Photo for Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi

"Bae Yong Joon and Moon Sori revealed in costume..."
From Soompi

Between, documentary on a Korean shaman

From Kfccinema:

Source: Joongangdaily

In a rare effort to document a story about a Korean shaman from a sympathetic viewpoint, "Between", a new documentary by Lee Chang-jae, pulls hard on the heartstrings, as the director describes the traditional priestess as softhearted and humane, unlike the conventional image of shamans as being cold-hearted and barbaric.

In his film, Lee Hye-gyeong, a real mudang, or shaman, performs gut-wrenching rituals such as standing barefoot on blades of raised giant swords while chanting to the reverberating sound of noisy cymbals and gongs to communicate with the dead.?

But when the 49-year-old shaman sits down to listen first to her mortal clients who come to seek her mysterious healing power, she sheds tears and holds their hands, telling them that they'll be okay and that she understands their fears. She is portrayed as a warmhearted counselor rather than a charlatan or a devil-worshiper, as some people believe.

One of her ritual songs goes, "I hate gods, I hate humans. I want to go far, far away and escape the reality [that I am a mudang]", expressing the agony of living helplessly "in between" the human world and that of the spirits.
For 98 minutes, the director closely follows around the mudang, capturing how she helps a 49-year-old sick woman out of her toils, how she "heals" an 8-year-Old Boy who was suffering from visual and auditory hallucinations and how she skillfully inducts a new shaman as a 28-year-old woman who is sick because she is supposed to be possessed by a spirit.

Lee Chang-jae, 39, said he did not want a religious scholar or an anthropologist to support his ideas about mudang. He said he wanted to find a genuine mudang who could talk about her inner self, though meeting the right one wasn't easy. He met 30 shamans in person, and talked to 60 more over the phone, but something always felt wrong, he said. When he met Lee Hye-gyeong, though, he was sure he had found his shaman.

Exiled Trailer

Variety review
Hollywood Reporter review

Thanks to Monkey Peaches. (See MP for more reviews.)

Looking forward to this coming out on dvd!

ugh! cheap drama

Ok, after webisode 4 of the BSG, who couldn't predict what was going to happen next in webisode 5? It's such a stale plotline and emotionally manipulative--I hope the regular season rises above this. Yeah, maybe they didn't have time to write something more original, and these webisodes are just ads to lure viewers to the new season, but still... there is something to be said for quality control. I don't see this as good drama, just overly-used trite sentimental trash.

More on Katie Couric

Evidently her ratings have dropped by 1/2 since she debuted as the new anchor for CBS Evening News; on Monday CBS was in third place.

Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Katie Couric's reign as the top news anchor ended this week as CBS Corp.'s newscast dropped to third place.

Less than a week after Couric's debut as anchor produced the biggest audience for the network in eight years, ``The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric'' attracted 7.49 million viewers on Sept. 11. That trailed NBC's 8.27 million and ABC's 7.87 million, New York-based CBS Corp. said today in a statement, citing figures from Nielsen Media Research.

Couric's ratings have declined since the first broadcast on Sept. 5 attracted 13.5 million viewers, the most for the network since February 1998. Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said he knew there would be a dropoff after the initial broadcasts from Couric, the former ``Today'' show co-host.

Meanwhile, CBS Corp. President and CEO Les Moonves proclaims his confidence in Couric.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Katie Couric got a vote of confidence from a very important viewer Tuesday — her boss, CBS Corp. President and CEO Leslie Moonves.

"I am very pleased with what's happened with Katie," Moonves said of her performance so far as anchor of the "CBS Evening News."

"I think what Katie brings is accessibility," he said. But he stopped short of calling the newscast user-friendly, he said, because he didn't want to be accused of turning it into "Entertainment Tonight."

Of course he does. What else would he say? One of the obvious "he could be lying but he can't tell the truth" occasions that afflict people in prominent positions in our culture.

Now there have been some "studies" in which it is shown men pay more attention when men are speaking than when women speak; other studies record that men use only half their brain when listening (although the implications for their ability to listen are unknown). [It is also observed that men have difficulty picking up non-vocal cues.] Now, is this a behavior that is innate to the male brain? Or is is due to the acquisition of a habit? The "conclusions" may be more a correlation, rather than a causal analysis, and I am always suspicious of the use of statistics to generalize the results of a survey or experiment.

If in this contemporary economy of ours the senses are overstimulated, it seems inevitable that something or someone will lose out when they trying to hold our attention through our senses.
Or, maybe men have a (bad) habit of tuning out women's voices. Or, it could be innate, but can one do a comparison with the voices of children and men with rather high-pitched voices? If it's not solely the pitch of voice, but the visual cue as well, then I would suspect that something more is at work.

Nonetheless, regardless of what the cause is, it should be asked: Who comprises most of the news watching audience? Men or women? Besides those who tune out because it is a female voice not a male voice delivering the news, how many are irked by Couric's personality? CBS News may be trying to be PC or cutting-edge, but in choosing Katie Couric to be the main anchor, are the execs failling to understand their audience?

[It seems to me Asian news broadcasts will have a balanced newscast, one male, one female anchor. If there is a problem with men tuning out, the switch between the male and female anchors could possibly mitigate this. I don't know if in Asia women anchors and reporters are assigned to certain types of programs and stories (e.g. personal stories) that are plainly aimed at a female audience.]

If men have problems listening to women, it is ironic that during early development they depend much on their mother's talking to them. It seems to me that the mental development of children (with its dependence on language development) would be hindered if the typical male were to be put in the nuturing role for most of the time. As the typical male does not talk that much to begin with, one would speculate that babies and children would be starved for human speech (and all that comes with it and happens as a result of hearing it) if a father were to become the mother. Another indication that women are better equipped to nuture children during their early years, and that the roles of father and mother are not identical? I would think so, but radical egalitarianism (and gender deconstructionism) will not admit any of this.

Lastly, do differences between male and female brains have an impact on true "spirituality"?
Since the activity is supernatural one suspects that differences in matter are insignificant in comparison to the supernatural origin of the activity. Nonetheless, one can admit that someone with ADHD will have a more difficult time sustaining prayer or initiating prayer in the first place--while prayer is a supernatural activity, the dispositions of the body can have an influence on the dispositions of the soul. If we are in an agitated or excited mood, or if our brains have difficulties tuning out "noise" or "calming" itself, then there will be difficulties with prayer. Still, one should not despair that these sort of handicaps and defects will prevent one from being close with God. God knows what He is working with, and if we cooperate with Him, growth in charity can remedy any defect in prayer for which we are not responsible, and one can still attain a high level of sanctity despite such physical obstacles.

"Get Married, Young Man"

Get Married, Young Man
by Alex Chediak

Many of us men grew up with a limited picture that being an adult meant independence — being able to live where we wanted, come and go as we pleased, make some money, and see the friends we wanted to see.

Those aspects are certainly part of an adult life, but a key ingredient is missing. I'm not referring to community, accountability, or being involved in a good church. All those things are good, but in and of themselves they just can't function to produce all the blessings that God designs for us. I want to talk very candidly about why a godly wife, for most of us men, will bring blessings that nothing else can.

Perhaps what I've said sounds selfish: finding a wife to "produce blessings" for me. But we all naturally pursue what we think is in our best interest. That's how God has wired us. Sin arises when we seek happiness outside of God, or when we do not prize Him as being greater than any wife could ever be. That kind of attitude can lead to our pursuing good things (like a girlfriend or wife) in ungodly ways (like among non-Christian women or through sexual experimentation).

But I've found that an opposite problem is common today among men — particularly Christian men from good churches: not trying to find a wife at all.

I had that problem myself for a number of years.

The Lord got a hold of my life in some unusual ways when I was in my early 20s. I had plenty of friends through church, and life seemed great. I had lots of free time, plenty of money to eat out, travel and give, and could do what I wanted whenever I wanted. I lived a pretty lax spiritual life in college, not getting into too much trouble but not going hard after God either.

At 23, that changed and I wanted more of God than I had ever had before. I wanted to read theology books, be in as many Bible studies as possible, and know everything about God and His ways that I possibly could.

