I’m not one who usually quotes Michelle Malkin, but there is something worth seeing on her site: “In Their Own Words.”
current affairs
Conversion
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Stereotyping in Stereo
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It would be appropriate
if the end of our civilization were brought about by blasphemous cartoons. I’m a struggling idealist most of the time, thinking education and knowledge can save the world. But everyone’s misanthropic skepticism would be justified if this silliness spiraled out of control and ended in war – the kind of war we’ve been able to wage now for fifty years.
No, Chicken Little. The sky is not falling. It’s just a pessimistic morning.
Deadly Doodling II
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Deadly Doodling
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Pots and Kettles and Dark Hues
The recent brouhaha over the war in Iraq has drawn Bush and his gang out of its shell of silence. Cheney has recently stepped into the fight:
Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday lashed out at Democrats who accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, saying such critics were spreading “one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired” in Washington.
Cheney also suggested that the Democratic attacks could undermine troop morale.
“The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out,” Cheney said in a speech in Washington to a conservative think tank.
“American soldiers and Marines are out there every day in dangerous conditions and desert temperatures . . . and back home a few opportunists are suggesting they were sent into battle for a lie,” Cheney said. (L.A. Times)
In a sense, he has a point. If the administration did indeed admit to “selectively choosing” intelligence so as to make the war a little more attractive, would the average soldier be inclined to go back out, day after day risking his/her life? Probably not. In other words, troop morale would be affected were the charges admitted (and I’m not even saying here they’re true).
But Cheney’s claim that merely suggesting it, his claim that asking tough questions about the origins of the war affects troop morale, is absurd. It amounts to using the soldiers’ daily risks for political gain – a way of stifling the critics. Not the race card, but the soldier card.
And then he calls Democrats “opportunists.”
But what choice do they have?
After all, a little honesty can go a long way. So it’s better, in the end, I suppose, to shut up and die for a lie, knowing that its for the greater good, because now that we’re involved we can’t withdraw, even though our involvement was finagled by intelligence massaging…
It’s all more convoluted than that attempt at a grammatically based illustration.
If the Bush administration has nothing to hide in this matter, why is it historically tight-lipped about everything? Why is it swinging away with such panic blows?
NYT on Bush Nomination
The New York Times says the following of Harriet Miers, Bush’s nomination for Supreme Court:
In choosing Ms. Miers as his nominee, Mr. Bush once again signaled the importance he places on personal loyalty and familiarity. Ms. Miers has served in a number of posts for the president, and at one point was his personal lawyer.
That’s a nice way of saying, “Bush’s primary method of chosing nominees depends -heavily- exclusively on cronyism to the point of ignoring
a complete lack of experience.”
Unfortunately, we’d have to live with Miers’ lack of experience a bit longer that we lived (and people in New Orleans died) with other appointees’ lack of experience, should she be confirmed.
Help
“We give help to everyone in the world! When do they help us!? We help bail out this and that country, send aid here and there, notably saved and re-built Europe in WWII. What do we get for our efforts? Hatred.”
Thus complained someone once about how hated America — saintly, in this person’s view — is in the world. Poor us. What do we do when we do get that help?
Hundreds of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned
US red tape is stopping it from reaching hungry evacuees. (commondreams.org)
That’s right — we burn it.
(Thanks to Chhavi for this.)
More on ID
Thud mentioned “the kind of ID that also rejects short-history ‘the world is 5000 years old’ creationism.” It’s been my sense lately that “ID” is an effort by more moderate believers to distance themselves from the more literal, fundamentalist reading of a six-thousand-year-old universe. Look at the
Catholic church’s official position: the Vatican holds that God created the universe, but it makes no claim as to how he did it. Very sensible, but too sensible for fundamentalists – who often are rabidly anti-Catholic as well.
The problem lies with the fact that creationists – and I mean the hard-core, 6k variety – take the issue very personally. I once stumbled onto a teen message board of a fundamentalist sect and jumped in on the question, “Do you believe in evolution?” I found that the kids’ initial reaction was always an emotional one. “I’m not descended from primal sludge!” was a common theme. While I fail to see how the origins of my species affect my personal worth and self-confidence, the thought of being able to trace the human race back to amoebas somehow offended their sense of personal dignity.
