NoMad MaN: Gems

2005-08-28T06:36:21-08:00

Found @ http://www.ioerror.us/2005/08/27/lizards-or-why-i-do-this-every-day/#more-371 In turn, quoted from So Long and Thanks for All the Fish [An extraterrestrial robot and spaceship has just landed on earth. The robot steps out of the spaceship�] �I come in peace,� it said, adding after a long moment of further grinding, �take me to your Lizard.� Ford Prefect, of course, had an explanation for this, as he sat with Arthur and watched the nonstop frenetic news reports on television, none of which had anything to say other than to record that the thing had done this amount of damage which was valued at that amount of billions of pounds and had killed this totally other number of people, and then say it again, because the robot was doing nothing more than standing there, swaying very slightly, and emitting short incomprehensible error messages. �It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see�� You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?� �No,� said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, �nothing so simple. Nothing anything like to straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.� �Odd,� said Arthur, �I thought you said it was a democracy.� �I did,� said ford. �It is.� �So,� said Arthur, hoping he wasn�t sounding ridiculously obtuse, �why don�t the people get rid of the lizards?� �It honestly doesn�t occur to them,� said Ford. �They�ve all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they�ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.� �You mean they actually vote for the lizards?� �Oh yes,� said Ford with a shrug, �of course.� �But,� said Arthur, going for the big one again, �why?� �Because if they didn�t vote for a lizard,� said Ford, �the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?� �What?� �I said,� said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, �have you got any gin?� �I�ll look. Tell me about the lizards.� Ford shrugged again. �Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them,� he said. �They�re completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone�s got to say it.� �But that�s terrible,� said Arthur. �Listen, bud,� said Ford, �If I had one Altarian dollar for every time I heard one bit of the Universe look at another bit of the Universe and say �That�s terrible� I wouldn�t be sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin. But I haven�t and I am.