But the desire for a wife came slowly, and seemed in some ways unnatural. I hadn't been hearing that I needed a wife — after all, wasn't God enough? Didn't Paul say that it was good to remain single, as he was (1 Cor. 7:8)? And that each one should remain in the condition in which he was called (1 Cor. 7:20)? I told myself I could marry if God called me to, but that unless He made that unmistakably clear, I would — and should — stay my bachelor course.

I've known many single guys who think this way. The logic goes like this: "I'm a Christian. I love God. I currently don't have a wife. If God wants me to marry someone, He'll make that explicitly clear. For me to get proactive in the process is to imply that I don't trust God to make it happen. And seeking a wife seems less spiritual than taking on another ministry responsibility. After all, I'm single. I really should commit all my time to God, and not be distracted with thinking about girls."

The problem with this line of thinking is that not every man who has the status of singleness is gifted for singleness. God requires all singles to be celibate until marriage (to abstain from sexual expression in thought and deed), but because most singles aren't gifted for lifelong celibacy, most should seek to marry.

Other writers on Boundless have ably addressed the gift of celibacy and how to discern whether you have it. Briefly, I agree with what they have said in noting that it is a rare gift that is accompanied by a Spirit-endowed ability to cheerfully and without bitterness or rancor abstain from sexual intimacy and the deep emotional companionship that only comes with marriage and having children. In many cases, I believe this is accompanied with a particular life calling that greatly profits from the status of singleness (e.g., missions, a life-threatening vocation, excessive traveling, etc.).

The Scriptures say, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord" (Prov. 18:22). So the man is said to "find" a wife, and that a wife is a good thing. The favor from the Lord part shows that, yes, God is the One who ultimately gives the wife, but it is still our job as men to be proactive in the finding process.

In Matthew 19, Jesus gives some very tough teaching on the permanence of marriage. The Pharisees taught that a man could write up a divorce notice to his wife for any reason at all. They chose to put Jesus to the test on the issue. Jesus replies that even though Moses permitted (not commanded) divorce, it was only as an allowance in light of the reality of sin ("... but from the beginning it was not so," Matt 19:8). Instead, Jesus floors them by saying that "whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."

Not only are the Pharisees stunned, the disciples are too. How do we know? Their response is basically "If that's the way it is, Jesus, we should all just stay single!" And, interestingly, Jesus does not dispute their astute observation. Rather, he qualifies it: Yes, singleness has undeniable advantages, but "not everyone can receive this [concept], but only those to whom it is given.... Let the one who is able to receive this receive it."

As a single man in my early 20s, I could not "receive" this. By God's grace, I was not fooling around or hooked on pornography, but I found sexual thoughts and attractive women to be a recurring distraction from my walk with God. Every few months it seemed that a platonic or professional relationship with an attractive non-Christian woman would develop alluring sexual potential. You don't have to date a woman nowadays to get into compromising situations. A single man with strong sexual interests (and that's most of us men) and available sexual encounters (and that's most of us) is in frequent danger.

I've found that protection against sexual sin and the opportunity and the pleasure associated with monogamous sexual intimacy with the woman I love to be a very real benefit of marriage. But there are others.

Marriage enhances my walk with God. Living with my wife forces me to deal with sin issues that were more easily overlooked in my bachelor days. A wife is not very much like a guy roommate — the emotional synergy she will look for from you is far more encompassing. And just because we overlook (or are not forced to deal with) certain sin patterns as singles doesn't mean they aren't there. In fact, one of the dangers of staying single too long is that the quirks we get away with as bachelors can turn into habits that our wives will not appreciate and that we will find hard to break.

It's significant that an elder should be one who manages his own family well (1 Tim 3:4). Paul apparently saw this as a litmus test of how a man will lead in God's church. By trying to love my wife as Christ loves me (sacrificially, intentionally, perseveringly), I am blessed by reaping the good fruit that comes from a joyful partner and friend. Likewise, my failures are amplified because both she and I suffer. Marriage makes me more fully recognize the principles of stewardship.

Finally, marriage calls me to be a provider and protector. I need to be wiser with money, because I'm looking out not just for myself but for my wife and daughter (and the other kids we hope to have). That demands a degree of maturity in me that I don't think I could have mustered any other way.

There's nothing unspiritual about wanting marriage. Marriage is an important, normal, sanctifying, biblical aspect of adulthood. It provides protection from sexual sin, companionship, and the privilege to procreate and give back the gift of life.

Just as it's not necessarily sinful to be discontent and take action if you're unemployed or hungry, God has wired most of us with a longing for the sexual and emotional intimacy of marriage.

Yes, our ultimate and primary satisfaction must be in God, and His purposes can shine forth in our lives regardless of our marital state. Nevertheless, if you're not gifted for singleness, go ahead and seek a wife. You'll be more valuable for the Kingdom of God as a sanctified husband and father than as a single repeatedly getting tripped up with the sexual or emotional struggles common to singleness.

Marriage won't solve all your problems. But your life will generally reflect a deeper maturity and winsomeness that will open doors for relationships and ministry. Know that God's grace will be with you as you step out in faith. Men, what are you waiting for?

Jennifer Roback Morse on Plan B

Plan B is a Bad Plan

I predict the morning-after pill will induce a new round of increases in sexually transmitted diseases.

I base my opinion on the dynamics of contraceptive failure. We know that contraceptive failure is a function of age, income, and marital status. Younger women, unmarried women, and poor women are more likely to experience a contraceptive failure. Consider the rate of contraceptive failure for oral contraceptives, widely considered the most reliable of all the reversible, non-long-acting contraceptive methods. The failure rate of the Pill is 13 percent for poor married women under the age of 20, and declines to just under half that rate to 5.7 percent, for married poor women over 30. The age-specific failure rate is even more dramatic for cohabiting, but not married couples: For poor cohabiting women under age 20, the failure rate of the pill is 48 percent, while for poor cohabiting women over age 30, the failure rate is a mere 10.8 percent.

The failure rates for condom use are similarly correlated with age, income and marital status. The most successful users of condoms are married women over age 30 who are not poor. Of women in this group whose primary birth-control method is condoms, 6 percent can expect to be pregnant within a year. By contrast, among unmarried poor women under age 20, 23 percent will be pregnant within a year. The most spectacular failure rates are for cohabiting, poor women under the age of 20: 72 percent of them who use condoms as their regular birth control method will be pregnant within a year’s time.

What is going on here? Obviously, the pills don’t know the woman’s age or income. The condoms aren’t surreptitiously trying to enforce “family values,” by breaking more often for women “living in sin” than for married women. The pills are “failing” because the women aren’t taking them. The condoms are “failing” because people aren’t using them regularly. The failure rate in this study is measured as the percentage of women, using a regular method of birth control, who become pregnant within a year’s time. Married women, more mature women, and higher-income women are more likely to take their pills regularly and use condoms consistently. The high failure rates for cohabiting women occur because cohabiting women have more sex than other unmarried women.

What does this tell us about the likely impact of the wide availability of the morning-after pill? For those women who rely on birth-control pills for contraception, MAP will probably not change their behavior. If they are taking the pills but not regularly, they presumably still believe they are protected. They are not likely to get up the next morning and run to the drug store.

But for people who are using condoms but not reliably, the morning-after pill will become not Plan B, but Plan A, the birth-control method of first choice. “Oh honey, stop, we’ve got to put on a condom.” “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll get you the pills tomorrow.”

Even with all the publicity and education surrounding “safe sex,” not everyone at risk for STDs uses a condom every time. Pausing to put on a condom interrupts the flow and spontaneity of the sexual act. Persuading people to do that consistently is a tough sell. It’s even a tougher sell to people who already have another birth-control method, like the Pill. With the advent of Plan B, everyone has a method other than condoms. If you think preaching abstinence is unrealistic, try preaching consistent condom use to people who already have a foolproof birth-control method.

I predict an increase in sexual activity, unprotected by condoms. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see an increase in sexual activity overall, as people believe themselves to be “safe” from pregnancy, due to the availability of the morning-after pill as emergency contraception.

But being “safe” from pregnancy isn’t the same as being “safe” from STDs. Look for an increased rate of STD infections over the next few years.

