just a faulty attitude carried too far?

We all know people who blame everyone but themselves for their problems in life. At times, these people even have a point. The problem, as I see it, with the mentality of everything being someone else's fault is that people who become obsessed with it tend to avoid proactive solutions to their problems. They either become involved in an ineffective crusade against whoever they hold responsible, or they become satisfied with living a substandard life and blaming it on someone else. Like I wrote earlier, we all know people like that, and chances are those of us who don't may be those people.

But Bicke's dysfunction seems to relate to a realistic observation, that dishonesty and deception are common in our world. It seems as if he might have been a believer in an admirable set of ideals, only to have been disillusioned. This reminded me of myself, in that I have tried to cling to a lofty set of ideals, even in the presence of overwhelming ugliness and despair. I wonder if that's where the movie's tragic hero comes from, and if the crashing of reality on his dream was all it took for him to come unhinged.

I don't really see myself responding like Sam Bicke, but I often wonder if some day I'll completely let go of my ideals, like the other half of the dysfunctional people out there, not the ones who become infinitely frustrated with the world's imperfections, but the ones who completely, and indiscriminately accept them. I'm not sure which fate would be worse.

[personal/blog] 

I was a little slow processing the news of Johnny Carson's passing, mostly because of the frivolity brought on by the Eagles winning their first conference title in almost a quarter century, but the news did register, none the less.

I remember when I was about ten years old, staying up past my bedtime, often sneaking to the TV set to catch as much as I could of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He had a way of transforming the least interesting interview subject into a truly fascinating guest. I was, for most of the time I did get to watch him on television, too young to get some of the subtlety of his humor, but I was always entertained by it, even so.

I hadn't given much thought to Johnny over the past decade or so, mostly because he wasn't around in the public spotlight, but upon hearing the news of his passing, it struck me how poor his replacements have proven to be. It amazes me how so many people think so highly of hosts like Leno and Conan O'Brien when they really can't hold a candle to those shows Carson did. The art of the interview has been gradually lost since his departure from the late night circuit, and so has the inexplicable warmth he managed to inject, even among the one-liners in his legendary monologues.

There was a reason so many of us felt comfortable with him joining us in our bedrooms, and it seems like the networks have been straining to identify that reason ever since. I'd like to say I'll miss him, but the truth is, like most Americans who remember his late night magic, I've missed him ever since Leno took his job.

[personal/blog] 

Well, the Eagles came through this time, as I triumphantly noted at the other blog where Phil and I make bold, but largely unnoticed sports observations. I felt somewhat accomplished at having predicted the Eagles-Falcons game within three points, but I was a bit let down that the Steelers couldn't seem to crack the Patriots at all last night.

That said, watching the NFC and AFC title games was a fine way to pass the snow day.

[sociopolitical] 

"The biggest regret is that we didn't stop 9/11. And then in the wake of 9/11, instead of redoubling what is our traditional export of hope and optimism we exported our fear and our anger. And presented a very intense and angry face to the world. I regret that a lot."
-Richard Armitage

I posted this quote a couple of days ago over at Philly Future, just because I continue to marvel at how many Bush administration members tend to make less than glowing comments on their way out the door. Given the "liberal" bent of our media here in the U.S. I wonder why I haven't heard more reports of this interview from The Australian.

[personal/blog] 

TurnpikeBowl.com

PhillyBurbs and TimesOnline are collaborating on a weblog focused on the two NFL teams from Pennsylvania possibly facing each other in the big game two weeks from now. This afternoon's conference championship games will decide whether or not that happens. I'm rooting for it, just like in 2002.

[sociopolitical] 

Thanks to Bene Diction for the heads up on another grand conspiracy from those insidiously cute children's show characters. And to think, I gave my nephew some Bob the Builder toys for Christmas a couple years ago.

[personal/blog]  [sociopolitical] 

I recently started checking out Camassia (she's also linked in the UnRight Blogroll on the left), and I've been impressed by the depth of her writing and the overall thoughtfulness of her site.