“Something that used to be sludge can’t possibly be a child of God,” they reason. “I am a child of God,” they continue, concluding with, “Therefore, I did not evolve from primordial soup.”
Not the most well-founded syllogism I’ve ever encountered, but these are emotions we’re dealing with, not reasonable, rational responses.
Accepting evolution is rejecting God. For them, it means rejecting the very bedrock of their lives: the Bible. It makes the Bible a liar, because the use of figurative language has largely escaped them as a possible interpretation. If “And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Genesis 1.5) can be interpreted figuratively, so can “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3.16). If the Bible got it wrong about biology, then what confidence can we have in it regarding salvation.
This black-and-white, either-or thinking permeates the fundamentalist world.
All we had to do was elect an evangelical president to see that.
The Poll
More creationism nonsense in the news. This time, yet another poll:
In a finding that is likely to intensify the debate over what to teach students about the origins of life, a poll released Tuesday found that nearly two-thirds of Americans say that creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public schools.
The poll found that 42 percent of respondents hold strict creationist views, agreeing that “living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.”
In contrast, 48 percent said they believed that humans had evolved over time; but of those, 18 percent said that evolution was “guided by a supreme being,” and 26 percent said that evolution occurred through natural selection. In all, 64 percent said they were open to the idea of teaching creationism in addition to evolution, while 38 percent favored replacing evolution with creationism.
The poll was conducted July 7-17 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. The questions about evolution were asked of 2,000 people, and the margin of error is 2.5 percentage points. (Source)
Creationists will never get through their head that creationism is, at best, a philosophical theory, not a scientific one.
In the end, though, I have no problem with teachers mentioning the idea of ID and asking students what they think of it, as long as it’s not called science. What will it be called then? I don’t know. I don’t care, as long as it doesn’t take too much time from the already overburdened curriculum.
What was most striking about the poll was the data dealing with a simple question: Who should decide what’s taught?
The poll showed 41 percent of Americans want parents to have the primary say over how evolution is taught, compared with 28 percent who say teachers and scientists should decide and 21 percent who say school boards should. Asked whether they believed creationism should be taught instead of evolution, 38 percent were in favor, and 49 percent were opposed.
Parents decide? In the end, I guess they do – they’re going to elect the officials who will force this nonsense down the public’s throat. But should they have an active hand in deciding what’s taught?
What would a nice response be for a science teacher? Mine would be along these lines:
Great! Saves me some time. You’re going to do this pro bono, right? And while you’re at it, since I didn’t study any of this in college and am completely unqualified to teach it, why don’t you make out my lesson plans for me? And write and grade the tests? Shoot, just come in and teach, and I’ll simply serve as a pedagogical consultant. You do the work, I get the pay. Sounds great.
Maybe parents want to come in and decide the entire curriculum and teach it as well? Teachers will just wander about the internet…
Gas, the Obligatory Complaining
I know — we’re all suffering from gas prices. But it’s been ridiculous around here since we moved. At one station here in Asheville it was $2.11 about three weeks ago. This station sells gas mixed with ethanol, and so it was about ten cents cheaper than every other place around. Then it jumped up to $2.23. A few days later: $2.32. A week after that, last Friday: $2:44.
As of yesterday: $2:52.
That’s an 18% increase in about three weeks. How is that possible? Has the price of a barrel of gas increased proportionately in the last three weeks? No. It’s finally broken the $60 a barrel mark, and seems to be bearing down on $70 a barrel, but it hasn’t gone up that much.
It’s a good thing there’s not a milk cartel to go along with the oil and drug cartels. Can you imagine if the prices of everything fluctuated this badly?
Geodezja w Stanach
Pierwszy tydzien pracy mam za soba. Pierwszy projekt juz prawie zakonczony, w piatek zaczelam juz drugi. To czego dowiedzialam sie w tym tygodniu to zapewne tylko namiastka tego czego jeszcze musze sie tutaj nauczyc ale juz dostrzegam mnustwo roznic pomiedzy geodezja w Polsce a geodezja w Stanach.
