Law Not War

Moving to wordpress

2011-10-11T09:35:00.002-04:00

To focus on 'The Gospel According to the Romans', I have moved blog activity to http://robinhl.wordpress.com

Yes, the US political system is broken

2011-07-31T18:05:00.001-04:00

Yes, the American political system is broken.
1. The US Constitution was a good attempt in the horse-and-buggy era, but it isn't relevant for the information superhighway today.
2. The designers of the Constitution tried to prevent the formation of political parties. Their naivete means that there are no proper rules for controlling parties.
3. The system has evolved into a 2-party system which pervades the courts as well as legislature, so that there are no checks and balances in the system.
4. Big business has bought both parties, so that there is no alternative to a big business controlled party.
5. Without some form of proportional representation (I would suggest a German or a Scandinavian model) there is no chance for a Green, Socialist, Libertarian, etc party to influence government. Only PR would allow a clean (non-business) party to be viable.
6. Voting percentages fall when people have no choice. Americans have less choice than people in most developed economies, which is why they vote less.
7. The US is not so much a democracy as a plutocracy, and it is becoming more so, under the guidance of all Presidents, Congresses and Supreme Courts of the past several decades. There is a deliberate effort to create a strongly differentiated class-based society. The economic condition of the majority of Americans has been stagnant for at least 15 years, while the country as a whole has become vastly richer - i.e., everything has been to the benefit of the wealthiest Americans.
8. So, yes, the American political system is broken.

"Playing God"

2010-05-26T21:06:00.001-04:00

Surely the phrase "playing God" is best applied not to Craig Venter, but to the adults who dress up in funny clothes and pretend to talk to (and even have a conversation with) some god or other of their human and culture-specific imagining.

Atheism

2009-12-30T19:48:00.000-05:00

This amusing and sarcastic definition of Atheism is circulating on the web:
“The belief that there was nothing and nothing happened to nothing and then nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinosaurs.”
There are two pieces to this attack, with the division being at “creating everything”.
Once you have the universe in existence, you can explain the creation and development of life in two ways: with or without divine intervention. Humans have always sought to find patterns, understand cause and effect, and predict the future. Divine intervention was the best explanation for many things before the rise of Greek philosophy, but it has been in retreat for the past 2,500 years.
The questions of where the Universe came from, or what could bring everything from nothing, or could there be anything before time began, are all unanswerable at present. Saying “God did it” provides no help, except to soothe people who can be soothed with muddy thinking. For where did God come from? And how? And what was before? If God can have existed before time and space (admitting that ‘before time’ is a nonsensical phrase), then so can the Universe. If God can have come into being from nothing, then so can the Universe. If someone can tell me how God came into being, we’ll be close to knowing the same about the Universe.

Shit, or get off the pot

2009-06-26T23:39:00.003-04:00

Wake up, Obama! You were elected with a mandate to change things. 'Change we can believe in.' You're becoming a miserable disappointment. If you don't have any ideas any more, how about giving someone else a turn? Sen. Clinton for example.

Iraq. Guantanamo. Gay rights. Government secrecy. Work with us here - give us *something* to justify having supported you.

Hey Obama, Wake Up!

2009-02-13T13:28:00.003-05:00

Mr. President, you weren't elected to appease Republicans - they're just tax-cutting Creationists who spent 8 years destroying everything they touched.

**** 'em.

You were given a convincing victory and a majority in both House and Senate, in order to fix things.

Due to the winner-take-all constituency structure of US politics, you simply don't get coalitions. It's not Europe. You have to work with what you've got. What you've got is a majority. Use it.

Legalize it, tax it, control it

2009-01-22T06:02:00.000-05:00

Legalize, tax and control drugs.
Take the profit away from criminals, and split it between government and business.
Prevent the forced criminalization of naturally-experimenting youth.
Remove the widespread need for lies and hypocrisy.
Help Mexico restore law and order.
Undercut the Taliban's finances.
Make it an issue of civil liberties
or
States' rights
or
A wedge issue for 2012
or
Subject to national referendum, which can help reshape the Constitution.

Superpowers

2009-01-01T01:24:00.003-05:00

In the early 1970s in Denmark, my friends were against the entry of Denmark into the EEC (as it was then), because "you take the 4 biggest bastards in world history, the British, the French, the Germans, the Italians, put them all in the same army, and then see what they do to the rest of the world..." Spain and Portugal weren't members yet, the Spanish especially rank right up there, though!

However, while recognizing that Europe hasn't created an army yet, but will, and that only then will we know what will happen... yet so far Europe has been not bad. I think the best prospect for solving the Israeli/Palestinian problems is to bring them both inside the EU (and Sarkozy has made the first moves in that direction with his Mediterranean initiative).