Pomerium

A photo from one of their performances for Music before 1800.

official site

Found out about their existence through the New Liturgical Movement. It appears that they are a local group in New York City; I lookd at their concert calendar for 2006-7, and their first performance for the season is for Music before 1800 on October 15, at Corpus Christi Church. (At 4:oo P.M.) I'll consider attending the first concert... Then the next performance is in Kansas City, and the last two over at the Cloisters. I wonder if they will ever be invited to the BEMF.

Music before 1800
student tickets are $20
Also of particular interest--
December 17 The Baltimore Consort
January 21 The Hilliard Ensemble

Dragon Skin Passes Dept. Of Justice Ballistic Tests

Dragon Skin Passes Dept. Of Justice Ballistic Tests

Recent articles by Theodore Dalrymple

Divided Hearts
The Evils of Ideology
Globe and Mail

New Apocalypto trailer!

at apple.com--for both HD and normal versions

I'm definitely watching this one--it's even higher on the list than Flag of our Fathers.

Heads up to AICN.

First episode of Jericho

available here

I've been having difficulties watching it all the way through; maybe you'll have better luck.

CBS website

Andrew Cusack on the Heraldic Congress

Here, for the New Scot and anyone else interested in such things...

XXVII International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences

Evangelion Movie Remake

This should be of interest to Pete Takeshi.

Evangelion Movie Remake

Four anime films planned.
by Paul Davidson

September 12, 2006 - Neon Genesis: Evangelion continues to enjoy the promise of new life beyond its original 26-episode TV series. While a live-action motion picture remains in development, four new anime films have just been announced. According to Variety, Japanese anime studio Gainax is remaking the series as four feature films — a development sure to interest fans of the series.

Evangelion is an intricate and powerful story about gifted children pressed into service as mech pilots. Earth is under attack by a series of enormous alien entities, and a secret Japanese military organization has created huge robots which alone are capable of defeating the invaders — so long as a child sits in the cockpit.

The involved plot is full of high-tech battles, sinister conspiracies, Judeo-Christian mysticism, and psychological character studies. The TV series ended inconclusively, and the two animated films that followed a few years later did little to answer the myriad questions posed during the series.

Of the four upcoming films, two will essentially retell the original story, combining footage from the series with new backgrounds and soundtracks. The third and fourth movies will be entirely new stories, progressing from the first two and (hopefully) tying up all those loose ends into a satisfying conclusion.

Another promise of a satisying ending?

As for Judeo-Christian mysticism... not quite... not if humanity is waging war against the "angels " (who are corporal beings). Perhaps Pete Takeshi can enlighten us as to what role God plays in all of this. I suppose the answer is in the wiki entry and glossary, but I don't really want to read through it or watch the series to find out.

Apparently, "God's in his heaven, All's right with the world" is a line sung by a little Italian girl, Pippa, in the poem “Pippa Passes,” by Robert Browning, and appropriated by Neon Genesis Evangelion as part of the logo for NERV. (Info from Everything2)

The NERV Logo is half a fig leaf covering its name, with the motto "God's In His Heaven... All's Right With The World" forming the quarter circle on the bottom. The motto comes from Robert Browning's poem "Pippa Passes."

In Genesis 3:7, Adam and Eve cover their nakedness with fig leaves. The fig leaf has covered nakedness in art and sculpture for hundreds of years, symbolically representing the guilt of the original sin.

The logo can also be viewed as a brief summary of NERV's mission - attempting a return to man's original "naked" state by actively fighting back into the Garden of Eden. It may also represent NERV as Humanity's "shield" against disaster. Finally, fig leaves (hiding the unpleasant) and olive branches (offering peace) are sometimes confused. NERV's stated purpose is to defeat the Angels, but the real objective is to trigger the Third Impact the way NERV and SEELE want it to be.

source

European Christians to the aid of China’s young Church

at AsiaNews.it

First part:

Triuggio (AsiaNews) – The Church in China, official and underground is more alive than ever. It is a Church that suffers and evangelizes, without waiting for diplomatic ties between China and the Vatican as a panacea. Although it is trampled by controls, arrests, and persecutions, it is growing at the rate of 150,000 adult baptisms per year. All this is taking place while the government confiscates property of the official Church and seeks to annihilate underground priests, who are forced to sleep in a different place every night to avoid capture. Even amid imprisonment, poverty and suppression, it manages to produce and spread theology correspondence courses; in cities it preaches the Gospel via computer and compact discs; in universities, Christian personalities discuss modern social problems with intellectuals: economic development, pollution and the crisis sparked by materialism.

This is the image that emerged from the European Catholic China Europe Colloquium (ECCC) held in Triuggio from 6 to 10 September. Around 200 people from China and the Catholic, missionary world participated in the meeting. Mgr John Tong, auxiliary bishop of Hong Kong, was among leading representatives of the Asian world together with Orthodox personalities from the Moscow Patriarchate, and participants from the Protestant world. Among Italians who attended were Mgr Luigi Bressan, archbishop of Trento and president of the Episcopal Commission for Evangelization; Mgr Giovanni Giudici, bishop of Pavia, Mgr Angelo Mascheroni, auxiliary bishop of Milan, representative of Cardinal Tettamanzi, archbishop of the diocese hosting the meeting.

This year, the colloquium marked the seventh time it was held. An initiative launched informally in 1992 thanks to some European missionaries’ interest and passion for China, little by little it became a reference point for ties between European Churches and the Church in China.

But the renewal of ties between European and Chinese Christians dates back almost 25 years, to the time after the death of Mao Zedong and the first timid overtures of Deng Xiaoping. This year’s theme was precisely: “25 years of encounter with the Church in China: Evaluation looking to the future”.

Anchor Paek Ji-yeon to Take Catwalk at Korea Expo

Anchor Paek Ji-yeon to Take Catwalk at Korea Expo

TV anchor Paek Ji-yeon is stepping out to model Korean traditional clothes. She is slated to take the stage during a fashion show as part of the opening ceremony for the Korea Brand Power, HAN expo running at the Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX) from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1.

This event is jointly sponsored by the ministries of culture and tourism, of commerce, industry and energy, and Gyeonggi and North Jeolla provinces. But Paek will not be the only beauty gracing the stage. Actress Kim Hye-lee and six years’ worth of Miss Koreas will also be there to help show off the beauty of hanbok. The models will be sporting evening dresses among other garb produced by Korea’s top hanbok designers Lee Young-hee, Greta Lee and Kim Jeong-ah.

The hanboks of designers Kim Hye-soon and Paik Seol-heon, who are well-known for their designs of Royal Court clothing and attire worn during tea ceremonies, will also be featured. The Korea Brand Power expo has been organized over the last three years by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and is focused on marketing and internationalizing the idea of Korea. The project is to codify Korean cultural commodities such as hanbok, Korean food, Korean traditional paper, the Korean alphabet or Hangul and Korean traditional music as brands.

(englishnews@chosun.com )

Ahhh! A hanbok fashion show. I wish I could see that... too bad it won't be televised, and I don't know where I would go to look for photos of the event...

Culture - September. 13, 2006

Winners in the 2006 Miss Korea contest take part in a charity bazaar for destitute children ahead of Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving by the Korea Welfare Foundation, at the main branch of Lotte Department Store in Seoul on Tuesday.

Charity bazaar for poor people: Miss Korea winners for 2006, including top prize winner Lee Ha-nui, third from left, sell clothes at a charity bazaar to help the impoverished elderly and breadwinners in their teens at a department store in Seoul on Tuesday. The event was organized ahead of Chusok, the Korean version of Thanksgiving Day, which falls on Oct. 6. /Korea Times Photo by Won You-hun

Drive Lufthansa, Fly Volkswagen: Volkswagen workers pose with the classic Volkswagen model “Bulli” and the newly launched Touareg V10 TDI individual, in front of the carmaker’s showroom in southern Seoul on Wednesday. Under a slogan of “Drive Lufthansa, Fly Volkswagen,” Lufthansa and Volkswagen will hold a co-promotion event Sept. 16-19 on the occasion of Lufthansa’s 40th anniversary of operations in Korea.
/Courtesy of Lufthansa German Airlines 09-13-2006 19:46

Auto-focusing camera: Models operate a Fuji S6500 digital camera during a launching ceremony at the Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul. The camera’s sensor recognizes human faces in 0.05 seconds and focuses on the one highlighted in a virtual green box. /Yonhap 09-13-2006 19:52

Business - September. 13, 2006

Daewoo Electronics CEO Lee Seung-chang and actress Shim Hye-jin unveil a new model of the firm’s kimchi refrigerator line at the Plaza Hotel in Seoul Tuesday.

