The Assault on Marjah By PATRICK COCKBURN
They Can Clear, But Can They "Hold and Build?"
Monday, February 15, 2010
Rod Dreher, Pews vs. standing: an Orthodox controversy
I think standing should be restored to the Roman rite, and pews removed.
I think standing should be restored to the Roman rite, and pews removed.
Guy McPherson, Viral collapse
Viral collapse by Guy R. McPherson
According to economists, the beauty of globalization is worldwide access to materials and cheap (or free) labor to bring the materials to powerful countries. We provide garbage, pollution, and low wages -- or, in the “best” cases we enslave workers -- and we obtain materials and finished goods. This is the rising economic tide that floats all boats.
We are witnessing the economic down side of globalization. When the tide goes out on one part of the empire, it drags the rest of the empire down, too. In fact, when a lifeguard swims out to save a drowning man, the drowning man’s first reaction is to grab the lifeguard by the head and push down. This allows the drowning man to rise up and gobble a few breaths of water-free air, but it threatens to drown him and his savior.
(original)
Rod Dreher, Did Goldman Sachs help sink Greece?
According to economists, the beauty of globalization is worldwide access to materials and cheap (or free) labor to bring the materials to powerful countries. We provide garbage, pollution, and low wages -- or, in the “best” cases we enslave workers -- and we obtain materials and finished goods. This is the rising economic tide that floats all boats.
We are witnessing the economic down side of globalization. When the tide goes out on one part of the empire, it drags the rest of the empire down, too. In fact, when a lifeguard swims out to save a drowning man, the drowning man’s first reaction is to grab the lifeguard by the head and push down. This allows the drowning man to rise up and gobble a few breaths of water-free air, but it threatens to drown him and his savior.
(original)
Rod Dreher, Did Goldman Sachs help sink Greece?
Lee Ward's book on the Anglo-American political tradition, The Politics of Liberty, is due to be published in March.
This turned up during a search: Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, by Philip Pettit (GB)
Charles Larmore, A Critique of Philip Pettit's Republicanism (pdf)
SEP: Civic Humanism
Pettit, The Rawlsian Ideal
This turned up during a search: Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, by Philip Pettit (GB)
Charles Larmore, A Critique of Philip Pettit's Republicanism (pdf)
SEP: Civic Humanism
Pettit, The Rawlsian Ideal
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Too many procedural dramas on TV?
Fox is introducing a new procedural -- The Past Life, which deals with incarnated victims and their unsolved murders. There is also The Forgotten on ABC. Both are a bit like Cold Case, in so far as they deal with murders from the relatively distant past. Even with its new show Fox cannot compete with CBS, which has the most procedurals on its current primetime lineup, I believe. Why are procedurals so popular these days? Do they appeal to both men and women? (Of a certain age?) What do men think of the interpersonal drama element of procedurals?
Procedurals may seem straightforward -- the main characters are trying to find out who committed the crime, and the bring the viewers along with them on their hunt, but they are also a subtle means of preaching PC orthodoxy. (For example, Law and Order, even if the main characters sometimes disagree about abortion. I don't know which is worse in this regard, American procedurals or the ones produced by the BBC.) None of the procedurals are lacking in career women as characters. Casual sex is generally taken as a fact of life. Is there anything more to the appeal of a procedural than the mystery that needs to be solved? A strong ensemble cast, such as the one for NCIS, is also part of a show's attraction. Without other elements to please the viewer, the procedural would most likely have a limited replay value.
Procedurals may seem straightforward -- the main characters are trying to find out who committed the crime, and the bring the viewers along with them on their hunt, but they are also a subtle means of preaching PC orthodoxy. (For example, Law and Order, even if the main characters sometimes disagree about abortion. I don't know which is worse in this regard, American procedurals or the ones produced by the BBC.) None of the procedurals are lacking in career women as characters. Casual sex is generally taken as a fact of life. Is there anything more to the appeal of a procedural than the mystery that needs to be solved? A strong ensemble cast, such as the one for NCIS, is also part of a show's attraction. Without other elements to please the viewer, the procedural would most likely have a limited replay value.