An Apology to the Iraqi People

2005-08-06T14:14:29-08:00

http://www.islamonline.net/english/In_Depth/Iraq_Aftermath/2004/12/article_01.shtml From Islam Online 01/12/2004 by Larry E. Park This is an apology to the Iraqi people from a hospital medic who cared for some of the most severely injured men, women, children, and babies from both sides of the Vietnam conflict. I held the dead of war in my arms and I understand war�s catastrophic toll in the present and the impact it will have on future generations. This is my personal sobering apology, and it may or may not reflect some of the feelings of the other 49 percent of Americans who voted against unjustified aggression. I feel shame and outrage when I watch on TV and read reports of unimaginable acts against humanity in Iraq. You are witnessing these horrific acts of violence and human debasement up close, which is probably filling your heart with hate and anger towards Americans. I�m sorry and I understand. I feel shame that I did not raise my voice in dissent prior to this horrific conflict between cultures. I survived Vietnam with full understanding of what a guerilla war means and the futility of large, noisy, highly visible armies attempting to subjugate citizens by force instead of winning hearts and minds over to a more positive pursuit of happiness. I feel shame that I did not raise my voice in dissent prior to this horrific conflict between cultures. With a great sense of doom, I have watched the events over the past three years as a complacent bystander, not knowing how to make a difference in public opinion. I was silent, not exercising my freedom of speech or finding creative means to make my voice against unjustified death and destruction heard effectively. I made a mistake in judgment and action. I knew better. I am very sad about what is happening in Iraq to the families, their homes, schools, hospitals, shops, and places where they work to support their families. I apologize for not defending your right to choose how you live and what style of leadership you support. I understood that my leaders, prompted by public opinion, had to deliver visible signs of revenge against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, and most of the world seemed to support that conflict, but when I woke up one morning to the specter of my countrymen invading Iraq to make a regime change, I squirmed with discomfort. I, like you and most of the world, held the motivations of the United States to be suspect and driven by self-interests in oil. Rhetoric about freeing the Iraqi people from an oppressive regime seemed righteously hollow, and a revolution against Saddam Hussein�s entrenched regime and all its supporters was not ours to wage. The DU we use is our weapon of mass destruction and I am downcast and ashamed. I apologize for our arrogance in thinking we knew what the best course of social/political direction for Iraq was�and then we intervened militarily in such a destabilizing and catastrophic manner. Our vision of the future is not yours, and you must decide how you will help each other achieve and maintain basic freedom and happiness. I apologize for denying knowledge of your basic beliefs and belittling your ancient core cultural values; and from your perspective, I understand why we are the barbarians on your land. Freedom is not a gift; it is a choice requiring daily action to reaffirm long-term goals and guide one in the pursuit of happiness. Your people are in the midst of personal and national conflict revolving around differences in opinion on how to equitably achieve goals within the context of your many subcultures. Intervention by outsiders has made the process more complex. I apologize! Freedom from greed and uncontrolled material, selfish interests can only be acquired by a heart focused on the more important desire for pleasant human relationships. Freedom�s seed is planted in one heart at a time; and each of us on the planet has the ability to shape our own sense of personal freedom. I am sad that we chose force and destruction instead of kindness. I am ashamed of our recent example of democracy in the presidential race for power. If we are attempting to persuade you to adopt our form of democracy, then I am less than proud on how we spent billions to get out the vote and prompt individuals to exercise freedom of choice. Decisions seemed to be made based on whether or not a candidate hunts innocent winged creatures for sport, or who tells the most convincing lies and makes the best promises that we all know can�t be kept�like �Independence from foreign oil.� From your perspective, I understand why we are the barbarians on your land. A campaign pledge to establish a Presidential Commission to explore what compels our enemies to make plans to destroy person and property might be a better basis for casting a vote. It�s Biblical to seek your neighbor out before sunset of each day when you sense he is unhappy with you for some reason. Unresolved conflicts lead to a war of terror. America has long enjoyed beautiful sunsets without responsibly resolving issues with its neighbors. This unfinished daily business has ruined the view of the daily rising sun; and boasting about our ability and resolve to preserve our selfish way of life�which consumes an inequitable share of the earth�s limited resources�is not a good way to start negotiations. I have seen the consequences of war and revenge, and it is not pretty. History is replete with stories of rape, pillaging, burning, and destruction of person and property; and within the last ten years starting with the Gulf war, Desert Storm, we the United States of America introduced weapons of mass environmental and genetic destruction. I am ashamed of my ignorance about my government using depleted radioactive uranium munitions in Iraq. Looking for the splinter of WMD in the enemy�s eye while being blinded by the railroad tie poisoned by depleted uranium sticking out of our heads must make us appear really outrageous in the eyes not afflicted around the globe. Being a responsible citizen and taking a stand on issues that will affect the only planet we have is hard work�even though now the sand in my eyes in retrospect did not hurt as much as the knowledge I have gained about my country�s use of depleted uranium. I am outraged at the possibility of my tax dollars contributing to the use of depleted uranium in munitions which might cause alterations in the genes of humans and plants. This is our weapon of mass destruction and I am downcast and ashamed. If one believes in a Creator God called Allah, who loves the Biblical people of Iraq so much that He buried some of the world�s richest oil reserves below their barren deserts, then one would have to believe that He planned to care for their needs. Poverty in such an oil-rich land, where many of its inhabitants want for the basics, can only be understood in the light of mismanagement and the greed of its ruling class. As an American I am ashamed to admit that even though our wealth is accumulated differently, we too have large numbers of disadvantaged and impoverished families. Those who have more always use overt or covert methods to suppress those who have less; and when the status quo is upset, many are willing to fight to the death to regain their previous advantages and social standing. I apologize for being so selfish and wanting more than most families in Iraq have. Right or wrong, I apologize for the manner in which my country has upset the balance of power in Iraq. If the God known as Allah, Father, and Yahweh exercised any control over the distribution of natural resources over the face of the planet, then one would have to conclude that He has forced all the inhabitants on earth to be interdependent in the struggle to survive. Trading relationships based on the need for energy has propelled us out of the agrarian subsistence farming cultures of ages past and it seems quite obvious that the Gods have favored countries other than the US with an abundant supply of this liquid black gold. Our use, allocation, and distribution of the planet�s limited resources, and how we manage the products of an industrialized world, demand cooperation and interdependence. Our mutual survival depends on successfully building and maintaining these relationships in an atmosphere of trust and hope. I am outraged at the visible destruction of your mosques, hospitals, schools, homes, and infrastructure in our zeal to root out those who are attempting to protect their families and way of life. I am very sad when I think about how hard it will be, and how long it will take your people, to rebuild their homes. Iraqis buried in mass graves will be remembered longer by their families than the visible reconstruction of your cities. I feel intensely sad about the mess your people find themselves in when the sun rises every day, and I apologize for not attempting to convince leaders of my country to pursue a more positive course of helpful interdependence. God challenges us to mature, abandon the tempestuous, undisciplined behavior of adolescence, and learn how to be kind to our neighbors at home and abroad. I mourn for all the families around the globe forever changed and damaged by conflicts that diminish their sense of hope. I feel ashamed by the darkness spread throughout your land by the American invasion, and my hope for the future is that countries of such diverse cultural beliefs could at least agree to search for ways to be mutually beneficial and cordially interdependent without devastating conflict and long-term damage to the environment. I carried a typewriter to Vietnam�not a gun�and instead of killing humans, I planted flowers and was awarded a Bronze Star medal for extending hope to others. I�ve seen the desert bloom and I fervently wish that the Iraqi people, in the darkness of wartime death, can find their way into the hopeful light of flowers once again blooming in springtime. I feel immensely sad that the leaders of my country seem not to remember the lessons learned by those who served in Vietnam and I apologize. �I�m sorry! I am very sorry! Mommy, I won�t do it again! Please mommy, stop whipping me! I�m really sorry!� Those are the words screamed out by a young boy while receiving a harsh whipping. I�m whipped! I wish I could speak for the leaders of my country and tell you, �Yes, we made a mistake and we won�t do it again in your country or anywhere else on the planet ever again.� They will have to speak for themselves and answer to the reality of history, not their dreams. Apologetically, Larry E. Park TheDreamer@OceansRest.com