The list of American infractions of international law (illegal wars, bombing of civilian populations, covert assassinations, overthrow of democracies) doesn't begin with either Bush or Clinton. It goes back through Kennedy/Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt, to Polk, Jackson... Even with half-decent Presidents like FDR, Carter, it's still there, entrenched in the bureaucracy, running along quietly, waiting to be unleashed. However, Obama is not going to bomb civilian populations. Doesn't mean he won't invade anyone, but it's not going to be for the purposes of a) imperial power-grab and b) war profiteering for yourself and your friends. It will be to take out Bin Laden, or to prevent genocide in Darfur, or to clean up pirate nests. I can live with all that.

But in another 30 years, when a generation that has forgotten George Worstever Bush comes to power, then we're all at risk again... unless there has been some substantial strengthening of the UN. Which was happening under Clinton (especially the International Criminal Court, that's incredibly important) but was reversed and canceled by GWB.

Happy New Year!

Logical Constitutional Reform - Universal Suffrage

2008-12-28T01:50:00.000-05:00

Many countries claim to have granted universal suffrage, but none have. Even in the United States, there are three ways in which the right to vote can and should be extended.

1) Allow those in jail to vote. This improves oversight by politicians of the treatment of prisoners. It helps with the reintegration of convicts into society, rather than further separating them. And it removes the ability of politically-minded judges to disenfranchise the poor by jailing them.

2) Allow anyone living in the country to vote. New Zealand, for example, allows all permanent residents to vote in all elections. Some other countries or individual provinces or states allow non-citizen residents to vote in municipal and other subnational elections. The slogan "No taxation without representation" sounds stupid to anyone who has legally lived and worked and built a business for decades in the United States, paying property taxes and municipal taxes and school taxes and state taxes and federal taxes and employment taxes, and yet is not allowed to vote at any level. (And I speak as someone who is in that position, and unable to get a Green Card, let alone citizenship.)

3) Abolish the minimum voting age. It isn't "universal" if 17-year-olds can't vote. Why not open registration up to any child that is interested in voting and able to register and vote unassisted? They will tend to vote the same as their parents, but they will be able to vent teenage dissatisfactions and frustrations, implement cultural shifts, and make politicians more responsive to issues of education and poverty.

Universal suffrage. Everyone says how wonderful it is. It would be nice if someone actually tried it.

Logical Constitutional Reform - Judges

2008-12-26T01:00:00.000-05:00

What if dentists were accredited, not through studying and passing exams, but through popular elections based on their promise to be painless?

What if engineers were accredited to design and build bridges, not after assessment of their competence by experts in the engineering profession, but through popular election based on their party affiliation?

Then why on earth should judges be elected? And if elected, why by people who know and care nothing about the legal system, and are merely voting a straight party ticket?

Judges could be subject to a recall process if they prove to be flawed, but they should appointed or elected by their Bar Association.

Logical Constitutional Reform - Pardons

2008-12-24T09:13:00.004-05:00

If the President orders Administration officials to perform an illegal act, and the Court convicts and sentences the officials, is it reasonable that the President should be able to pardon them?

This situation creates a de facto process for the President to operate illegally without facing any penalties if caught.

At the very least, the President's ability to pardon should be restricted to offenses that occurred before he became President... or four years before that, to cover illegal acts in election campaigns.

Throwing Shoes at Bush

2008-12-16T16:29:00.003-05:00

Muntadar al-Zaidi is a hero who speaks for millions of us in the United States, as well as millions in Iraq.

The 28-year-old journalist has previously been held for questioning twice by US forces, and was kidnapped and questioned by unknown persons who beat him unconscious. He knew what he was risking by throwing shoes at Bush.

Since being taken into custody this time he has apparently suffered a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding.

Unconfirmed stories have Adnan Hamad, former coach of the Iraqi soccer team, offering $100,000 for the shoes, and a Saudi citizen offering $10 million.

Zaidi is a hero. Reward him.

Memory and DNA

2008-12-10T10:34:00.002-05:00

The New Scientist in November 2008 suggested that long-term memory may be stored in the DNA.

Although the study that they reference was done on the brains of mice, I think it also raises the question of whether "junk DNA" throughout the entire body might not have some memory storage capacity. How vast our memory might be!

Depending on when this memory-storage trick was developed, elephants and whales (with enormous brains and enormous bodies) might well have even vaster memories.

If the whole body is used for storing memory, then cryonics organizations should review their policies on whole-body versus head-only preservation techniques.

Bringing Haitian Democracy to Canada

2008-12-08T09:50:00.003-05:00

Sure, it's cute for Canada to have appointed a Governor-General who is a black female immigrant. But you know man, there is actually a serious function to the mostly ceremonial position, and that function requires a person who understands the concept of a sovereign parliament.

Canada, unlike Haiti, does not elect or need a President. The Prime Minister is simply that individual who is best able to command the support of a majority of the Members of Parliament. Mr Harper seems to believe that he has been elected President. Governor-General Michaëlle Jean seems to agree, and is allowing him to avoid facing a vote of No Confidence. That action of hers is contrary to the functioning of a parliamentary democracy.