In addition to her essays, I especially like the way she groups her links on the side of her blog. (I fall under "pundits in their free time," which, for some reason, tickles me.) Thanks to her link categorizations, I discovered another politically moderate weblog called Ambivablog, which, in turn, pointed me to another good item.

It's an essay by Barney Lerten on the need for a viable political option between the current conservative and liberal extremes that rule our politics. Though I recommend a thorough reading of the entire essay, here's a taste of Barney's logic:

"I want a third party to vote for - not a new, out-there "wing" that's simply lefter than left, or righter than right, or on another plane of existence entirely. But smack-dab in the middle, where most of us live our lives, watching the rhetorical missiles fly over our heads (and sometimes land on them.)"

I know a few people out there will like this one (like maybe Steve and Funky Dung).

[personal/blog]  [writing/literature] 

"I Measure Every Grief I Meet" by Emily Dickinson

I can't claim to have any depth of understanding of this poem. I've had a Dickinson volume in my collection for years, and only after stumbling on this at Poets.org did I even realize that I'd always had access to it but never actually read it in the book.

Having literally only discovered this poem within the last couple hours, I want to say I chose it specifically for the imagery it creates in my mind. I've always noticed people having things about which to be, well, sad. Any time I've ever noticed someone who might have had reason for sadness, I always wondered how it felt. I later learned to compare and contrast the sadness I perceived in other people with the memories or conditions in my own experience that made me saddest. This poem seemed to speak to that, just a little.

I know, not the brightest discourse, but I've always been curious that way -- I've always wanted to understand what other people thought and felt. It's probably as much a liability as anything else, but it does come in handy sometimes. It's probably as good a reason as any for why I've always been fascinated by personal writing, whether it be poetry or weblogs.

[personal/blog]  [sociopolitical] 

Dr. Adrian Warnock has awarded the first ever Warnie to Dr. John Mark Reynolds. I saw the news on Ales Rarus, and noticed the good doctor (Warnock, that is) has requested a little publicity for his award winners -- it's just part of his effort to recognize the less-recognized bloggers out there. After zipping over Dr. John's site, I decided it was worth a mention, with or without the plug from Dr. Warnock (though I appreciate him bringing it to our attention) -- especially after reading a recent entry on the Senate confirmation hearings of Dr. Rice. (- "No Proof Rasputin Evil!" Boxer claims. Russian Revolution a mistake!)

(Okay, maybe I did use the "Dr." thing a little gratuitously)

Okay, this one has no category to me, but it's something I stumbled across in my five minutes at BlogExplosion this morning. It's actually a lot more interesting than what most of us write about our real lives...

[personal/blog] [stories] 

"When you think you found something worth holding on to,
were reaching for attention, hoping she would notice you..."
-Fountains of Wayne

I met a girl years ago, and I fell for her instantly. Really, I'm referring to the first time I ever met her. This, despite the fact that she didn't seem to like me much at all.
It took me a long time, but eventually I broke through, I convinced her to go out with me. As near as I could ever tell, she both liked and disliked me intensely, and sometimes simultaneously. She always liked the way I kissed, but there were times she couldn't stand being anywhere near me.

I often wondered why she'd want me at all, given how much she told me I annoyed her, but I didn't question too much, so long as she stuck around -- having her around, after all, was my paramount concern. And there were times when she wasn't around, or times when she expressed the need to "just be friends", which I always went along with. After a couple bounces from couple-hood to friendship and back, I started to notice that we tended to end up back together before too long, which made our stints of "friendship" much more bearable (at least for me). I've always been patient that way; as long as I know what to expect, I can take the turbulence.

The last time this happened I had started to wonder if it wasn't really getting to me, this whole bouncing back and forth between different stages of our relationship. I started to realize that however easy it was for her to switch back and forth, it was actually starting to bother me, not because I wondered whether she'd want me back, but because every time I went around the roller coaster, it seemed a little less thrilling than the time before. Life was exciting and daring enough without us creating fake dramas to play out. While I had come to appreciate the predictability of her taking me back, I had grown very tired of the predictability of her asking for another break down the line -- it didn't strike me as any way to conduct a mature relationship, not that I'd had that much experience with such things.