Behold the man!

2003-12-24T03:34:10-08:00

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Re: [Helprin] Bush's Speech [rather verbose]

2003-12-21T18:07:26-08:00

This post appears in a much shortened form, and is more tightly edited, at Reciprocal Madness, as part of my eJournal Travelogue. In that form, Reciprocal Madness, appeared as part of the In Honor of the Bravest gallery show mounted by the Aaron Ross Gallery, September 3-30, 2002 in Vancouver, Canada. The final word of the exhibit, the text was printed in full to a single 12 foot long X 11" sheet which hung from the exhibit wall at 6' and ran out several feet onto the gallery floor. Among the newsgroups and mailing lists I belong to is one devoted to Mark Helprin, one of my favourite authors. While Helprin has written several extraordinary novels, most of which I've loved to dog-eared tatters, he also regularly contributes opinion pieces to the Wall Street Journal. I am often stunned by them, not simply for their right-wing political stance but, most remarkably, the jingoism and unabashed militarism defining them. Shortly after 9-11, I was forced me to re-evaluate his fiction. In the process, I was motivated to speak to larger issues. Before posting it to the mailing list, just to make certain I was on the right track, I emailed it to another list member for comment. ]]>

> From Bush's speech: > > "We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the > murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life > to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the > will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and > totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where > it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies." > > Worthy of Helprin? > Maybe my memories are a bit sketchy. But wasn't it back in the early '80s another President was referring to these same guys, the ones we were then arming and training, as "Freedom Fighters?" I'd like to know, because I'm a bit afraid that 20 years from now maybe we'll be going through all this again. I'd kinda like to not make the same mistake twice. Or however many times we've already made it. Let's try and stop ourselves before we do it again. I mean, twenty years ago we helped them because they were fighting, apparently, for Freedom. Now, it seems, they've attacked the very foundation of it. I'm not sure that their methods, other than sheer scale of the horror, are much different than what we were training them to do. I bet a few people in the Pentagon and the White House would've privately danced a jig if these guys had somehow managed to bomb the Kremlin back when the Iron Curtain still stood. But hey, those Russki's are evil. I mean, were evil. Poor bastards. Well, nothing we can do about that. That's what they get. Deserve it. Evil empire and all. You know, maybe we should at least be slapping ourselves on the wrist for abandoning every value by propping up such totalitarians as Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, paving the path of fascism for their ascendancy. Should we say, "Never again!" I don't know. I didn't think it was wise at the time. I said it then...like many others. Not that it helped. There was the Suharto thing with East Timor. Hush hush for years and years. But we all saw how that turned out. Not that it hurt our trading situation with Indonesia much, except we couldn't sell them attack aircraft and heavy infantry equipment anymore. Lost a lot of money there. And it hurt a bit when we finally got around to putting our money where our mouth was with the apartheid lot. Well, those of us who actually participated. That's OK. That's all in the past. We're going to root these bastards out. Make the world safe for Democracy again. Just like the Israelis have done in the Middle-East. Wait a minute. The Israelis, owners of the best damn military outside the US, and the best intelligence outfit anywhere, have utterly failed in all their attempts to wipe out terrorism in Israel. And their terrorists aren't spread out all over the planet. They're generally not more than an artillery shell away from any position within Israel's plastic borders. They shoot a couple rockets from a village, so the Israelis retaliate (need to get used to hearing that word a lot more) and practically level the whole village with artillery. Collateral damage notwithstanding. The next day, or the next week, the terrorists are back, lobbing mortars. And even with all the draconian withdrawals of any semblance of civil liberty, the terrorist violence only escalated. This is just going to get ugly, I guess. Batten down the hatches, damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead, don't shoot 'til you see the whites of... Wait. WAIT. There's gotta be another way. I mean, last century we had a "war to end all wars." And then promptly had another. Now we're in a state of constant petty wars and revolutions and genocides all over the planet. How do we stop this cycle if we keep jumping back on the merry-go-round? But the terrorist