Business - September. 14, 2006

Smart home robot Nettoro is introduced at the 2006 IT Expo Busan, which opened at the BEXCO in the southern port city on Wednesday./Yonhap

Marianne Legato on Sex Differences

I doubt anyone will call her anti-feminist, but it's hard to say how people will react when "science" contradicts their pet ideology. There would be much agreement between her and (Dr.) Laura Schlessinger, so perhaps it would enough to dismiss her by saying "You agree with Dr. Laura!"

Dr. Legato is the author of Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget.

Original page for the interview

Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget

WebMD Live Events Transcript
Event Date: Wednesday, August 31, 2005


Why won't he ask for directions? Why does she always want to talk about the relationship? Why is it so hard for men and women to understand each other and what can we do about it? Marianne J. Legato, MD, author of Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget, says that our fundamental differences lie in the chemical and structural makeup of our brains. She joined us on Aug. 31, 2005, to share tips and strategies for learning to think like the opposite sex in order to get past our differences.

If you have questions about your health, you should consult your personal physician. This event is meant for informational purposes only.

MODERATOR:
Welcome to WebMD Live. Our guest today is Marianne J. Legato, MD, author of Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget. She's here to help us understand how to think like the opposite sex and get past our differences.

Welcome, Dr. Legato. Could you please tell us about "gender-specific" medicine and your work in this area?

LEGATO:
I became interested in the differences between men and women as a result of my research on women and heart disease. It became apparent there were significant differences between the sexes and in the techniques we should use to diagnose, prevent and treat coronary artery disease.

I began to wonder as a result of that research whether there were other, just as important, differences between men and women in other systems of the body, and found to my great interest and delight that in all of our body systems, there are significant differences between us. I am now convinced a patient's sex should be a very important feature in how we prevent, diagnose, and treat all illness.

MODERATOR:
How does our physiology affect our brain function?
"There are differences in men's and women's ability to interpret facial expression."

LEGATO:
The anatomic, functional, even molecular characteristics of our brains differ between men and women. As a result, the way our intellectual functions operate are quite different as a result. Men's brains are larger than those of women, for example, but women have more intricate and extensive connections between their brain cells in, for example, parts of the brain devoted to speech.

MODERATOR:
How do these physical differences affect how we respond?

LEGATO:
There are differences in our ability to interpret facial expression and tones of speech. Women are more able to process facial expression and the tone of what is said to them than are men.

And because of the impact of estrogen on memory, another important difference is that women will remember details of unpleasant experiences much more than men. As a result, a woman carries a much more detailed memory of an unpleasant event than a man.

Even at rest, there is baseline activity in the primitive parts of the brain in the limbic system which is different in men and women. For example, at rest men are better able to perceive movement, even from the periphery of their vision than are women.

How can I soften bad memories?

MEMBER QUESTION:
How can I at least soften bad memories? I would find it easier to forgive if I could forget, or at least forget some of the details.

LEGATO:
I think it is very important to dispose of a disagreement with another person as quickly as we can. A bad or painful memory is best addressed by trying to negotiate some kind of understanding with the person with whom we had an unpleasant agreement.

If that's not possible, try to relegate that memory to a storage bin so it doesn't preoccupy you. If you find that in spite of your best efforts bad memories plague you, seek the help of a professional, because there is a tendency in some people to become obsessed with bad or sad memories. Psychiatric help or psychological counseling can be very helpful.

MODERATOR:
Let's go back to the differences between the genders. Can you give an example of a situation and how a man might perceive it, then how a woman may perceive the same event?

LEGATO:
If a woman has a problem, her tendency is to reach out to others and discuss possible reasons for the problem and solutions for it. So calling a mother or a friend to "talk through" the issue is characteristic of women.

Men, on the other hand, regard problems as something they need to solve. They do not like prolonged discussion; they will not have a tendency in general to discuss possible solutions. They will, by themselves, decide to ignore the problem or to solve it in as simple a way as possible.

"One of the almost inevitable traps into which women fall is to bring up past quarrels."

This is one of the most important reasons for the discontent of men and women with the quarrels they have. A man tries to move on as quickly as possible and either solve or close the issue and forget it. A woman's tendency is to remember the issue and think about it and discuss it until she is satisfied she has reached a solution.

One of the almost inevitable traps into which women fall as a result is to bring up past quarrels or issues that have still not been settled. This simply overburdens the listening male and is really counterproductive.

MEMBER QUESTION:
That's what my husband does; he "closes" the issue even though it isn't resolved! Drives me crazy! Just saying it is over doesn't make it over!

LEGATO:
We have to be realistic in our discussions with our significant others. Women are much more interested in the details of a personal relationship than are men. Men are only interested in the simplest aspects of the relationship.

Men don't tend to be as verbal as women at all. They move along after a problem or quarrel much more quickly than we do, and don't have the inner need for resolving an issue completely that women have. Do not take this personally. It does not mean your spouse does not care about you.

If you have an issue with your husband that is troublesome, and his response is not satisfying, try reading the chapter in my book called Legato's Laws for Improving Communication.

If, after you have pared down and refined your arguments to short, clear sentences, and suggested appropriate solutions to the problem, your husband still does not respond, I would suggest couples counseling. Often a third party can help resolve a situation and relieve a sense of being accused or being punished that many husbands have as a result of arguments raised by their wives.

How can I help my husband improve his memory?

MEMBER QUESTION:
How can I help my husband improve his memory? He has a hard time even remembering his own children's ages.

LEGATO:
I think we should realize that in general, women over the course of evolution have been selected out for their interest in and ability to sustain family relationships. Women are able to hold and process in their minds several events at once. Men have much less facility for doing that.

It is helpful if your husband cannot remember the ages of his children not to accuse him of not caring about his children, but if the occasion arises, remind him of their ages, such as at birthdays.

It is important for men and women to realize that because of differences in our brains and in the way society trains us, men and women communicate differently and emphasize the importance of things differently. Once we accept that, we no longer feel personally hurt because of what we interpret as a lack of interest from our spouse. If I had one message to give men and women, it would be that.

MEMBER QUESTION:
How do our hormones affect how our brains work? Do men go through hormonal changes that affect their brains too?

LEGATO:
Men and women both undergo hormonal changes as they grow older. For women, the change is more dramatic and compressed in time; for men, the change is more gradual and steady.

There is no question that good estrogen levels help memory and keep our brain cells in optimal operating shape. During the time estrogen production begins to falter, as they do in perimenopause, women experience difficulty in thinking clearly; they become depressed in some cases, and memory is impaired.

Sometimes estrogen therapy in the perimenopause is very helpful. Other women don't even notice menopause and seem to sail through it with no problem, but they are a minority. Eventually, particularly if we continue to exercise our brains and memories, and don't become too depressed or isolated, the changes in our thinking stabilize.

For premenopausal women, monthly cycling may have a real effect on intellectual function, and some of my female patients refuse to do complex intellectual tasks just before they are due to menstruate or the first day of their period They feel they are better able to process and remember information later in their cycles, when estrogen levels are higher.

"Repeating questions is not necessarily an indication that a man is not listening."

MEMBER QUESTION:
My husband tells me the same things over and over saying he doesn't remember all the times he asked me before. What is his problem? He drives me crazy!

LEGATO:
I think it may actually be a function of aging. A short, simple discussion with your husband and his doctor might be helpful.

There is a process called psychomotor testing, in which a qualified person tests a person for early dementia or Alzheimer's disease. There are mediations and techniques to slow down the process, if it is diagnosed, and so I would suggest if faulty memory becomes so severe it's irritating, a physician should be consulted.

MEMBER QUESTION:
My husband has done this for years. It's not dementia -- he just keeps asking until he gets the answer he wants.

LEGATO:
I think a simple, short conversation with your husband should go something like this: "I will answer a question once. If you repeat it I will answer it twice. I will not answer it a third time, no matter how many times you ask me. End of conversation."