The Liberals and the New Democrats together won both more votes and more seats than the Conservatives in the October 2008 election. If the Liberals and NDP can form a coalition, they are the rightful government.

But perhaps only a person imbued from birth with the cultural values of a parliamentary system, rather than a presidency, can appreciate this.

2012 US Election Results

2008-11-06T13:26:00.004-05:00

And the results are in for 2012!
An increased majority for Obama/Biden with 417 electoral votes, against 121 for Palin/Gingrich.
With a divisive campaign over gay rights and abortion rights, Obama carried all his states from 2008, plus Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, South Carolina and Georgia.
Palin carried only the Moralizing Majority of the least educated states.
You read it first here.

Theft-Proof Majority

2008-11-05T13:39:00.002-05:00

I'm so grateful that Barack Obama didn't just achieve an Electoral College majority, but a majority that was large enough to be theft-proof - unlike the stolen Democratic majorities of 2000 and 2004.
Never trust a Republican with your money, your civil liberties, or the programming of your voting machine.

Proud to be in the USA

2008-11-05T10:34:00.002-05:00

For the first time in 8 years, I'm not embarrassed to be living and working in the USA.

Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we're free of Bush at last.

John McCain

2008-09-03T08:39:00.005-04:00

Fred Thompson said, "Being a POW doesn't qualify anyone to be president, but it does reveal character." Meaning, vote for John McCain.

He could equally have said, "Coming home from years of war to find your lovely, faithful wife has had a horrific accident and lost six inches in height from her legs - dumping her and the kids and picking up a younger, prettier filthy rich heiress - doesn't disqualify anyone from being president, but it does reveal character." Meaning, yup, if you want an cynical opportunist - again - to run the country, vote for John McCain.

Big Government

2008-09-02T20:35:00.003-04:00

It's not a matter of more government or less government, it's a matter of good government.

More government doesn't make for better government, it just makes more bureaucracy and worse government.

Less government doesn't make for better government, it just makes for holes in a structure that get fixed with new structures, which generates overlapping and conflicting bureaucracies, and worse government.

Better government is the goal. That means transparency, accountability, and an independent Ombudsman where anyone can go when the government administration is being bureaucratic, unfair or illegal.

2008 Kentucky Derby

2008-05-03T19:13:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Hillary Clinton was saying about today's Kentucky Derby, 'Put a bet on Eight Belles for me - she's the only filly in the race."
So what happens? Big Brown wins! And Eight Belles not only places second, but collapses right afterwards and breaks both front ankles, and is euthanized immediately....
Um, Hillary, any comment...? Isn't this going to be a talking point for the next couple of days? Have you just lost yourself the primaries in three days time?
And just how does this happen? Is this Jung's theory of synchronicity in action? Was it foreknowledge on her part? Was it an inadvertent curse she set? Is it simply too funny, and the gods do it so that (almost) everyone can laugh at the mysterious poetry of the universe?

WMD and Oil, part 2

2007-12-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

... and when Bush has to deal with a squeaky door hinge or whatever, he reaches for the WMD40.

WMD and Oil

2007-12-04T22:26:00.000-05:00

Bush never lied, or meant to deceive anyone about Iraq - it's just we don't all speak quite the same language as the Commander-in-*hief. When he uses the phrase "Weapons of mass destruction", just remember that he means Oil.

He never really wanted to go into Afghanistan - they don't have Weapons of mass destruction. He wanted to attack Iraq instead, to get control of their Weapons of mass destruction. The US has Weapons of mass destruction, of course, but not enough; 'enough' would, ideally, be a complete monopoly. So he had to kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, to prevent threats and to hold the fractious country together. Like Saddam Hussein!

Now he's telling everyone that Iran has Weapons of mass destruction. Of course! Saddam realized that too!

The biggest irony will be when he realizes that Kuwait has Weapons of mass destruction, and the US has to go in and bring them under Iraq's control.

---

(With a tip of the hat to Eliza D. Squirrel for identifying this language issue.)

Success and Failure in Iraq

2007-12-02T18:43:00.000-05:00

So Bush has succeeded. He has achieved an American land-grab comparable to Jackson's 'Indian Removal Act' and the eviction of the Cherokee from the Appalachians, or Polk's war, America's first 'war of choice', that stripped Mexico of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and parts of three other states.

The major differences are:

Iraq is not an extension of the existing United States into which land-hungry settlers can pour.
He can't wipe out or swamp the natives. The billion-dollar embassy will be surrounded by active enemies forever.
This time it's all about oil, global power, and the personal enrichment of Bush, his family, his inner circle, and his power base - even if it impoverishes the average American.