thing is getting way out of hand. We do have the hammer. We've got the military. We'll pound them into submission. Smite them. Destroy them. What is that wisdom about hammers? If it's the only tool you've got, every problem looks like a nail. Maybe. Maybe we need to put the hammer away for a little bit. Maybe the problem we really have here is a screw. Or something else. That hammer might not be much good for this. The Israelis have the biggest one in their neighbourhood, and the enemy just keeps coming back. I don't know, it's a bit like that gopher game. You bop one on the head with a hammer and another pops up somewhere else. There're always more gophers. No, I think we have to use the hammer. At least a little. This is a time that Lao Tse might agree is 'direst necessity.' But our language, our reasons for using force are hateful ones. Retaliation. Retribution. Revenge. And that is what we are seeking. "Satisfaction," as the euphemism goes. Destroy them. Let's ignore the moral and ethical implications for a moment. Are we capable of obtaining it? Satisfaction? Is bin Laden worried? He fought the Soviets to retreat, even though they occupied the country with infantry and air power. He had to know this was coming. Are we walking into a trap? Maybe we need to look at this a bit more. I don't know. People are saying scary things. One of my favourite authors, Mark Helprin, referred to an "alien civilization." Who? The terrorists? Are they a civilization? Did he mean the people of Afghanistan? Iraq? The Taliban? Muslims? All of Islam? What does he mean by "alien?" What? Muslims don't belong on this earth? Is that what he's saying? Should we allow our own civilization to be characterised by the likes of Timothy McVeigh and a bunch of fanatical Christian abortion clinic bombers, who are also bent on destruction in some twisted sense of righteousness? Helprin talked about strategic campaigns in all 'states of concern' around the globe. Pakistan, Iraq, North Korea are such states, just to name a few. Wipe out their nuclear and biological programs, he said. Can we do that? What are the repercussions? We'd need American military bases all over the globe, he says. A global military state? Is that really what we want? Is that really what we need? Scary things... On the radio the other day, someone said, "I am a pacifist. I hate violence. But I don't know. I think there's only one solution. We have to get not only the terrorists, we have to kill not just them, but their mothers and fathers too, their children, their aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews. We have to wipe out the entire gene pool." I could tell this really broke him up. He didn't like saying it. And I could tell something else. He meant it. Wow. Genocide. And the host, Rex Murphy no less, was stunned into silence. Or was he stunned? Maybe even Rex felt that surge of anger. I don't know. There's so much blind hatred floating around. Rage and rhetoric. Maybe his cooler head prevailed? What's wrong about that caller's plan is you can't stop with the gene pool. I felt like shouting at him. No! For that to work, you'd have to wipe out every soul sympathetic to the demands of the terrorists. No. There's more. There will be those who are not sympathetic, but who hate us every bit as much for their own reasons. (So many reasons!) We'll have to wipe them out too. Some of them call themselves American, or Canadian or Irish or French. But we'll weed them out. You have to obliterate the very ideas they have. We're not born with these ideas, afterall. You're not genetically a terrorist, or a capitalist, a dove or a hawk, a Christian or Muslim. Not really. You might be born into it, but people lapse or convert all the time. We'd have to take out all the people that think that way for genocide to make any sense. And then we'd have to go after the ones who are inclined to start thinking that way all by themselves. People who willingly submit themselves to tear gas and arrest in the name of protest. Thought control. That's what we need. And we'd have the hammer for backup. Why not? We're already talking about eradicating a civilization. Wait. Wait. But how can we militarily obliterate the idea of violence as a means to an end without instructing soldiers and their mothers and fathers, their children, their aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews in the unfortunate necessity of using violence as a means to an end? Can it be good to use violence in such a way? How do we know when it's good? Who is supposed to tell us? Our leaders? Is it OK to use violence only if you're a soldier supported by the taxes and votes of a democratic people? Does that make sense? Madness. With madness we'll eradicate madness. The President said the terrorists struck at freedom, which they hate. Maybe they do. But what they struck at was the Pentagon and The World Trade Center. Not the Liberty Bell. Not the Statue of Liberty. Not the Washington Monument, or the Jefferson Memorial. The Pentagon and The World Trade Center. Are they striking out at