And then stick to your guns. Do not repeat the answer more than twice. If this causes your husband significant distress, offer to take him to a physician or a neurologist to see why his memory isn't working appropriately.

By the way, repeated questions are not necessarily an indication that a man is not listening. Sometimes intense anxiety or worry can prompt a person -- male or female -- to ask the same questions again and again as a way of seeking reassurance.

For example, if a child who has used drugs is becoming secretive and depressed again, a concerned parent might ask the other repeatedly, when did he come in last night? Such a question in such a setting might not indicate a flawed memory, but more anxiety about the child.

If your husband's repeated questions seem to be prompted in situations or about things that make him anxious, it might be helpful to sit down with him and point out that he asks the same questions repeatedly on these topics, and try to find out if, in fact, he is upset or worried about the issue.

If he asks the same questions because he is not paying attention, that's a different issue. Men do not parallel process several things at the same time with the efficiency women do. If your husband asks you a question that is not connected to what he is doing, he may well not even hear the answer.

Direct his attention to you -- make sure he is looking you in the eye -- and answer the question. That may help. Try talking less. Try not drowning your spouse in a torrent of words. Make your communication clear and brief. If your husband wants more conversation, that is encouraging. It may be that you talk so much and so often he simply tunes out. Keep it to the essentials and see if that helps.

Why does a man repeat himself during an argument?

MEMBER QUESTION:
Would that speak to why a man repeats himself so many times during an argument?

LEGATO:
I think that if your husband or partner repeats himself most frequently during an argument, it is a sign of emotional distress and tension. Try to phrase your reply to something that does not further upset or stress him.

For example, a simple situation in which he has refused to take out the garbage. Instead of saying, "You never help me with the housework, and you haven't taken the garbage out in a month, in spite of all my requests." Try instead, "I really would like your help. Can you take this garbage out for me? I would very much appreciate it." And see what happens.

MODERATOR:
But doesn't that presume a societal role that we as women are responsible for the home and he is just being asked to assist rather than be a full partner?

LEGATO:
No, I think to make a request for help simply does not define a role. For example, another request might be, "I know it's Super Bowl Sunday and you want to watch the game. I have to leave tonight to give an important presentation. Can you look at my slides with me after the game because your opinion is so useful for me"?

The idea is not to threaten your significant other with tone or words. The idea is to solicit help when you want it. I might add that men's ability to decode our facial expressions is not as developed as ours. They cannot decode sadness on the face of women, for example, with great accuracy. It is important not to depend on sulking or angry glares, but use clear, brief sentences to communicate. Ask for the answer you want. Don't count on his interpreting from expressions what you need.

MODERATOR:
How do all of these differences affect how we parent?

LEGATO:
Parenting is an extremely demanding activity. In the first place, there are real differences in the rate of development of boys and girls. Young girls at puberty are much more mature in their judgment and decision making than are boys of the same age, who are inclined to be much more impulsive and not as mature in judgment until later in adolescence.

"We do get past our differences and become couples."

So how to help your children develop responsibility and do what is healthy and safe for them may require a quite different effort, depending on whether your child is male or female.

There is a special chapter in my book on parenting. It is called Peek-A-Who, the Changing Face of Parenthood. In that chapter, I discuss the fact that men and women parent differently. Fathers talk less to children and roughhouse more with them and tend to give their children more independence than their mothers.

One interesting study shows that when their mothers come near them, babies relax their pulse and breathing rate slows. In contrast, when their dads appear they begin breathing more quickly, their shoulders tense and their eyes open wide, as if they are expecting something quite exciting to happen.

MODERATOR:
Obviously, we do get past our differences and become couples. How do we manage to do that given how different we are?

LEGATO:
Men and women have rather well-defined roles to play in any partnership. In the first place, we are neurologically structured with abilities to do some tasks better than the opposite sex. That's not to say we can't learn to perform tasks equally well, but our basic equipment suits us to do some things better than others.

When a couple comes together, hopefully there are complementary talents they offer one another. I think the secret to a happy and long relationship is to depend on the other person's strengths and remember always that almost everyone has some good things to offer a partnership.

The marvelous thing about the brain is that it is not fixed but can develop new abilities as we call on it. So negotiation, compromise, and exploring in a sensitive and caring way the needs and thoughts of your partner is not only good for the partner, it will help you learn new strategies of teamwork and communication. One of the great benefits of living with other people is that we learn from one another.

Are women more prone to inherit mental health disorders?

MEMBER QUESTION:
Are women more prone to inherit mental health disorders?

LEGATO:
It is said that throughout the world, women are twice as likely to be depressed as men. Interestingly this is not true in India, where the rate of depression in men and women is equal.

I do feel that depending on others and on the richness of personal relationships, rather than on what one achieves alone, makes women, in general, more vulnerable than men to disappointment.

One of the most important things we can offer our daughters and sons when they complain of emotional pain or distress is to say to them, "What are you going to do about that?"

Instead of encouraging a girl to focus on the negative about a friendship, one might remind her that few relationships are perfect and certainly none is perfect for all occasions. Therefore, a whole palette of friends is important to cultivate. One to go shopping with; one to chat with; one to discuss problems with; another to laugh with. If one is out of sorts, don't take it personally, try to call on another friend.

Above all, try to construct solutions for your problems, rather than allowing yourself to sink into sadness and despair into how things are going. Men, by nature, are equipped to solve issues as quickly as possible, or if a problem is insolvable, to outrun it. I think this contributes to men's lesser vulnerability to depression.

MODERATOR:
How does our brain physiology affect how we respond to stress?

LEGATO:
Women's high estrogen levels have an impact on the adrenal gland and their stress hormones stay elevated in the bloodstream a full 24 hours after a challenging or upsetting experience. This is not true of men. This elevation in stress hormones explains the lingering effect of a quarrel or unpleasant experience in women.

Another interesting difference is women respond to elevated hormone levels like cortisol, which is released in response to a challenge with anxiety and depression. In contrast, men who have a jolt of stress hormones often feel an elevation in mood and they are invigorated after a quarrel or contest.

This simple difference in response to stress hormones may explain why, after a quarrel, a woman may be convinced her husband doesn't care. She sees his mood isn't sad, but may in fact be quite happy. In fact, it is a simple difference in response to stress hormones.

"Our differences decrease after 60 and as we age."

MEMBER QUESTION:
Do men really just not listen?

LEGATO:
There is some evidence to show that the accuracy with which men hear the spoken word tends to decrease, even as soon as the age of 35, and so they simply may not hear correctly all the time. Keep your communication short, clear, and concise.

MODERATOR:
As we age, do our differences decrease or do we simply learn to work past them?

LEGATO:
That is a wonderful question.

In the first place, I think our differences decrease after 60 and as we age. Testosterone levels fall and men's memories become as affected as women's; so does their sensitivity to pain and their feeling of being fragile and needing care.

Apart from the simple physiological differences, I believe we learn from one another, lose our fear of being abandoned by one another and come to terms with the gaps in our relationships, as well as its strengths. I have had many patients who say to me, my marriage is not perfect, but after 30 years, I know I don't want to be alone, that he has many wonderful features, and that I can't depend on him for some aspects of my life.

MODERATOR:
Dr. Legato, do you have any final comments for us?

LEGATO:
Respect and try to think positively about the other person. Don't take differences in the way they communicate or approach an issue as evidence they do not care about you.

Understand that there are real differences in the way our brains operate and in our response to the hormones that are such an important part of our maleness or femaleness. I hope my book will help outline the nature of some of those differences and detoxify some of the hurt that arguments and a lack of communication seem to cause between men and women.

We can learn important things and improve our ability to cope not only with each other, but with the world around us, by taking the best of what our spouses have to offer and learning from it. The brain is not fixed in stone but grows and responds to challenges all the days of our lives, which should make us tremendously optimistic.

Men's health

Hmmmm, a fairly recent op-ed from one of the pioneers in women's health.

June 17, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
The Weaker Sex
By MARIANNE J. LEGATO

WHEN I say I study gender-specific medicine, most people assume I mean women's health. Patients ask me, "Do you take care of men too?"

I may be partly to blame for the confusion: in the years since the revolutionary 1985 report on women's health from the United States Public Health Service, I — along with many of my colleagues — have tried to atone for the fact that for so long the majority of diseases that afflicted both genders were studied exclusively in men.