Bush's preferred activity at Yale (apart from drink, drugs and sex) was playing Risk. I'm sure he was very good at it, and I'm sure he cheated whenever he could get away with it. Unfortunately, it presents a very simplistic view of warfare and global dominance. All countries are the same, they're just worth 1 point each; they don't have cultures or histories or religions; they don't even have populations to worry about, with insurgents and ethnic divisions and civil wars. All you have to do, if there's a setback, is raise more troops and roll more dice.

Mr. Bush, globally ignorant, builds his billion-dollar Fort Embassy in the middle of the country with all the oil. What he fails to take into account is that, if the country break into three, the US will be sitting in the only bit without oil.

But so what? That will be the next Administration's problem.

Bush has had his fun, accomplished his mission, benefited his friends, and set himself up financially for life.

By the way, that's proof that Jesus loves him.

The Difficulty of Overcoming Politics

2007-11-20T19:13:00.000-05:00

There is no clearer view of the difficulties of overcoming the negative aspects of politics, than that presented in the works of primatologist Frans de Waal. Politics is just something we do, and have done for a good 5 million years. Accept it, and then think about creating rules to moderate the more harmful aspects.

"Chimpanzee Politics" (1982) is a good start, but de Waal has a couple of dozen books and Scientific American articles and so on to his credit.

The books are insightful and witty, but, if you like them, for god's sake go and hear him when he is speaking at a university near you. That way you can luxuriate in his film clips, snide comments and hilarious photographs!

Strengthening the US

2007-11-19T21:18:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wonder why Eliza and I dedicate our working lives to strengthening the US, its corporations, its economy, its schools, by making them healthier and more business-savvy - when the Government does such destructive things with the millions of dollars that have accrued to them as a result of our improvements and the direct taxes we pay.

When tax money is spent on schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and international aid, all of which also build the economy, that's one thing. But when it's spent on blowing up other people's schools, hospitals and infrastructure while the domestic economy and infrastructure go to hell, it's hard to live with.

Come on, Americans, just elect a Democrat, any Democrat, over those fiscally irresponsible Republicans.

George W. Churchill

2007-09-23T20:42:00.000-04:00

"Nuthen t' offer yuh, 'cep Flood, Oil, Fears, an' Debt."

- from A Histry of the Amercan-Speakin People, by George W. Churchill

often misquoted as "Flood, Debt and Fears".

However his real legacy from a historical viewpoint, the way in which he impacted both the problems and the solutions of government, was Theft, Waste, War and Lies.

No Justice, No Peace

2007-09-23T08:17:00.000-04:00

I hear the Civil Rights protest chant in support of the Jena 6: "No Justice, No Peace!"

But hey, isn't that the slogan of the Bush Administration?

Papal pontificating

2007-09-08T23:03:00.000-04:00

So the Pope says that people who don't have children are selfish.

The comment about papal interference in family matters used to be "He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."

But in this case he may know whereof he speaks.

And is he saying Jesus was selfish?

Or does he have secret information about Jesus from hidden archives in the Vatican's basement?

Is sainthood now going to be dependent on a certain minimum number of offspring?

Perhaps he is acknowledging that the Protestants, Jews and Muslims have been right all along, and the Catholics wrong:

Perhaps he is preparing to decree that all priests must get married.

Financial transparency needed

2007-08-01T14:00:00.000-04:00

The motivation for unexpected and unlikely major policy shifts by national leaders will only gain full clarity when the details of their financial positions are known - AFTER they leave office as well as before.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are available from a variety of industry lobbies, as well as from foreign governments, if offering de facto pensions via membership in the Carlyle Group, for example, could sway the policy decisions of a Prime Minister. George Bush Sr. and John Major have such memberships.

Here's what The Guardian was saying 18 months before the invasion of Iraq:

"THE EX-PRESIDENTS' CLUB

Oliver Burkeman and Julian Borger
Wednesday October 31, 2001
The Guardian

It is hard to imagine an address closer to the heart of American power. The offices of the Carlyle Group are on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, midway between the White House and the Capitol building, and within a stone's throw of the headquarters of the FBI and numerous government departments. The address reflects Carlyle's position at the very centre of the Washington establishment (...)

Last year, George Bush Sr and John Major travelled to Riyadh to talk with senior Saudi businessmen. In September 2000, Carlyle hired speakers including Colin Powell and AOL Time Warner chair Steve Case to address an extravagant party at Washington's Monarch Hotel. Months later, Major joined James Baker for a function at the Lanesborough Hotel in London, to explain the Florida election controversy to the wealthy attendees.

We can assume that Carlyle pays well. Neither Major's office nor Carlyle will confirm the details of his salary as European chairman - an appointment announced shortly before he left the House of Commons after the election - but we know, for the purposes of comparison, that he is paid £105,000 for 28 days' work a year for an unrelated non-executive directorship. Bush gives speeches for the company and is paid with stakes in the firm's investments, believed to be worth at least $80,000 per appearance. The benefits have attracted political stars from around the world: former Philippines president Fidel Ramos is an adviser, as is former Thai premier Anand Panyarachun - as well as former Bundesbank president Karl Otto Pohl, and Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the SEC, the US stock market regulator.