Merrell
Merrell--they make shoes that PMCs and Army SF use.
Chameleon3 Ventilator
I saw this commercial last week--I think it was during the broadcast of 24.
The commercial looked better on TV. On youtube it looks very fake, and of course they have the video game imaginary optics and visual system. The Air Force should be reintegrated into the Army and downsized.
Chameleon3 Ventilator
I saw this commercial last week--I think it was during the broadcast of 24.
The commercial looked better on TV. On youtube it looks very fake, and of course they have the video game imaginary optics and visual system. The Air Force should be reintegrated into the Army and downsized.
Today we had an ex-Navy chaplain celebrating Mass at STA. For his homily he mentioned Valentine's Day and President's Day, telling us that Lincoln's prayer life is underappreciated. He then read something from Lincoln's letter to a Union general(?), written when the Battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg were being waged. In the letter he wrote how "our struggle" was God's struggle and so on, claiming God for the Union side. I have heard about how Lincoln had used this sort of rhetoric before, but each time I am reminded of it, I can't help but feel repulsed. Lincoln said that he had been praying for victory, and that he felt at peace, believing that God would deliver victory. Perhaps Lincoln was a true believer and a sincere Deist. But that doesn't make him any more palatable, nor does it excuse his actions. (Even if today he would claim that he had been vindicated by the National government prevailing over the South.) I don't think telling the priest about King Lincoln or his unjust war to prevent the secession of the South would have been received well.
The most recent issue of GamePro has an article on the new Medal of Honor game being developed and Tier One operators. It this legit?
Medal Of Honor: Who Are The Tier 1 Operators? - Voodoo Extreme
Rod Dreher recommends Sarah Ruden for understanding St. Paul: St. Paul, in Historical Context.
Is sodomy wrong and degrading because the act is intrinsically wrong? Or only because it isn't between consenting adults--someone is doing it against the will of the other person? I don't think St. Paul was a liberal in that respect.
Ten Questions for Sarah Ruden (on her translation of The Aeneid)
This is Ruden's method: to use classical texts to illuminate the moral contours and practices of the Greco-Roman world, and to explain why Paul's point of view was actually deeply humane and liberating to the vast numbers of the oppressed -- a fact that, in her view, explains why Christianity took off in the ancient world. Her second chapter takes on Paul's condemnation of homosexuality, which infuriates so many contemporaries today. She explains at great length, with frequent citations from the writings of pagan Romans, the social context of homosexuality in that world. The Greco-Roman world, she explains, was a violent place in which virility meant everything. Women were treated like receptacles for male lust -- as were slave boys, poor boys, and any man who was not strong enough to defend himself against anal rape. There was no shame in being the active partner in anal sex -- in fact, she writes, the hypermasculine culture of the era considered the active partner to have absorbed the masculinity of the passive partner by the act. The picture she paints is of an entire culture operating according to the brutal laws of contemporary American prisons. Ruden explains that pederasts were everywhere, and were open about their attempts to seduce boys; parents had to be constantly on guard against this.
Once a male had been penetrated by a predator, she writes, he was worthless trash in the eyes of the ruling male class. Ruden writes with heartbreaking empathy about the lives of slave boys and other poor boys who were used up by men, and discarded like human waste.This was normative for that time and place -- and this is what Paul condemns. She explains how the Greek word that Paul uses distinguishes his condemnation from those of the Greeks and the Romans, who frequently mocked passive partners (or victims) of male-on-male sex as weak and despicable. By contrast, Paul says the practice disgraces all who participate in it, because it degrades their human dignity. She goes on to show, in a close reading of Paul's Greek, to show that his condemnation of homosexuality was in fact a ringing protest against the injustice of male-on-male sexual exploitation that was common in his culture -- and permitted to those men who held power, and who could do whatever they wanted to the sons of slaves and the poor. As Ruden says, you can well imagine why to men and women who had to endure this abuse at the hands of privileged men, and who had to see their sons ruined for the pleasures of the rich, Paul's teaching sounded like liberation.