Over the past two decades, we've radically revised how we conduct medical research and take care of our female patients. And we've made valuable discoveries about how gender helps determine vulnerability to illness and, ultimately, the timing and causes of death. But I now believe that we doctors and researchers may have focused too much on women.

What emerges when one studies male biology in a truly evenhanded way is the realization that from the moment of conception on, men are less likely to survive than women. It's not just that men take on greater risks and pursue more hazardous vocations than women. There are poorly understood — and underappreciated — vulnerabilities inherent in men's genetic and hormonal makeup. This Father's Day, we need to rededicate ourselves to deepening our knowledge of male physiology.

Men's troubles begin during the earliest days in the womb. Even though there are more male than female embryos, there are more miscarriages of male fetuses. Industrial countries are also witnessing a decline in male to female birth ratios, and we don't know why.

Some scientists have argued that the probability of a male child declines as parents (especially fathers) age. Still others have cited the prevalence of pesticides, which produce more birth defects in male children.

Even when a boy manages to be born, he's still behind the survival eight ball: he is three to four times more likely than girls to have developmental disorders like autism and dyslexia; girls learn language earlier, develop richer vocabularies and even hear better than boys. Girls demonstrate insight and judgment earlier in adolescence than boys, who are more impulsive and take more risks than their sisters. Teenage boys are more likely to commit suicide than girls and are more likely to die violent deaths before adulthood.

As adults, too, men die earlier than women. Twice as many men as women die of coronary artery disease, which manifests itself a decade earlier in men than women; when it comes to cancer, the news for men is almost as bad. Women also have more vigorous immune systems than men: of the 10 most common infections, men are more likely to have serious encounters with seven of them.

While depression is said to be twice as frequent in women as in men, I'm convinced that the diagnosis is just made more frequently in women, who show a greater willingness to discuss their symptoms and to ask for help when in distress. Once, at a dinner party, I asked a group of men whether they believed men were depressed as often as women, but were simply conditioned to be silent in the face of discomfort, sadness or fear. "Of course!" replied one man. "Why do you think we die sooner?"

Considering the relative fragility of men, it's clearly counterintuitive for us to urge them, from boyhood on, to cope bravely with adversity, to ignore discomfort, to persevere in spite of pain and to accept without question the most dangerous jobs and tasks we have to offer. Perhaps the reason many societies offer boys nutritional, educational and vocational advantages over girls is not because of chauvinism — it's because we're trying to ensure their survival.

It's possible, too, that we've simply been sexist. We've complained bitterly that until recently women's health was restricted to keeping breasts and reproductive organs optimally functional, reflecting the view that what made women valuable was their ability to conceive and bear children. But aren't we doing the same thing with men? Read the questions posed on the cover of men's magazines: how robust is your sexuality? How well-developed are your abs? The only malignancy I hear discussed with men is prostate cancer.

It's time to focus on the unique problems of men just the way we have learned to do with women. In 2004, the National Institutes of Health spent twice as much on studies done only on women as only on men. We are not devoting nearly enough money to men's health; worse yet, we may be spending those insufficient funds to answer exactly the wrong questions.

The National Institutes of Health should therefore convene a consensus conference to identify the most important threats to men's well-being and longevity and issue a request for research proposals to address them. Would an estrogen-like molecule postpone the onset of coronary artery disease in susceptible males? Are there ways to strengthen the male immune system?

Thinking about how we might correct the comparative vulnerability of men instead of concentrating on how we have historically neglected women's biology will doubtless uncover new ways to improve men's health — and ultimately, every human's ability to survive.

Marianne J. Legato, the director of the Partnership for Women's Health at Columbia, is the author of "Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget."

St. John Chrysostom, 13 September

One of my favorite Greek Fathers...


source

source


OrthodoxWiki
Saint John Enthroned


source

source


source

another from uncutmountainsupply

Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint John Chrysostom:


Sts. Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian

CE entry
The Way of the Fathers blog post
Saint John Chrysostom (click here for more icons!)
OCA page
The Dialogue of Palladius concerning the Life of St. John Chrysostom
earlychurch.org.uk
Newadvent: Fathers of the Church

B16: An indirect critique of Islam?

I do not know if he has written a critique of Islam as Joseph Ratzinger, but I thought this was interesting--it's from the lecture he gave today on faith and reason at the University of Regensburg. (Also at Chiesa.)

I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both. It was probably the emperor himself who set down this dialogue, during the siege of Constantinople between 1394 and 1402; and this would explain why his arguments are given in greater detail than the responses of the learned Persian. The dialogue ranges widely over the structures of faith contained in the Bible and in the Qur’an, and deals especially with the image of God and of man, while necessarily returning repeatedly to the relationship of the "three Laws": the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qur’an. In this lecture I would like to discuss only one point – itself rather marginal to the dialogue itself - which, in the context of the issue of "faith and reason", I found interesting and which can serve as the starting-point for my reflections on this issue.

In the seventh conversation-controversy, edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the jihad (holy war). The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion". It is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threaten. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Qur’an, concerning holy war. Without decending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels", he turns to his interlocutor somewhat brusquely with the central question on the relationship between religion and violence in general, in these words: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". The emperor goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death...".

The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God’s nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident. But for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality. Here Khoury quotes a work of the noted French Islamist R. Arnaldez, who points out that Ibn Hazn went so far as to state that God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God’s will, we would even have to practise idolatry.

Now the first critique is from Manuel II Paleologus, but is Benedict XVI adopting the emperor's critique as his own? Someone as learned as Benedict XVI could have picked a example to illustrate his point about the nature of God and how we conceive of Him. I think we can safely infer from his citation of T. Khoury that Benedict XVI agrees with this representation of Islam's teachings. I had read that Islam is fatalist--but does it also contain such extreme voluntarism?

If the Muslim understanding of God is counter to both Divine Revelation and to natural reason, the latter can be the basis of an apologetical argument (which Aquinas' Summa Contra Gentiles exemplifies). Still, Aquinas would concede that it is difficult to persuade people that their beliefs are erroneous by demonstrations alone.

(I will examine what he says about Greek thought and the university in another post.)

Michael Yon on the current situation in Afghanistan

Hooked
The drugs which fuel the Taliban.

By Michael Yon

In Afghanistan, heroin has become the Devil’s cocktail. “Smack” is already one of the most addictive and destructive drugs on Earth, and now numerous academic studies show addiction levels on the rise, particularly among younger children. In the place where 90 percent of the world’s heroin supply originates, the Taliban, al Qaeda, and others harvest profits from opium poppy cultivation to buy weapons and equipment used to attack soldiers and civilians engaged in a mostly stalled reconstruction mission.

A reverse symbiosis is at work: Those who benefit most from the opium/heroin trades also benefit most from a destabilized Afghanistan, because a stable country with functioning government systems, reliable security forces, and a framework of laws is a bad climate for the drug trade. Conversely, farmers growing crops such as cotton and beans benefit from a stable government climate, which affords the opportunity to think beyond the next crop cycle. In order to make agriculture a more successful business venture, farmers need a stable government as a partner. But since the interests of poppy farmers and narco-kings are in aggressive opposition to any plan to stabilize Afghanistan, this partnership is not even in the talking stages.

According to a GAO “Congressional Report on Afghanistan Reconstruction,” approximately half of Afghanistan’s economy is based on opium, meaning roughly half the economy thrives in a chaos that also funds world-class terrorists. Experts who study the calculus of the narcotics trade know that the problem is growing out of control in Afghanistan because every additional poppy lanced for its opium unleashes an oozing flow of black-market dollars. Those dollars are not taxed by the Kabul government, but by the virtual government of the Taliban. Perversely, poppy farmers grow poorer with each successively larger crop, because their bounty boosts supplies while driving prices lower, and they need to grow more each year just to stay even.

2006 was a bumper year for the poppy crop — the largest harvest on record. In the 2006 World Drug Report, the U.N. estimated that there was only a 2-percent eradication of potential opium production in the previous year. According to locals I interviewed about this “eradication,” workers went out, slapped down a few fields with sticks, paid farmers for the poppy, and made photo ops. But at the same time, many workers left reconstruction jobs en masse to complete the poppy harvest; 98 percent of the crop survived, and it has begun to make its way to millions of addicts in Asia, Europe, and North America.