Still, it's always hard to let go of something you've worked so hard to create, and I had put in a mountain of effort just to get her in the first place. I actually believed I had worked pretty hard to treat her well along the way too. She might say I shouldn't have tried so hard, but when we were together, I'd swear it was completely worth it.

[sociopolitical] 

Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me

-an interesting Alternet piece on the rise in more aggressive obesity solutions, which apparently aren't just for adults anymore.

I'm not sure where I'd come down on this phenomenon. My initial response to the premise of using surgery on kids was extremely negative, but given some of the specifics mentioned in this article, maybe extreme measures are warranted in certain situations. I assume it has to be better than dying of an obesity-fostered heart attack before your twentieth birthday. Still, it scares me how many young people are rushing in for surgical procedures these days, whether it be a stomach staple or a breast augmentation.

[sociopolitical] 

The lead-in story that prompted this topic is out of the Waco Tribune-Herald, and it's titled "Young workers cautiously optimistic about revamping Social Security."

It's thoroughly troubling how few people my age and younger I've talked to who have no clue about the importance of retirement planning, and often they're the same young people paying almost no attention to the Social Security issue that's saturated headlines recently.

There is no mistaking the reality that, even though the system is not in imminent danger (-no, it isn't going to collapse in the next five years), it is broken and in definite need of fixing. Those who have been pounding their fists on the table for the past few days over the Bush administration's misrepresentation of the Social Security mess are right, but only in saying that the administration has overstated the imminence of the threat; one shouldn't be fooled into thinking, simply because the threat was overstated, that it isn't real. It most definitely is.

On the other side of the issue, the private investment proposals will require an immense commitment to educating citizens on how to invest responsibly. Choices are really only useful to those who know how to make decisions, and many people find themselves in unfamiliar territory when it comes to investing. And the very real danger of simply giving people the opportunity to invest their own money is that someday we may need another layer of social security to bail out those who've made disastrously uninformed choices. Without proper guidelines and educational materials, some people are bound to mistake themselves for day-traders.

Still something needs to happen, to change, if the Social Security system is to remain any kind of use to society. Even as many in opposition to Bush's privatization plans correctly say the system isn't about to disintegrate in the next few years, is that really a justification for society to plant its head back in the sand on this issue? And when people speak of not messing with Social Security, what are they really clinging to -- a system that already fails to provide for those who need it most?
There should be sympathy for those in the most dire situations, those already retired and those within a few short years of retirement. We need to take care of them, because thirty years ago, nobody was warning them to take matters into their own hands (thanks to all the politicians too afraid to tell us the hard truths). For most people heading out of the career phase of their lives, there are no golden parachutes or reliable company pensions, and Social Security checks don't pay anywhere close to what most retired people have been used to making -- and God help those who have any kind of existing debt going in. For these people, Social Security, at least as it is today, needs to stay in place.

It's the rest of us, those who have another 25 or 30 years before retirement, who need to be responsible for ourselves, because when it's time for us to walk out the career door, Social Security simply won't amount to much; it will only work if it's a last resort for those in the most dire straits. If it has to hold up all of us, it's bound to fail. Those of us who have a decent shot at looking out for ourselves absolutely need to, even as we bear much of the benefit burden for those already retired.

I count myself fortunate that when I opened a bank account several years ago, at the age of 24, in a complimentary session with the bank's financial planner, I was strongly urged to begin saving for retirement, advice that I promptly heeded. I may have a certain amount of pension benefits when I'm set to retire, but I've also been contributing what I can into a 401(k) plan for the past seven years.

I may not live like a king in my old age, but I've got a better than average shot because of how early I started saving. I'm planning my retirement as if Social Security won't exist when I'm retired, which is the best approach for younger workers today.

For those reading this expecting a complex position on the Social Security mess, I don't have one. All I'm suggesting is that we take the best care we can of those who didn't have the benefit of advanced warning, and that we who do have some advanced warning simply do what we can to support ourselves when we're old and gray. We've been warned for the future, and we should know enough about the past to understand that counting on the government to provide for us isn't the safest bet. The best chance Social Security has is if it once again becomes what it used to be -- a safety net.