Ruden concludes:
All this leads to a feeling of mountainous irony. Paul takes a bold and effective swipe at the power structure He challenges centuries of execrable practice in seeking a more just, more loving society. And he gets called a bigot.
I've not read more than the first two chapters, but the book really is intellectually thrilling to me, not only as someone who knows far, far less about Paul and his letters than I should, but also as someone who has an abiding suspicion of the blinders I and so many other contemporaries have about judging other societies, present and past. (This is why I've been so interested in Wade Davis's cultural anthropology). I present this to you here for your own consideration as a matter of intellectual curiosity, but not as an attempt to start an argument over contemporary views of homosexuality (indeed, Ruden, at least insofar as I have read in the book, does not make her personal views known, but she gives a hint when she says that given the overwhelming brutality of male sexuality in the Greco-Roman world, Paul almost certainly would not have been able to conceive of homoerotic physical and emotional affection in a non-exploitative context). Anyway, whatever one's views on the moral licitness of homosexuality, I think it's helpful to all of us to know the cultural context in which Paul stated his views. One can disagree with him, and even loathe what he had to say, but one should at least consider that his views did not come from blind prejudice. What strikes many contemporary listeners as cruel condemnation of people with same-sex desires would have struck listeners in Paul's day as a defense of the defenseless against institutionalized sexual abuse of their male children. That's worth thinking about. To issue a blanket condemnation of Paul for anti-gay bigotry is not unlike condemning abolitionists for encroaching on private property rights.
Is sodomy wrong and degrading because the act is intrinsically wrong? Or only because it isn't between consenting adults--someone is doing it against the will of the other person? I don't think St. Paul was a liberal in that respect.
Ten Questions for Sarah Ruden (on her translation of The Aeneid)
Are cell phones dangerous?
I posted something last year about the possible danger of cell phones. Here's an article from GQ: Warning: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health, by Christopher Ketcham. (via Rod Dreher)
Ah, the dangers of reductionism... although Frey himself risks another error of reductionism. The human body does have electrical fields, but that is not all there is to the human body. He probably doesn't mean this, though.
Allan Frey, Human auditory system response to Modulated electromagnetic energy.
wiki
I drove down to Annapolis, Maryland, recently to visit with Allan Frey. He was preparing to set out on his forty-foot sailboat for a month at sea, so we talked at a restaurant near the marina. After retiring from full-time research in 1985, Frey, now 75, took up the philosophy of science as an avocation, looking at the question of how science progresses, how it fails to progress, how new ideas are birthed or aborted, how a shift in paradigm is a rare thing. The failure to look squarely at the dangers of microwave radiation is a case study in frozen paradigms, he said, a worldview that can't keep pace with reality.
To illustrate what he meant, Frey held up a glass of water. "We're all just big teacups, bags of water that you can heat up—that's the paradigm," he said. It's the engineer's paradigm, the mind-set of people who had no training in the complexity of living systems. The branches of the military, the major defense contractors, the manufacturers of microwave ovens, the telecom companies, were happy to embrace the engineer's paradigm. The thinking was simple and easy to understand, and most important, it indemnified their operations from liability.
"It's a very primitive mind-set," said Frey. "Plato said we don't see the reality; we see shadows on the cave walls. We've got a lot of people who are seeing shadows and saying this is the reality." He nodded at his water glass. "We now know a human being isn't a bag of water. A human being is a complex organization of electrical fields. Electroencephalograms and electrocardiograms, for example, measure these fields. Every cell has an electrical field across the cell membrane, which is a regulatory interface and controls what goes into and out of the cell. All nerve signals are electric. And between the nucleus and the membrane there is an electrical field, you can measure voltages of individual cells! Electricity drives biology. We evolved in a particular electromagnetic environment"—the magnetic fields from the earth's iron core, the terrestrial magnetism from lodestones, visible light, ultraviolet frequencies, lightning—"and if we change that environment as we have, we either adapt or we have trouble."