Carlyle partners, who include Baker and the firm's chairman, Frank Carlucci - Ronald Reagan's defence secretary and a former deputy director of the CIA - own stakes that would be worth $180m each if each partner owned an equal slice. As in many areas of its work, though, Carlyle is not obliged to reveal the details, and chooses not to.

Among the defence firms which benefit from Carlyle's success is United Defense, a Virginia-based contractor which makes vertical missile launch systems currently on board US Navy ships in the Arabian sea, as well as a range of other weapons delivery systems and combat vehicles."

So who benefited from Tony Blair's stand on Iraq? Tony Blair, obviously, either politically, emotionally or financially. Did it help him politically? Or does it relate to his interest in Roman Catholicism? Or are there millions of dollars available to him as a reward for his stand?

Who might be susceptible to such financial offers? Political leaders in which countries?

GreenPeople vs Apartheid Planet

2007-06-26T07:04:00.000-04:00

During apartheid in South Africa, the rest of the world (and most South Africans) felt the system was unjust and immoral.

Why should the accident of birth determine whether you lived in a prosperous or a destitute region? Even though people were of different races, cultures, languages and backgrounds, they were all living in the same country.

Why couldn't honest, hard-working, law-abiding people move to the best place to raise their children? If that was going to put a strain on the educational system they were moving into, it only meant that not enough was being spent on the educational system they were leaving behind.

What right did the rich minority have, that they could put the stability of their educational and medical systems above the need of the majority to escape illiteracy, disease and starvation?

But step back one pace and look at our world, and all the same questions apply. What right do the wealthy enclaves have, that we can put the stability of our educational and medical systems above the need of the majority to escape illiteracy, disease, poverty, genocide, rising sea-levels, starvation?

Apart from travel for fun, education and trade, most people prefer to live in the area they were born in - they prefer that climate, those foods, and they have all their friends and family nearby. Most people only move if they are compelled to by war or economic conditions. To prevent mass migrations, you only have to prevent war and economic exploitation.

We need an activist movement, that will encourage the free flow of law-abiding people around the world, regardless of the barriers put up by the privileged enclaves.

There is no such thing as "illegal immigration" - we are all Earth's children, we are all here on Earth, and we all have equal rights to it.

There are more than enough resources - food, water, living space, economic opportunities - for everyone on Earth, if everyone was given access to them. The problems are caused by inadequate distribution, which is controlled by the rich minority.

There are more than enough financial resources to rapidly bring all the regions of the world up to the standard of living of, say, Cuba - and if that happened, with the prospect of ongoing economic development, most current economic migrants would *want* to stay home. All we have to do is to stop using rich world resources for illegal warfare against oil-producing regions, and fund the United Nations instead.

But to get from here to there will not be easy: the minority have all the power, wealth, resources, education, weapons, infrastructure, etc. It may be that the only way forward is through an activist/pacifist program of civil disobedience to raise awareness, combined with efforts to restructure and democratize the United Nations, and the opening of individual rich countries to the poor countries with which they have the strongest historical and cultural links.

As for the awareness-raising activity: call it GreenPeople.

One Planet, One People, No God

2007-06-26T06:38:00.000-04:00

After a week in Israel - the oldest, the newest, the prettiest, the ugliest, the most heart-warming and heart-wrenching and despicable (and many other contradictory superlatives) country on Earth - maybe, therefore, the most human country on Earth, for good and evil - my heart and eyes and mind are full, and my thoughts are reduced to the level of a bumper-sticker:
One Planet, One People, No God

Hogzilla

2007-05-27T14:12:00.000-04:00

So this hunting family lets the 11-year-old kill a monster wild pig

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/monster_pig;_ylt=Av9GBIJs0sv3uK78Qyax.bkE1vAI

and check out the photo.

Pigs are intelligent; how intelligent was this one?

And I also question the intelligence of the family: sure, they're getting some hams and 500 pounds of sausages out of it, but didn't they think it might be worth more alive than dead?

"Gee, that's a big one! Let's kill it!" Bet they voted for Bush.

Green the Desert

2007-05-19T08:30:00.000-04:00

So the Ice Age didn't completely end 12,000 years ago - there has still been a lot of ice left, which isn't all that common in the Earth's history. But it looks like the Ice Age is going to end in the next 100 years or so.

The Arctic ice melts first. This messes with lots of things: the speed of global warming will be increased by the reduced reflection of sunlight back into space; northwestern European climates will become colder when extra fresh water slows the Mid-Atlantic Conveyor; global shipping will become cheaper if you can go across the top of Canada year-round. But sea-levels don't rise when floating ice melts, so that's not a problem.