Freedom? I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe they are striking out at power. A power that controls destinies around the world. A power metaphorically and physically centred in two places. If I marched in Seattle, or at APEC in Vancouver, was I attacking freedom? If I speak out against the military actions in the Gulf War and in Serbia, am I attacking freedom? Oh, Jesus. Don't lump me in with mass murderers. No, don't imagine that I believe terrorism is a proper form of protest. I can't even imagine a mind that could bomb buildings, killing thousands, or hundreds, or even just one. It's unfathomable. It's a crime beyond all reasonable understanding. But I can protest, non-violently. I can speak. I can urge others to listen, to reflect, to think about this all a bit more. I can take C.S. Lewis' prescription and look inward, at the hatred, rather than outward at the object of it. Maybe then I will understand something. There are many people who do not like what the WTC or the Pentagon represent. They are among us. No, they are us. We are a little afraid of that power too, even if it is, nominally, our own. We are called various things. Anti-globalists, anti-free trade. We have chanted, "Bring down the WTO." But not like that. Not like that horror. Still, are we attacking Freedom? No, we are expressing it. The freedom my father defended in a NATO jet. The freedom my grandfather fought for in the Great War, the one that nearly took his life and left him hobbling. The same freedom upon which I would lay my life, were it threatened. But is it threatened? Freedom? I don't know? Security. Is that it? A security unique to us in North America. Security! I have been in Belfast, at a time of relative calm. Had my bags checked on my way into shops. I walked through a mall, and a shoe salesman saw the long-hair and the large bag, then quietly took 3 long, cautious steps back from the doorway, never for a moment taking his eyes off me. Walked into Donegal Pass, and felt the oppressive malaise of bipolar power. I watched uniformed men and women check every bus entering the malls at Donegal Place for bombs. And in London's double deckers and at the airport, they warn you not to touch any stranded bags. Here, in our little haven, the airports warn not to leave bags unattended due to thievery; there unattended bags are destroyed by the bomb squad. We have been living in a dream world here. Isolated. Secure. No longer. (Or were we really secure? I have been on the elevated in South Chicago at night, and never felt more threatened. I won't go exploring in any large American city without knowing my path will take me through safe neighbourhoods.) But it is not our fault. What did we do to them? We have done nothing wrong. Have we? Well, maybe we have. Nothing to deserve the calamity that has befallen us. That was madness. I won't offer the perpetrators any excuse. That is not protest; it's violent acting out on hatred. But still perhaps we have done something wrong. Or maybe it's not so bad. Maybe we just haven't done something right, or very well. Like when you think you're doing a friend a favour, only to find out you had it all wrong and ruined the friendship to boot. I don't know. I don't want to get into all that. Not right now. Too much anger and hate floating around to get anywhere. Round and round in circles we'd go. But I know this. We know no more about them than they know about us. Perhaps less. Their lies about us; our lies about them. Us and them. Familiar refrain? We thought that melted away with the Cold War. Ahh, but we can teach 'them' something about us. We will. We will, because we can. We use the UN when practical, the IMF when profitable and, when all else fails, we teach them with force. Because we've got the biggest goddamn sledge hammer on the planet and we're not afraid to use it. Even if the problem might not be a nail. And what will they learn about us? What lessons do bullets teach? Ask the Israelis and Palestinians who have distilled their hatred for each other to a bitter little pill they take daily. Ask the Northern Irish, who have managed to shock even themselves with their own hatred of late. And will we bother learning anything about this alien civilization as we slay them? Did we learn anything about the Vietnamese? The gooks, as we called them? Or are we only just now, in the last few years, curious enough to even ask? Was Bush's speach worthy of Helprin? At Helprin's raging rhetorical best, not quite. Bush may never top last week's WSJ editorial for knee-jerk, racist (alien civilization?) reactionism, and neither may Helprin. I love Helprin for his lyrical prose, for the idealism expressed toward love and beauty in all its forms. For his sense of humour and the absurd--coffee as evil! Some of the other stuff, particularly his WSJ editorials, show a side of him that makes me nervous. No. It outright scares me. Patrick. Presently listening to:The Gates of Delirium - Yes - Relayer (40:29)/" target="_blank">/" target="_blank">" hspace="4" align="right" border="0">