For more information on retirement planning, I've found the tools at CNN Money pretty useful. They have financial calculators and an entire set of tutorials called Money 101, for those unfamiliar with the basics of money management, saving and investments.

[personal/blog] 

"Picture this, you're working late at night on a crucial project. Your computer crashes. You've lost all your important work. It's definitely time for a beer, and we'll be there to remind you that the beer should be a Beechwood-aged Budweiser."

-BBspot has a fine collection of these clever faux-articles on Microsoft, including the classic quoted above, about a marketing plan to show ads on the legendary Blue Screen of Death. I just don't get around to visiting BBspot as often as I should...

[sociopolitical] 

"How much of this is failing flesh?
How much the course of retribution?
My, my, how loudly we plead our innocence
long after we've made our contribution."
-Bill Mallonee

I've never spent much space here on the subject of tort reform, but one line of propaganda that consistently annoys me coming from conservative talking heads (and politicians) is the constant whining about "trial lawyers" and their lecherous, money-grubbing, corporation-suing clients. I listened, often with disdain, to many political voices in recent election cycles who've parroted the familiar mantra about how everything is so expensive because of the trial lawyers, frivolous lawsuits and huge jury verdicts. The problem, as Jim Hightower contends in "Bush's Junk Claim About Junk Lawsuits", is that trial attorneys are not the easy villains we like to make them.

For reasons that aren't easy to hash out right now, I am completely against any of the "tort reform" measures that I've heard proposed recently. I tend to find that people who are gung ho in favor of tort reform, are usually people with little knowledge of our tort system, and often, even less knowledge of the actual measures they nominally support.

Why is it that when we have a crisis like this, we resort to the simplest, most intrusive solution? Why can't we, instead of categorically denying the right of redress, figure out a way to simply discourage the completely meritless lawsuits?

And speaking of meritless suits, why is that many of the same corporations that favor limits on awards, generating calls for an end to "frivolous lawsuits," make up the courtroom demographic that brings the lion's share of frivolous suits and takes home most of the biggest awards? A recent Public Citizen study details how 80% of lawsuits are brought by our upstanding corporate citizens -- the same folks who take the cake when it comes to being punished for "frivolous lawsuits." Just something to keep in mind next time you hear someone claim that most of the baseless suits are brought by personal injury attorneys.

If you need some specific examples of frivolous corporate-initiated suits, check out this interesting site that counts down the top 10 frivolous corporate lawsuits of 2003 (the site does have some language on the periphery, but there's some interesting content on this list).

[sociopolitical] 

Bush: 'Sometimes, words have consequences'

-perhaps there is hope for him yet.

[personal/blog]  [music] 

Some visitors may have noticed the links to the left under the heading "music that screams for a cult following." Among them is a link to a fellow named Jayy Mannon, a guy with whom I used to work.

Jayy has embarked on a solo music effort these past couple years, after spending his early music career in a couple different bands (well, mostly the same band, but the name changed when they signed a record deal with MCA a few years back). The earliest incarnation of music groups I saw him in was Bonehead, which if you're from Philadelphia and you followed the local music scene in the late nineties, you've probably heard of. They were one of the premier cover bands in the Philadelphia area during that period of time, until they started concentrating on their own original music and the subsequent record deal.

Some people, like me, never had much use for the local bar scene unless there was a decent band playing somewhere. Along with several friends, I spent many evenings during the late nineties in smoky urban, and suburban, bars watching relatively unknown local talents ply their trade. Bonehead was one of those bands that made the smoke-permeated air bearable.

I don't know if those days have exactly returned, but a Bonehead revival seems to be taking place over the past many months. They are making available some earlier, unreleased music tracks you might have heard them sing back in the day (and possibly these days too). I don't know how many of the hundreds of Philly-area Bonehead regulars from the last decade find themselves reading this site, but even the uninitiated might enjoy sampling some of the tracks at Boneheadlive.com.

And also a reminder that Jayy's site also has some yet-to-be-released music, some of which is bound to appear on his forthcoming CD Broken and Glued.

[writing/literature] 

"Poet's Obligation" by Pablo Neruda

I noticed this poem in The Essential Neruda, one of the fine volumes I received this past Christmas.