Greenland loses its ice next. Sea-levels come up 6 m (20 feet). I personally lose half my ocean-side property, but so what? Other people have bigger problems: all seaports and seaside cities have 3 m (10 feet) of water in their streets; most of Florida, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, etc, disappear.

The Antarctic melts. When an ice shelf collapses, it causes a global tsunami. When all the ice is gone, sea levels are up another 60 m (200 feet). Billions of people have lost their homelands and are on the move. Choose your science fiction scenario for what the world will be like. (My hope is for law, not war.)

So rising sea levels will be a massive problem. Maybe we could pump it back into the coldest middle of Antarctica, and start restoring the icecap even as it melts round the edges...

But think what else we could do with all that extra water! If we desalinate it, we could make it a priority to restore water tables where agriculture has pumped water out and depleted them. More interestingly, we could pump it into the middle of the Sahara/Sahel, Texas, Australia, and create agricultural land to feed (and resettle) billions of people.

Sure, global warming's a problem - but any change always brings opportunities - and the opportunities will be enormous, if we have the UN infrastructure to allow us to utilize them.

Bodies - the deceptive exhibition

2007-05-10T19:58:00.000-04:00

"Bodies - the exhibition" is now on display at Southpoint Mall in the Raleigh-Durham area. People have commented that it is not as artistic, inspired or thought-provoking as the original German vision, being only an Atlanta-based knock-off. They also comment on the overt anti-smoking message, with the bin to drop your cigarettes and lighters next to the diseased lungs on display. All that is OK.
What I found more interesting, however, is the way that the Fetus room uses deliberately mis-labeled displays in order to make anti-abortion propaganda out of it.
When you walk in, the first display is on the right, beginning with "9-week fetus" - the size of a small newborn kitten, leading to the immediate thought "Oh my god! Is that what gets aborted even as early as 8 weeks?!? I thought the first trimester was a lot less significant than that!"
Beside it are a couple more in the series, "11-week fetus", "13-week fetus", whatever.
On a different wall, "Embryos", is another series labelled "4-week", "5-week", "6-week", "7-week", and "8-week". The largest of these is the size of my little fingernail.
The two series are deliberately placed so that it is hard to make a comparison from "8-week" to "9-week", but, if you look, it is readily apparent that there has to be much more than 1 week between the "8-week" and the "9-week" displays.
I asked one of the lab-coated assistants about this; she said she wasn't sure, but she thought that the "embryos" and "fetuses" were dated from different start dates... the "embryos" from conception, the "fetuses" from some weeks later... that the "9-week fetus" was probably a "17-week embryo".
So why is there nothing displayed in the gap from 8-week to 17-week?
Why are the items displayed so as to make sequential viewing impossible?
Why is there no definition of the exhibit's (mis)use of the word "fetus"?
Can there be any other explanation than that it is a deliberate misrepresentation of the timeline of fetal development, with the intent of making people think that a 4-month fetus is what would be destroyed at 2 months of pregnancy?
Who is behind the misrepresentation? The company? The exhibit organizers? The staff?
Someone with as big an ax to grind as the anti-smoking display-maker, but without the honesty to display the facts clearly - presumably because they recognize that terminating a pregnancy in the first trimester is, as the honest display would show, really no big deal.

The Trillion Dollar NeoCon Drain

2006-11-14T14:18:00.000-05:00

The NeoCons took a trillion dollars that could have gone to education, hospitals and roads, and restructured the economy to use the money to kill several hundred thousand people and destabilize global politics.

Gee, thanks, guys! That makes life so much better, safer, and more prosperous for us!

So... a trillion dollars... and there are 300 million Americans... every man, woman and child has given up $3,300 to personally contribute to an illegal war, with oil the target and Halliburton the clear winner.

No surprise in the election results. Why did it take Americans so long?

The Dixie Chicks

2006-11-13T16:43:00.000-05:00

Who better to play at the Inaugural Ball in January 2009 than The Dixie Chicks?!?

3-Step Withdrawal from Iraq

2006-11-10T13:01:00.000-05:00

Apologize for the unjustified invasion.
Withdraw all troops, handing the keys of installations over to the United Nations.
Instead of spending $200 billion a year on the illegal occupation, give the UN $200 billion a year for the next five years so they can police the place and start repairing everything you destroyed.

Chimps defeated, Bonobos elected

2006-11-08T09:48:00.000-05:00

Tired of 6 years of Chimpanzees running around, screaming and displaying and threatening, US voters on Tuesday sent an increased contingent of Bonobos to Washington. Bonobos, who look a little more human than Chimps, create a more egalitarian society typified by female group dominance, food sharing, and endless sexual activity.

Republican frat boys and Democrat moms

2006-11-08T09:22:00.000-05:00

For the last six years the Republican frat boys have been bouncing on the furniture, knocking paint cans over, raiding the fridge and setting fire to the cat. Now the Democrat moms are starting to show up, clapping their hands to get attention: "Stop that right now! Start cleaning this mess up!" (And there are more of them on the way...)