Ah, the dangers of reductionism... although Frey himself risks another error of reductionism. The human body does have electrical fields, but that is not all there is to the human body. He probably doesn't mean this, though.
Allan Frey, Human auditory system response to Modulated electromagnetic energy.
wiki
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File photo of a German Bundeswehr army soldier of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) instructing Afghan National police men during their drill in the German army camp in Feyzabad, north of Kabul, September 21, 2008. It would be a mistake to set a concrete date for the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan because it could encourage the Taliban, Chancellor Angela Merkel said January 27, 2010. Germany on Tuesday outlined a news strategy for its role in Afghanistan, saying it would send at least 500 extra soldiers there and nearly double its civilian aid to help create the conditions to start a withdrawal from next year. (Reuters/Daylife)
File photo of German Bundeswehr army soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) instructing Afghan National police men during their drill in the German army camp in Feyzabad, north of Kabul, September 21, 2008. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet approved the deployment of a maximum of 850 additional German troops to Afghanistan February 9, 2010.
Happy (Lunar) New Year
(L-R) Zero Yau, Rain Siu, Ken Cheng and Gigi Hui in traditional Chinese and Western-style wedding costume take part in a wedding on Valentine's Day in Hong Kong February 14, 2010, also the first day of the Lunar New Year. The Chinese New Year began on February 14th and according to the Lunar calendar is the Year of the Tiger. (Reuters, via Daylife)
Actors dressed in Chinese traditional costumes attend a wedding ceremony to celebrate Valentine's Day, during a performance at a temple fair celebrating Chinese New Year in Beijing February 14, 2010. The Chinese New Year began on Sunday and according to the Lunar calendar, it is the Year of the Tiger. (Reuters, via Daylife)
A security guard stands next to actors as they wait to take part in a performance, adapted from an ancient Qing Dynasty ceremony where emperors prayed for good harvest and fortune, at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on the first day of the Chinese New Year February 14, 2010. The Chinese New Year began on Sunday and according to the Lunar calendar, it is the Year of the Tiger. (Reuters, via Daylife)
Actors holding flags take part in a performance, adapted from an ancient Qing Dynasty ceremony where emperors prayed for good harvest and fortune, at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on the first day of the Chinese New Year February 14, 2010. The Chinese New Year began on Sunday and according to the Lunar calendar, it is the Year of the Tiger. (Reuters, via Daylife)
Actors take part in a performance, adapted from an ancient Qing Dynasty ceremony where emperors prayed for good harvest and fortune, at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on the first day of the Chinese New Year February 14, 2010. The Chinese New Year began on Sunday and according to the Lunar calendar, it is the Year of the Tiger. (Reuters, via Daylife)
Actors take part in a performance, adapted from an ancient Qing Dynasty ceremony where emperors prayed for good harvest and fortune, at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on the first day of the Chinese New Year February 14, 2010. The Chinese New Year began on Sunday and according to the Lunar calendar, it is the Year of the Tiger. (Reuters, via Daylife)
A Chinese girl wearing tiger headgear is seen during the Spring Festival Temple Fair at Ditan Park in Beijing on the first day of the Chinese New Year, China, Feb 14, 2010. Millions of Chinese celebrates the Lunar New Year of Tiger that began on Sunday. (AP, via Daylife)
Chinese people perform a lion dance for the first day of the Lunar New Year celebrations at the Qianmen in Beijing, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. Millions of Chinese celebrated the Lunar New Year of the Tiger which began on Sunday. (AP, via Daylife)
Chinese people perform a dragon dance on the first day of Lunar New Year celebrations at the Qianmen in Beijing, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. Millions of Chinese began celebrating the Lunar New Year of the Tiger on Sunday. (AP, via Daylife)