[personal/blog] 

"The roaches were still alive on ceilings, all over the place"
-Jersey City Fire Capt. Andrew Johnson

Blast rocks home, but roaches survive

How fitting. This story should serve as a cautionary tale to anyone thinking of setting off aerosol bug bombs while the pilot light is still on in the oven -- I'm always amazed how many people don't understand that aerosols are actually hazardous materials.

This one nabbed me courtesy of PhillyBurbs News & Politics Blog.

[sociopolitical] 

Bill Would Boost Payment to Killed Soldiers' Survivors

I heard this on NPR while driving to work yesterday, and I thought it was a good idea. Hopefully the legislation will pass, finally raising the benefit from a modest to $12,000 to $100,000. I'd heard a snippet of another military-related story about my home state of Pennsylvania considering a bill to provide certain health benefits to active duty soldiers or guard members and their families -- I couldn't find that online yet, but I'd like to see that one come through too. (Incidentally, if anyone reading this knows more about the latter item, an email or comment with a link to the pertinent story would be appreciated.)

There are a lot of things our government spends money on that have people up in arms, but I tend to think that you can't do enough to reward the sacrifice of military families. Hopefully everyone else agrees.

God's politics

[personal/blog]  [sociopolitical] 

Talking Donkeys, a blog whose link can also be found in the UnRight Blogroll on the sidebar, is perhaps one of the best names ever for a Democratic Christian-themed weblog.

In digging through some of the recent posts, one particular post, about the poor fit between popular American political theories and comprehensive Christian teachings, caught my eye right off. The Sojourners article and the book Tim mentions, along with his commentary on the subject, provide an interesting alternative theory for those like me who don't find ourselves at peace with the "godless" left or the "religious" right.

Drawing lines in the middle ground is always harder than adopting extreme measures, but I know there are many out there who'd support a more thoughtful application of religion in politics.

[personal/blog]  [sociopolitical] 

Thanks to an email from my brother-in-law, I found out about a blog called The Virtual Salt, in which the blogger chronicles events in the life of his schizophrenic friend. It'll probably be enlightening to many of us who've had little exposure to the mentally ill, which seems to be the author's aim, and that's probably the best effect it could have. All I know is that after reading a couple of the most recent posts, I was compelled to click back into the archives and start from the beginning. I'll be returning soon to read the rest.

The same man, Robert Harris, runs another website, Virtual Salt (no "The"), which offers some interesting resources on different subjects, including writing, education, religion, and internet skills. The one I stumbled across first was a sort of PSA called Gullibility Virus Warning.

I've found both his sites fascinating, and with such variety of content, I'm sure others will also.

[personal/blog]  [sociopolitical] 

Columbia House Plans Porn Club

-ran into this news item while sifting through the PhillyBurbs news and politics blog. As an old Midnight Oil song would lament, "Who can stand in the way when there's a dollar to be made?" And there are many dollars to be made in the porn industry.

[sociopolitical] 

"You were talking about the end of the world"
-U2

Congress has passed a "doomsday" plan, freeing it from certain minimum attendance requirements in the unlikely event of certain catastrophic occurrences -- just the kind of news to brighten your outlook...

[sociopolitical] 

Abortion Foe Roemer Running for DNC Chief

In an interesting turn of events this past weekend, it became a possibility that the next head of the DNC has an ever so slight chance of being pro-life. Are Democrats finally developing a sense of self-awareness on the abortion issue?

Over the past decade, while Republicans have allowed many pro-choice politicians to become more vocal in party politics, Democrats have clung to the sacred cow of abortion, showing little respect to any Democratic politician with the temerity to oppose their platform view. There are many in the Democratic party still holding out hope for some genuine wiggle room on this topic (like Democrats for Life), while staunch abortion advocates cling to rhetoric that touts the Dems' abortion stance as if it were centuries-old tradition (note that even some of the most liberal Democratic politicians weren't comfortable with pro-choice position until well into the 1980's).