Americans vs. Canadians

2006-11-06T19:39:00.000-05:00

The big reasons for the differences between American and Canadian society are:

Apart from the common Native populations and British imperialism, Americans were influenced by Spanish imperialism ("Enslave 'em, take the gold") while Canadians got the French version ("Trade with 'em, marry 'em").
Every time Americans start a war (or civil war, or rebellion against the Crown), peace-loving Americans move north; every time there's an economic recession, money-hungry Canadians move south. Over 250 years that makes a difference.

The Laughable US Constitution - separation of powers

2006-11-03T21:18:00.000-05:00

The idea is fine - to prevent a dictatorship by separating power into different areas, and by having a system of checks and balances.

Where it should be done: separation of Head of State from Head of Government. The former is a ceremonial and symbolic, like a respected but powerless Monarch, the latter is political and transitory, like a Prime Minister. By combining the two roles in one person, that person can stifle criticism of their poor government record by accusing critics of unpatriotically attacking the Country Itself.

Where it should not be done: separation of legislature from executive. These functions are essentially the same, and the people should have the right to elect a government which will can be seen to act effectively, without each side playing a blame game of deliberate confusion. Otherwise, ineffective government (but not small government) is one result. Lack of accountability is another. Corruption is another. Voter alienation and apathy is yet another.

Where it should be done: taking the Supreme Court away from both legislature and executive, and leaving the appointment of Justices in the hands of the legal profession. "Separation of powers" is a joke if politicians are going to appoint Justices on party lines, and Justices are then going to appoint the President on party lines!

Where it should not be done: bicameral legislatures. Two legislatures of equal weight leads to gridlock, confusion, lack of accountability, voter alienation, etc. One legislature strong because elected, the other weak because appointed, is no solution either, but leads to corruption and legislative review by rich status-seekers who have bought their office.

But money politics is another topic.

The Laughable US Constitution - political parties

2006-11-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

The problems with the Constitution of the United States are massive and fundamental, and ripple out through all aspects of life here.

The essential problem is not that it is a horse-and-buggy document still being used in a cyber age (though that is bad enough); no, the real problem is that its authors believed they could structure politics in the US in such a way as to prevent the rise of political parties! Everything is built on that, and on the assumption that political votes and appointments would be made by reasonable people acting in a disinterested way for the good of the nation.

As if!

What the Founding Fathers would have thought of a Supreme Court constituted of party political appointees, voting on a party line vote as to who should be the President of the United States and subverting the clear will of the people in the process... Well, if that possibility had been seen by them, they would have written a very different document.

Religious belief

2006-10-29T15:00:00.000-05:00

Many philosophies, doctrines, religions and political groups are antithetical to human development and fulfillment - but, paradoxically, the search into and through them may be essential for that development and fulfillment... so long as you can journey through and out the other side.

As was said by the prophet Muhammad - long dead, but much revered- "Seek knowledge, though it be in China." At that time China was not only the furthest known place of human habitation (from his point of view), but also the furthest from the mono- and polytheistic understandings of the Universe that were familiar to Muslims.

I have been, at one time or another, an Anglican Christian, an atheist, a Hatha Yogi, an Anthroposophist, and a Sunni Muslim. Now I suspect that gods are the product of your own Unconscious; but I still think it healthy and useful to worship them, because that is how your conscious mind respects and communicates with the mysterious but essential Unconscious part of your being.

As for a Creator of the Universe, trailing its unfathomable question of where the Creator Itself came from, the issue is not of practical importance. Perhaps the entirety of creation, including us, is the Creator. But unless we create indefinite lifespans for ourselves, the matter is irrelevant. Of more practical value is trying to figure out how to have the world governed by Law, not War - and the value of religious belief in this area is ambiguous, to say the least.

Iraq and Kurdistan

2006-10-27T21:07:00.000-04:00

Many reasonable Americans feel they should not pull out of Iraq, because they are responsible for the mess, and shouldn't walk away and leave the country to sectarian violence. "What would you do?" they ask.

"Leave immediately, because the invasion was illegal and unwarranted. Apologise for the deaths of 650,000 Iraqis. And, given that the US is spending $300 bn a year on the war, give $300 bn a year to the UN instead, and ask the Blue Helmets to restore order and repair the infrastructure." But the US won't, because they still hope they can keep military bases in Iraq, somehow.

Then the reasonable Americans ask, "But what about the conflict between Iraq's component pieces?"

The reply is the same as for Kashmir, Turkey, Chechnya, Canada, Macedonia, the Basque regions, Sudan, Nigeria... hold a referendum. Ask the people if they want to be part of the country they are currently part of, or not. If there is a geographic concentration of people numbering in excess of a million who don't wish to be part of their existing state, let them form their own instead.