This seasonal work-boon causes setbacks for road and infrastructure projects. Given that nationwide dissatisfaction with the pace and progress of reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan has now grown to such a level that concern about it is factored into reports and plans from the U.N., NATO, and the GAO (among others), this is just another example of the expanding zone of erosion that threatens to undermine all progress on all fronts in this battered country.

Heroin addictions are increasing around the globe. Here at home, there will be more addicts crawling through windows at night robbing houses and stealing jewelry to score drugs, just as they will be in Brisbane, Berlin, and London. According to health studies, the heroin now landing on the streets in Europe and America is increasingly pure. Many users continue to inject the drug, but because of the increased purity, some children are sniffing or smoking heroin, relying on a dangerous rationalization that “real addicts” always inject. Kids also are mixing heroin with other drugs such as cocaine, causing a spike in emergency-room visits and explaining the rise in drug related injuries and deaths for middle-school students. With burgeoning heroin supplies, lower street prices lower the addiction threshold, resulting in more heroin addicts. And when addicts use heroin over time, they need more and more to feel the high. Afghan farmers will likely oblige by planting more.

Despite the increasing human toll levied by opium production in Afghanistan, there is still no coherent plan for stopping the violence, shutting off the flow of money to the enemy, and eradicating and replacing poppy in Afghanistan.

Thousands of tons of opium from this year’s harvest are being processed at this moment, and much will be used to make the heroin that is about to flood our streets, all while its monetary equivalent will be stuffing enemy pockets in the next few months.

Getting Stronger
We are seeing the results on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Instead of the planned shift toward stability that was expected to be far enough along to enable us to draw down U.S. troops and turn over the security operations to NATO forces, the Taliban has resurged, re-armed, regrouped, and re-emerged as a serious military threat.

In early July 2006, an Afghan truck driver for the Central Asian Development Group (CADG) was kidnapped between Camp Bastion and Lashkar Gah on a road that I had recently traveled. The surrounding area is a full-on battlefield every bit as dangerous as Iraq. When the driver was kidnapped, the owner of CADG, Steve Shaulis, immediately called his Lashkar Gah branch office to ask which village his man was from. Shaulis then dispatched an employee to the village to inform the man’s family. As Shaulis told me, “I also informed — of course — the government and the Coalition, but — of course — they could do nothing more than take the information with a vague sort of promise to look into it.” While the Coalition and the Afghan government apparently fell inert on the matter, the victim’s family went immediately to the Taliban — who have a functioning structure in these parts — and secured the release of the man without ransom. Shaulis wasn’t so lucky in getting his truck back, however. But since he’s had other incidents with less fortunate outcomes, a truck is an easy loss to absorb. While I was in the province, an ambush of CADG trucks occurred, during which one of the drivers was murdered and another wounded. This area has become so dangerous since my departure that Shaulis has been forced to lease an airplane to visit his projects.

There is a widespread notion that Afghanistan is safer for our troops than Iraq, yet Coalition and NATO combat deaths in Afghanistan are per capita nearly identical to those in Iraq. In 2007, it looks as if per capita combat deaths will likely be significantly higher in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Why? There are many reasons, but one of the most important is that our European allies have been slow to recognize the reality that a monster really is under the bed. After years of neglect and dawdling, they are finally beginning to adjust, but they are still not keeping pace with the threat. They are still not providing their people with proper equipment, all while the Taliban is getting stronger from the billion-dollar narcotics backwash that floods enemy coffers. As in Iraq, troop numbers are also dangerously low in Afghanistan, and the handfuls of friendly forces there lack sufficient air power to stretch their security resources.

NATO is tentatively confronting the proximate and growing threat by sending more troops into battle, but they are sending troops with insufficient force protection. During my trip, I visited several bases. To convey just one exchange, but a revealing one: Shaulis needed to meet some Danish engineers who were to fly into Tarin Kot the next day by helicopter. When Shaulis asked an Australian special-forces officer how to identify which helicopter the Danish engineers would arrive in, the Australian officer grimly answered, “It will be the only helicopter flying alone.”

According to retired four-star General Barry McCaffrey, who recently returned from a trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan:

In my view, there is little question that the level of fighting has intensified rapidly in the past year. Three years ago the Taliban operated in squad sized units. Last year they operated in company sized units (100+ men). This year the Taliban are operating in battalion sized units (400+) men.

Afghanistan is the new hot war — and it’s getting hotter.

— Michael Yon blogs at michaelyon-online.com.

At least the National Review recognizes that not everything is ok in Afghanistan.

Oh, so Ashton and Demi are married

Well, Lady Downstairs, almost one year ago... I had forgotten that they had kept this secret and was not widely publicized (like, say, the recent wedding of Nicole Kidman to Keith Urban). Ashton Kutcher is on David Letterman right now; he is developing a new reality show based(?) on the movie Wedding Crashers; it sounds rather crass and either he is being disrespectful and those who secretly agreed to have this happen (and how could they not, since they could just call the police or sue?). Watching him talk and act, I have no idea what Demi Moore finds attractive about him. Bruce Willis may be a _________ guy, but at least he's a guy. Ashton Kutcher is still an adolescent.

CBS; E! Online

This needs to be deciphered

Source

A realistic outlook for subalternated science is applied to economics and finance by Dr. Kurt Richebächer. Here he corrects some misconceptions about how the US, in the early 20th century, became addicted to consumption and by the late 20th and early 21st century to a spiraling economic and financially-backed consumerism. By a posteriori studying the causes and effects of the always reoccuring business cycle, Richebächer is able to accurately diagnose the shortcomings and consequent debt explosion of our present economy.



THE U.S. CONSUMPTION BIAS
by Dr. Kurt Richebächer

In general, the high esteem of American policymakers and economists for consumer spending as the motor of economic growth is attributed to the influence of Keynes. In reality, it originates in the early 1920s, long before Keynes, in America itself. American Keynesians later ascribed it to Keynes.

This thinking originates in a bizarre episode involving leading American economists. In the early 1920s, two until then completely unknown persons began to write a whole series of books that all propagated the idea that the capitalistic economy was chronically threatened by a lack of consumer income and demand. Their names were William Trufant Foster and Waddill Catchings.

Their writing attained the widest circulation in the United States and was accepted in universities. Among the books they published between 1923-28 were titles such as Profits; The Dilemma of Thrift; Money; and Business without a Buyer. In all these books, they warned of the danger of deflation and agitated for monetary inflation and public works.

To quote two typical remarks: "Money spent in the consumption of commodities is the force that moves all the wheels of industry" and "The one thing that is needed above all others to sustain a forward movement of business is enough money in the hand of consumers."

The pair gained particular fame through a campaign that they launched with the explicit intent to "convert economists" by offering a prize for the best adverse criticism of their book Profits. An illustrious jury - among them America's top economist professor, Wesley C. Mitchell, and Owen D. Young of "Young Plan" fame and chairman of General Electric - was to choose the best essay.

Among the authors of the essays were 50 professors of economics, 40 authors of books on economics, 60 accounting experts, bankers, editors and some of the "ablest men in the Federal Reserve," etc. A later published collection of the essays revealed that all authors, except two, had unreservedly accepted the main thesis of Foster and Catchings that there exists a chronic bias in the economy toward a chronic deficiency of consumer purchasing power. Any objections were directed against minor details. (This episode is described in great detail by Friedrich Hayek in Profits, Interest and Investment, London, 1939.)

They proposed for every crisis a (for the time) revolutionary solution: "It would be easy to arrange an increase in consumers' credits; it is only in this way that the deficiency in purchasing power of the consumer, and thus the cause of the Depression, can be removed."

We have recalled this episode because it is widely unknown. On the other hand, it strikingly reveals that the American high esteem of consumption as the motor of economic growth has a long tradition. But in particular, it attracted our interest in view of the fact that the U.S. economy in the late 1920s went with an orgy of wealth-driven - the bull market in stocks - consumer credit into the Depression.

Thinking about the business cycle and the possible regular causes really started only at the end of the 20th century. As industrialization progressed, investment spending and employment in the capital goods industries also played a rapidly growing role. A few economists, at first, identified and pointed out the importance of variations in business investment in determining economic activity.