- Nie maja Osrodkow Dokumentacji Geodezyjno-Kartograficznej. To znaczy ze nie musz uzupelniac zadnych materialow ale z drugiej strony nie maja zadnych materialow wyjsciowych, wiec kazdy pomiar jest pomiarem od zera.
- Nie kompletuja operatow. Zleceniodawca otrzymuje tylko mape, na ktorej sa wszystkie wymagane informacje. Nie ma zadnej instytucji, ktora odpowiadalaby naszym PODGiK gdzie nalezaloby skladac jakiekowiek dokumenty zwiazane z wykonywanym projektem. Instytucje odpowiedzialne za infrastrukture techniczna w miescie same prowadza swoje archiwa i zlecaja inwentaryzacje. Swoje mapy udostepniaja na stronach internetowych.
- Ilosc informacji zawarta na mapie zalezy od zleceniodawcy. W tym tygodniu opracowywalam mape do celow projektowych. Przedmiotem bylo skrzyzowanie, ktore w tym momencie nie jest zbyt bezpieczne i maja tam wprowadzic pewne poprawki. Poniewaz teren jest mniej wiecej plaski w tamtym miejscu, zleceniodawca uznal, ze nie potrzebuje topografii, na mapie nie bedzie wiec ani jednej wysokosci. Nie do pomyslenia u nas.
- Nie maja zadnego odpowiednika naszej instrukcji K-1. Dobor symboli i ich wielkosc jest zupelnie dowolna, za to na kazdej mapie musi sie znajdowac legenda. Na tych mapach, ktore widzialam wiekszosc symboli jest opisana bezposrednio na mapie. Poniewaz jednakstosuja wieksze skale niz my, nie zaciemnia to rysunku.
- Slala rowniez zalezy od zlecenia ale uwielbiaja duze skale. Wiekszosc map rysuja w odpowiednikach naszych 1:200 do 1:300, my zaczynamy podklady projektowe od 1:500.
- Mapy eidencyjne sa ogolnie dla wszystkich dostepne na stronach internetowych odpowiednika naszego Urzedu Powiatowego. Sa to tylko pogladowe mapy, mozna je ogladac na podkladzie zdjec lotniczych lub na podkladzie planu miasta i dowolnie dodawac rozne informacje. Wiekszosc miast ma tego typu bazy GIS. Dokladne informacje o granicach dzialek znajduja sie w odpowiednikach naszych ksiag wieczystych. Jeszcze do konca nie wiem jak oni tutaj sie tym posluguja, wiem ze maja z granicami nie mniejsze problemy niz my.
- Ksiegi wieczyste — sa dostepne dla wszystkich na stronach internetowych. Tak jak i u nas archiwum prowadza sady.
- Szkice terenowe — Boze jak ja teskie za szkicami Grzeska i Michala. To co dostaje to sterta smieci. Nie uzywaja symbloli, posluguja sie tylka kodami a i tutaj panuje pelna dowolnosc. Kazda ekipa terenowa stosuje dowolnie przez siebie ustalone kody. Szkice sa bardzo szczatkowe, dostaje przewaznie jedynie wykaz numerow pikiet z kodami — masakra.
- Zleceniodawca nie placi za projekt ustalonej na poczatku kwoty, placi za robotogodziny poszczegolnych pracownikow. Kazdy z nas wypelnia codziennie formularz, gdzie wpisuje ile godzin pracowal nad danym projektem i co konkretnie danego dnia zrobil.
Pierwsze wrazenia
Przepraszam za brak polskich liter ale na razie nie udalo nam sie zainstalowac polskiej klawiatury na komputerze rodzicow.
Dotarlismy. Nasza podroz trwala 25 godzin. Dlugo, bardzo dlugo, to mi uswiadomilo jak jestesmy daleko od domu. Pozegnanie z rodzina — mame caly czas widze zaplakana a tate widze na tarasie widokowym lotniska w Balicach jak trzyma w gorze zacisnieta piesc jakby chcial powiedziec “trzymajcie sie”. Bedziemy sie trzymac, chociaz wiem ze bedzie to trudne, bo ja juz okrutnie tesknie, ciazy mi strasznie ta mysl, ze bedziemy tu najprawdopodobniej tak dlugo I ze jestesmy tak daleko od rodziny I przyjaciol.