A man holds incense sticks as he prepares for prayers in a temple during Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations to mark the Year of the Tiger, in Jakarta's Chinatown February 14, 2010. (Reuters, via Daylife)
BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 14: Residents burn fireworks to celebrate the lunar New Year of the Tiger on February 14, 2010 in Beijing, China. (Getty, via Daylife)
Worshippers light incense near Dafo Temple in Chongqing Municipality on the first day of the Chinese New Year February 14, 2010. The Chinese New Year began on Sunday and according to the Lunar calendar, it is the Year of the Tiger. (Reuters, via Daylife)
Schoolchildren perform on the stage to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. (AP, via Daylife)
A man dressed as a Chinese God of Fortune walks inside the Resorts World Sentosa casino on Singapore's Sentosa Island February 14, 2010. Singapore's first casino, a key part of a drive to boost tourism revenue and please wealthy visitors, opened it doors on Sunday, Lunar New Year -- the most auspicious day of the Chinese calendar. (Reuters, via Daylife)
A man performs martial arts on the top of wooden totem poles during a show celebrating the Spring Festival at a park in Xiangfan, Hubei province, on the first day of the Chinese New Year February 14, 2010. The Chinese New Year began on Sunday and according to the Lunar calendar, it is the Year of the Tiger. (Reuters, via Daylife)
Worshippers hold joss sticks during Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations at the Lungshan temple in Taipei February 14, 2010. The Chinese New Year began on Sunday and according to the Lunar calendar, it is the Year of the Tiger. (Reuters, via Daylife)
An ethnic Chinese man offers a prayer under spiral joss sticks hanging at a temple on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. Malaysian ethnic Chinese swarmed the temple to pray for good fortune. (AP, via Daylife)
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Bradley C. S. Watson, Creed & Culture in the American Founding
An example of the liberal (and Straussian), as opposed to the republican, understanding of the American founding.
More about the author.
An example of the liberal (and Straussian), as opposed to the republican, understanding of the American founding.
More about the author.
Dmitry Orlov, Products and services for the permanently unemployed consumer
Products and services for the permanently unemployed consumer
Dmitry Orlov, ClubOrlov
As a matter of public policy, it would make perfect sense to provide seed money for what is bound to become a new high-growth industry segment: serving the needs of the permanently unemployed.
(original)
Dmitry Orlov, ClubOrlov
As a matter of public policy, it would make perfect sense to provide seed money for what is bound to become a new high-growth industry segment: serving the needs of the permanently unemployed.
(original)
Impossible Farming
Gene Logsdon, The Contrary Farmer
There is Successful Farming, Progressive Farming, Organic Farming, Natural Farming and an awful lot of Wishful Farming. I would like to add to the list one more kind: Impossible Farming.
(original)
Gene Logsdon, The Contrary Farmer
There is Successful Farming, Progressive Farming, Organic Farming, Natural Farming and an awful lot of Wishful Farming. I would like to add to the list one more kind: Impossible Farming.
(original)
Zenit: Chinese Religious Leaders Make New Year ResolutionPromise Cooperation for a Better World
Inculturation
The Lunar New Year is also bringing the local Church a lesson on inculturation.
Since Ash Wednesday this year falls on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year (Feb. 17), the Church of Hong Kong dispensed the faithful from fasting and abstinence that day. However, they are obliged to choose some other suitable forms of penance or perform some works of charity, in keeping with the penitential spirit of the season of Lent.
Taking into account the Lunar New Year festivities, the rite of the giving of ashes in Hong Kong may also be postponed to Feb. 24 (during Mass) or Feb. 26 (during Stations of the Cross).
Friday, February 12, 2010
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