re: jazzzzz

2003-12-13T20:24:12-08:00

Tonic for a very hot day: ice cold (and I mean just shy of turning to slush) lager. Careful :: not too fast! Stouts and ales are for people who live in cold, miserable places like Vancouver. They are chummy, hearthside beers, the shepherd's pies of beverages. Now tell me, how appealing is the thought of shepherd's pie in that Louisiana heat? Wine? Wine is a parasol. Fine for moderate days--delicate flower of intoxicants--it wilts in the heat, and bruises in extreme cold. Wine is for people with air conditioners. Lager cuts to the chase. It is a bag of ice to the back of your neck, a bracing offshore breeze that raises goose bumps. If there were no popsicles, Southerners would let their children drink lager. Surefire pathway to hangover: a clawfoot tub of ice generously displaced by bottles of lager + temperatures in the 'sweating in the shade' zone. Antidote: a boiling spicy vat of crawfish, corn cobs and potatoes. Taken with lager, of course.

" hspace="4" align="right" border="0">Presently listening to: Do You Swear - The Philosopher Kings - The Philosopher Kings (03:39)/" target="_blank"> /" target="_blank">" hspace="4" align="right" border="0">Presently listening to: Dave Mathews Band & Rolling Stones - Wild Horses(live) - - (05:12)/" target="_blank">]]>