What finally revolutionized thinking about the business cycle and economic growth in Europe was a book from a Russian professor, Dr. Michael Tugan-Baranowski, titled Theory and History of Trade Cycles in England, published only in German in 1901. Based on a detailed study of British cycles and crises, he made several revolutionary statements, such as that the ultimate aim of production is not to improve living standards, but the creation of productive capital stock and the pursuit of profits by entrepreneurs.

As to the business cycle, he emphasized the overriding role of variations in the production of capital goods as compared with the even advance of the production of consumption goods. He also, for example, stressed that capital formation and production have their true limit in available saving, not in consumer spending.

Being written in Germany, the new business cycle theory virtually bypassed the English-speaking economists. Yet one admitted a strong influence. In his A Treatise on Money, published in 1930, J.M. Keynes explicitly stated: "I feel myself in sympathy with the school of writers - Tugan-Baranowski, Spiethoff and Schumpeter - of which Tugan-Baranowski was the first and the most original."

In his book of more than 400 pages, Tugan-Baranowski analyzed in astonishing detail the various crises that the British economy and its banking system experienced during the 19th century. His conclusion was that every crisis arises from the fact during the boom and the following downturn the "proportional distribution of the productive forces is deranged." Equilibrium of demand and supply is shattered. In the prosperity phase, some branches expand faster than others.

With Tugan-Baranowski, a new way of thinking about the business cycle began in Europe. It became the accepted central idea that economic growth and prosperity depend on autonomous capital investment guided by relative prices and profit expectations.

We have recalled these two episodes in the history of economic thought because they give food for thought about the present situation in the United States. Over the past few years, U.S. policies have boosted private consumption as never before in conformity with the conventional thinking that this must stimulate investment. Its true counterpart is the lowest level of business fixed investment.

It is a common refrain in the reports of American economists that government borrowing tends to crowd out business investment. But its logical correlative that consumer borrowing must essentially have exactly the same negative effect on business investment is never mentioned.

The policy dilemma currently facing the United States can be simply stated. Economic growth has become completely dependent on consumer spending, and this, in turn, has become completely dependent on rising house prices providing the collateral for the most profligate consumer borrowing. This borrowing has become a necessity because income growth has abruptly caved in. Rock-bottom short-term interest rates and utter monetary looseness were the key conditions fostering altogether four bubbles: bonds, house prices, residential building and mortgage refinancing.

What developed is an economic recovery with an unprecedented array of escalating imbalances: ever-declining personal savings; an ever-widening current deficit; exploding government and consumer debts; and, on the other hand, a protracted shortfall in business fixed investment, employment and available incomes.

We must admit that the staying power of this extremely ill-structured and debt-laden recovery and the stubborn buoyancy of the financial markets have rather surprised us. Under the prevailing conditions of rampant global liquidity excess, there has apparently developed an unprecedented and virtually unlimited tolerance for economic and financial imbalances. Consider that Iceland has a trade deficit of 16% of GDP.

But this only lengthens the rope with which to hang oneself. What American policymakers and most economists studiously keep overlooking is that the credit bubbles are doing tremendous structural damage to their economy. The longer the bubbles last, the greater the damage.

This time, we want to focus on the dramatic shortfall of employment and income growth that radically distinguishes this recovery from all its precedents in the postwar period. It must have a particular cause, but where is it? In search of its causes, we contrast, first of all, credit and debt growth with income growth.

Over the five years from 2000-2005, total debt, nonfinancial and financial, has increased $12.7 trillion in the United States. This compares with a simultaneous rise in national income by $2.1 trillion. For each dollar added to income, there were $6 added to indebtedness. In real terms, national income increased little more than $1 trillion.

These figures raise two paramount questions: First, what explains this unusually rapid credit expansion? And second, what explains the unusually sluggish employment and income growth?

The first question is the easiest to answer, because the overwhelming use of the extended credit is well known. In times of yore, the financial system in any economy served mainly to transform available savings into investment and to allocate those funds among competing users.

Today's financial systems, and in particular that of the United States, have vastly outgrown this traditional role. Financial activity for purely financial purposes, outside the GDP, has gained overwhelming importance. Businesses are running a sizable surplus in their current transactions, yet they borrow heavily for asset purchases, buying growth through mergers and acquisitions. The single biggest item is certainly borrowing for leveraged asset purchases - carry trade.

Yet we see two further reasons for the continuous, extraordinary stampede into debt. One of rapidly growing importance is certainly Ponzi finance, meaning that interest rate charges are not paid but capitalized. We are sure that this is playing a huge and rapidly escalating role. To have some idea about its extent, we make a simple calculation.

Total domestic indebtedness in the United States now amounts to almost $40 trillion. An assumption of average interest rates of 5% is certainly very much on the low side. Still, it implies annual financing costs of around $2 trillion. Given last year an increase in national income by $628 billion, it should be clear that at present debt levels, current financing costs vastly exceed the increases in current income. To meet the difference, lenders capitalize interest rates, adding the sums to outstanding credits.

The explanation is self-evident. Borrowers and lenders don't care about cash flow and current income to meet debt service, because they count on the stability of the underlying asset values. Their stability has become the key question. Considering the vast difference between the growth of national income and the estimated annual financing costs of the debt mountain, we are sure that Ponzi finance is the single biggest item behind the credit expansion in the United States, and it is rising fast. Of course, this money is not for spending in the economy.

Looking for the causes of the current debt explosion in the United States, the monstrous trade deficit finally needs mentioning. There is much talk about its foreign financing. But it requires domestic financing in addition, because it diverts domestic spending to foreign producers, implying a corresponding loss to domestic producers. Essentially, credit creation has to offset this drag.

Far more difficult is the second question, concerning the unusual, drastic shortfall of employment and income growth in this recovery.

Essentially, this must have its main reason in the economy's most unusual growth pattern. Credit could not have been more abundant, but its effects may differ diametrically from credit expansions in the past. Use of credit for transactions outside the national product for the purchase of existing assets has vastly outpaced the use for spending on goods and services.

In the case of many financial transactions, among them mergers, acquisitions and all types of carry trade, the borrowing and spending evidently adds nothing to the economy's income stream. All this goes a long way to explaining the tremendous divergence between rampant debt growth and sluggish income growth. But it does not go all the way.

This is the obvious part. Few people seem to realize that there is also a diametric difference in economic effects between borrowing for capital investment and borrowing for consumption. After careful scrutiny, we have come to the following two conclusions:

First, credit for capital investment generates cumulative employment and income growth with minimal debt growth; second, credit for consumption generates compounding debt growth with minimal employment and income growth.

Consider what happens when businesses borrow for fixed investment. The first effect is that producing the buildings, the plant and the equipment creates corresponding employment, incomes and tangible wealth. Then, when these capital goods are installed, they create additional supply, employment, productivity and incomes.

Investment spending has distinguishing features that endow it with singular impetus for economic growth: One is that it impacts the economy successively from the demand and supply sides, and the other is that it implicitly creates current and future incomes.

And most importantly, investment spending is through depreciations self-financing and of recurrent nature in the long run. As a rule, depleted plant is rebuilt with new technologies. Capital spending is really the critical mass in the economic growth process, generating all the things that make for rising wealth and living standards.

Now compare this multitude of effects due to investment spending with the effects of consumer credit. Once spent, their economic effects quickly peter out. Any new increase in spending requires new credit. At the same time, running interest costs either rapidly compound in the balance sheet or reduce current income. Consumer borrowing principally makes economic sense only for people who can look forward to higher future income. But in the United States, it is used for the opposite purpose: to offset missing income growth.

Last year, U.S. private households added $374.4 billion to their disposable income and $1,204.7 billion to their outstanding debts. Inflation-adjusted disposable income grew $115.7 billion. It is a growth pattern with exploding debts and imploding income growth.

To make our point perfectly clear: The present U.S. economic recovery has never gained the traction that it needs for self-sustaining economic growth with commensurate employment and income growth. As to its main cause, all considerations lead to the conclusion that it must reside in the protracted, appalling shortfall in business fixed investment. Investment spending is, really, the essence of economic growth.

Regards,

Dr. Kurt Richebächer