In the case of the Kurds, they are an ethnically, linguistically, culturally concentrated people, 40 million of them, who happen to live in an area that has been artificially divided up among the countries of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. If any government on this planet was genuinely and disinterestedly in favor of democracy and human rights, it would be advocating the creation of Kurdistan.

That would leave the other two components of Iraq, the Sunnis and the Shias, with their different histories and cultures and geographic concentrations. Split them into two nations - Iraq as a nation was never more than an artificial creation of the British, patched together in the aftermath of the break-up of the Ottoman Empire. So the Shias would have a lot of oil, and the Sunnis wouldn't? So what? They're both good Muslim peoples, surely they can accept that Allah put the oil with some people and not with others for His own good reasons!

But unless you start with a referendum, all you have is a festering wound that will persist for centuries; the other options are to kill all the Kurds, or to drive them all out - and even driving them all out is only going to give you 40 million pissed-off Kurds some place else.

Law, not war; and begin the process of law with a referendum on national identity.

Treason

2006-10-26T16:24:00.000-04:00

If there is a war on terrorism; and if President Bush acknowledges that being in Iraq creates new terrorists; and if he keeps the US in Iraq anyway; then he is guilty of supporting terrorism, of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, of treason.

(This is in addition to being guilty of an illegal war of aggression, of lying to Congress, of violating the Geneva Convention, of the deaths of hundreds of thousands of non-combattant men, women and children, etc.)

The only consolation (for those of us who prefer international law to might-makes-right anarchy, but who fear the US Supreme Court is made up weak-minded conservative hacks and spineless political appointees) is that Messrs. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld will spend the rest of their lives in fear of the International Criminal Court bringing them to trial and to jail, when the ICC is properly strengthened in the next few years.

Let's have more Law, Not War!

The Good News

2006-10-25T18:34:00.000-04:00

The good news is that overt imperialism hasn't worked well for the past 50 years.
50 years ago the British, French and Israelis tried to grab the Suez Canal from Egypt. It didn't work.
49 years ago the Gold Coast gained independence from the UK as Ghana, and the whole of Africa began its decolonization.
In the 1960s the US tried to take over Vietnam; they were driven out in the 1970s.
In 1979 the USSR tried to take over Afghanistan, hoping to drive further south and have a port on the Indian Ocean; they were driven out by the end of 1989.
Partly because of the Afghanistan Adventure, the Soviet Empire lost first its satellites, and then most of its non-Russian components.

Maybe Francis Fukuyama hoped, when he wrote "The End of History", that with the end of the Cold War all the rules had changed. Unfortunately for the NeoConservatives, imperialism still doesn't work well. The world is too aware, with mass travel, mass media, mass communication; we know (even if only in a partial way, and with our own biases) what is going on in other countries, and why.

At the end of Bush Senior's presidency, Paul Wolfowitz and Lewis Libby produced the "Defense Planning Guidance" for Dick Cheney, the Secretary of Defense. It called for the United States to maintain a monopoly on global power, so that it would be unchallengeable by enemies or allies. With regard to the Middle East, it called for an improved position in terms of its permanent military bases and its control of oil. When the report was leaked and much of the world protested, Dick Cheney disowned responsibility for the report.

However, PNAC (the Project for the New American Century, whose name clarifies its intent to dominate the world for the next hundred years) provided a vehicle for the continued advocacy of those ideas. In PNAC's 1997 Statement of Principles we find the same demand for US military domination, the signatories including Cheney, Wolfowitz and Libby, as well as Fukuyama, Donald Rumsfeld, William Bennett, Steve Forbes, Jeb Bush... even Dan Quayle. In 1998 PNAC wrote to President Clinton about Iraq; to preserve US interests "means removing Sadam Hussein and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy." They urged taking "the necessary steps, including military steps, to protect our vital interests in the Gulf. In any case, American policy cannot continue to be crippled by a misguided insistence on unanimity in the UN Security Council."

So the Bad News is that PNAC came to power, took the opportunity provided on September 11, 2001 (when a handful of dissident Saudis based in Afghanistan attacked symbols of American commercial and military hegemony) to stir up the American people, lie to them, and lead them to invade Iraq in conjunction with whichever foreign politicians they could buy. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children have been killed; a trillion dollars has been diverted from improving life in the United States to destroying the infrastructure of an already poor country; the outpouring of sympathy and support for the United States from all countries in the wake of September 11 has been squandered and turned into fear and loathing; the development of the UN, the International Criminal Court, the Kyoto Treaty on Global Warming and similar useful agencies has been set back 20 years; and it was done by an ignorant frat-boy of a President with a yee-haw attitude, who stole Florida to get elected in 2000 and stole Ohio to get elected in 2004.

But the Good News is that the US, having tried to take over Iraq, is proving again that imperialism really doesn't work very well any longer.