Well, my position on abortion is already stated several times over in past blog posts (I'm pro-life, for those still wondering), but there are other reasons I think it's important for the Democratic party to seriously consider flexibility on an issue which has yet to build a solid national consensus, especially if they want to regain relevance with any of the less liberal democrats who are slowly drifting to the other side.

It's currently the only national issue on which Democrats are this dogmatic. And if Democrats ever again want to convincingly portray the Republicans as the exclusive party, they're going to have learn a little more tolerance themselves.

A couple related posts I found on this news:
-Democrats: soften hard-line abortion stance (Cave News and Views)
-The direction of the Dem Party: Which side will it take on the abortion issue? (Mr. Left)

[sociopolitical] 

Tom Carter has put up an introspective piece on the battle of the labels. In doing so, he evokes an issue that hits close to many of my concerns about the liberal-conservative paradigm -- that this way of thinking, though extremely convenient for a society bent on quick evaluation, betrays our overall intellectual laziness.

Tom laments that he is neither liberal or conservative, because, like so many of us, he is both. But alas, we are not a society that looks kindly on nuance, hence too many of us claim undying allegiance to ideological templates, most likely because we want to be, or at least to appear, simple and straightforward; perhaps it's that we associate simplicity with honesty and nuance with deception. That's an unfortunate prejudice in itself.

It bears noting that the conservative and liberal labels provide a vital and pragmatic way of defining certain ideas and people, but these labels also provide shortcuts for those of us who are simply too lazy, impatient or hurried to analyze things for ourselves. We are left with too many deferential tendencies, wherein we let ideologically-driven media outlets and special interests serve as disturbing proxies when it comes time to take part in important decisions.

Anyway, Tom's post is intriguing, not only because of his ideas, but also because of the thoughtful comments he's received so far.

[personal/blog]  [sociopolitical] 

In response to Magnetic troop support last Wednesday, Jon Sharp wrote:

"We are hosting a site selling Tsunami Remembrance Ribbons giving 45% of ALL our sales to World Vision International (my favorite charity as well). It is not a "TROOP SUPPORT" Ribbon but nonetheless there are SOME people who want to do something commercially to help people in need! And WE manufacture our decals, they are NOT made in China..."

Jon Sharp's company is called Vertigo Creative Concepts, and they are in fact selling such a decal through their tsunami relief site www.ribbonaid.com. Ribbons are $2.50 each, with $1.12 going directly to World Vision for each ribbon sold.

While Mr. Sharp's note wasn't exactly about troop support items, it was worthy of mention, and it does sound like a decent way to support the relief effort.

But back to the topic of troop support, after hearing from Mr. Sharp, I also noticed the local 7-11 selling some camouflage-colored wristbands for $2.99 and giving $1 for every wristband sale to the USO. I guess that's better than nothing, but how much of their net proceeds would that $1 equal?

Meanwhile, pertaining to troop support decals and the like, I located several online companies that claim to give "a portion" of their proceeds to military charities, though for the most part such portions were completely unspecified.

After a modest search, I found at least one online seller of troop support wristbands, One Nation, that was more descriptive, promising to give all net proceeds to families of troops in Iraq and Afganistan, though I have no idea how "all net proceeds" for their wristband compares to 7-11's flat rate of $1 per sale.

All in all though, it's seeming pretty difficult to find a troop support enterprise that lays it all on the line, letting us know percentage of net proceeds and what that amounts to in relation to the entire sale. (I'm still open to readers offering more information on this subject.)

[sociopolitical] 

Did Al Gonzales say the president can authorize torture?

-Chris Suellentrop analyzes yesterday's testimony from AG hopeful Alberto Gonzalez, and his take on the hearings is relatively close to my own.

Also giving voice to my growing concerns were quotes like this one from Lindsay Graham, the only Republican senator to show any outward expression of distaste for Gonzales' hedging:

"I think we've dramatically undermined the war effort by getting on a slippery slope in terms of playing cute with the law...and I think you weaken yourself as a nation when you try to play cute and become more like your enemy instead of like who you want to be."

The ending of the column suggests better answers could have been had if only better questions had been asked -- given the way Gonzales tap-danced his way around most of the important questions, I'm not so sure about that.