Rodzice Garego mieszkaja w bardzo ladnej okolicy. Wszystko bardzo przestronnie urzadzone, duze dzialki, ladne domy, wszedzie bardzo czysciutko I duzo, duzo zieleni — przeyjemnie. Mieszkanko bardzo przytulnie urzadzone, wszystko bardzo funkconalne I wygodne, maksimum udogodnien na kazdym kroku, szczegolnie w kuchni. Rozsmieszyly mnie amerykanskie lozka, ktore przez dwa lata z rzedu scielilysmy z Ewa w Wisconsin Dells. No I prosze, znowu spie w amerykanskiej poscieli.
Kingsport — maja tutaj ogromna fabryke chemikalow, dluga na 2 mile (3,2 km), nie pytalam jak szeroka. Jak na fabryke nadzwyczaj czysto tam wszedzie. Przejechalismy wczoraj przez miasto, oczywiscie szerokie przestronne amerykanskie ulice, w centrum troche murowanych, prostokatnych budynkow — mam wrazenie ze wszyskie te miasteczka wygladaja tutaj tak samo. Centrum miasta jest zupelnie plaskie a wokol wyrasaja takie smieszne pojedyncze stozkowate gorki. Wyrastaja ponad
miasto ok 200 m, nie sa zamieszkane ani w zaden sposob zagospodarowane cale porosniete lasem lisciastym.
Zabawnie wygladaja, takie zielone kopki.
Bylismy wczoraj w parku wypoczynku i rekreacji. Usytulowany w lesie pomiedzy tymi stozkowatymi gorkami, wokol sztucznego jeziorka. Maja tam takie male zoo w tym lesie. Wybieg dla wilkow, saren, basen dla wydr itd. Ladnie tam ale wszystko tak zaplanowane i obwarowane zakazami i nakazami jak mowil Stachu o Holandii. Wszedzie sciezki asfaltowe, tu wolno, tam juz nie wolno, nie pozostwiaja wiele swobody. Mozna tam pojezdzic na rowerach ale oczywiscie tylko scisle oznaczonymi sciezkami, no i nie mozna przyjechac do parku na rowerze, trzeba go sobie tam przywiezc. Oj czuje, ze nasza turystyka rowerowa bedzie tutaj troche inaczej wygladala. Coz to za przyjemnosc wywiezc gdzies rower zeby przejechac sie kawalek po parku.
Pocieszyla mnie jednak rozmowa ze spotkanym rowerzysta. Opowiadal nam o klubie rowerowym jaki maja w Kingsport i o trasach rowerych w okolicznych lasach. Pomyslalam sobie ze moze jednak nie wszysko stracone i moze jednak mozna tutaj powaznie pojezdzic na rowerze.
Back in the States
Kinga and I arrived safely at Newark at 4:45 Monday afternoon — ten minutes early, much to our shock. Our first flight to Charlotte was cancelled, so we we didn’t arrive home until after two in the morning, with the trip from Charlotte and everything.
Yesterday was spent unpacking. Today, the first installment of the family arrives.
No rest for the weary…
The Balance?
At Google’s news site, the top two headlines currently:
- Newsweek Retracts Koran Desecration Story
- Soldier Is Found Guilty in Abu Ghraib Abuse
Nice balance.
Tatical Nuclear Theater Ticket Stike
In Moscow, Putin angered Poland. How? By failing to mention Poland’s tragic victimhood in the Second World War. Poles were infuriated. But the president of the republic said nothing — he was a perfect politician.
In cafes and bars, plans for a strategic nuclear strike were drawn up and then abandoned with the realization that Poland doesn’t have nukes. The thought of using the forty-eight F-16 fighters in a mass attack was also abandoned because, well, they haven’t been delivered yet, and the fighter is rather ill-suited for bombing runs.
In the end, Poles did what they could – the one voice of protest and ill-will Poles could manage: they gave back their theater tickets. In Warsaw, a Russian dance troupe was scheduled to perform. Virtually all the tickets were returned.
Counter-strike, thought Putin. Now, instead of coming to Poland for a ceremony celebrating the end of the Second World War, he’s sending the a henchman.
Russia’s actions are widely seen here as a gigantic, Slavic middle finger extended in Poland’s general direction. I’ve wondered what the Russian interpretation of all this is, but since I don’t know Russian, I’m left imagining. The old master-and-servant mentality? Colony and colonizer? I don’t know.
Movin’
In less than fifty days, Kinga and I are moving.
It’s not a cross-town move, probably the worst, because you are reasonably sure you can do it all yourself with a little help from a few friends. And so you rent a truck and put all your possessions in it and drive across town and unload it and then do it again.
And again. The what-to-ditch filter is not so incredibly fine, and you end up ditching precious little, and regretting it when it’s ten at night and you started before seven and you’re still not done.
It’s not a cross-country move. I’ve done that too. Well, sort of. My parents did half the work, because I was moving back from Poland to Boston. They brought most of my stuff up from Virginia, and so I guess they did the hard part.
No, Kinga and I are doing a trans-oceanic move. A continental move, which is both easier and more difficult than a cross-town move. What gets left behind is a much larger pile than what comes along.
Of course all the furniture stays.
Of course all the artwork should go, but – and here’s where it’s more difficult than a cross-town move – the possibility of damage necessitates tough decisions. We have two amazing glass paintings, one of which will stay due to its size of about thirty-six by twenty-four inches.
Of course most of the clothes go. But trans-oceanic moves also force you to clean out your closet. I’ve already ditched one pair of shoes. It was on a recent three-day bike trip to Slovakia. Instead of hauling the old, worn-out things back to Poland, I left them in the hostel, much to Kinga’s delight. Like many wives, she doesn’t appreciate old, comfortable shoes
Books occupy a curious place in the move – they’ll be packed up, but not all sent. Once we get a decent place to live, we’ll have them sent. Until then, most of them are staying in Poland.
Then there’s the question of computers, cameras, and other fragile electronics. And bikes – we have three.
Decisions, decisions.
Perhaps the most difficult part of it is the fact that a cross-state move awaits. My folks have been collecting furniture for us the last few months, so we’ll have to rent a truck, pack it up, and…
Vigil and Patience
A ride through the village yesterday afternoon revealed that almost all houses have a picture of John Paul II hanging in a window, often with a black ribbon across the lower right corner. School has been called off for Friday so students can watch the funeral. Students Tuesday began coming to school in suits and dresses. On Wednesday most of the students were wearing semi-formal wear. Meetings are being held every night in town squares.
In Lipnica, there’s a daily eight o’clock mass for the pope. It’s followed by “Apel Jasnogorski,” which a special meeting where participants sing the song sung every evening at nine at Czestochowa, home of the Black Madonna — the most revered holy object in Poland.
In nearby Nowy Targ, there are daily outdoor masses at the airport as well as nightly vigils in the rynek (town square).
Crime and accident rates have fallen, police report. Rival soccer hooligans have been holding common masses. John Paul, even in death, is bringing out the best in everyone, even people waiting in line to see his body.
Police made a few exceptions. A Mexican family with two weeping teenagers and a small child was allowed to cross through the barricade and over the bridge to join the end of the line. Rather than protest, the crowd applauded (CBC)
And it’s not just the “little people” who are getting caught up in it.
Back at the Vatican, workers have set up hundreds of seats in St. Peter’s Square for the crowd of expected kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers and religious leaders – many of them political foes united in a funeral (Reuters)
I read yesterday that Bush is going to have to sit very close to Mohammad Khatami, the president of Iran — one third of his “axis of evil.” Perhaps that would do them good. Better would be for the two of them to have to wait in line together for twenty-four hours like the rest of the people did — perhaps in sub-zero weather, with one blanket.
Commercial Free
Since Sunday, most of the radio stations as well as television stations have been broadcasting commercial free. Radio stations have been playing mainly classical music, my wife tells me. I don’t know — I don’t listen much to the radio, so…