Major Computer Problems!
I have been meaning to finish adding links to my "Top Ten" list but I've been busier than expected even though I'm off work this week. Now my life has been complicated ENORMOUSLY by a serious computer problem that I am not very confident will work out all that well. Yesterday, my son was given a video card by one of his friends that would be an upgrade from the one we have on my main PC. IF IT WORKED! Brandon installed it, found that it wouldn't put an image on the monitor, so he reinstalled our old one. Unfortunately, when he did that, things didn't go back to how they used to be. I will spare you the boring details but after working on it for a good portion of last night and this morning, no easy solution is available. It looks like my C drive may be lost, corrupted somehow by whatever happened in the shuffling of video cards yesterday.
Now I am on my daughter's eMac, editing my blog, but without the familiar interface that I have gotten used to. This one is much plainer than what I get through Internet Explorer (I'm using the "Safari" web browser at the moment.) So I'm not going to do much more blogging than this. I'm mainly here to give an explanation of what's going on for anyone who may be wondering why I haven't responded to emails or finished linking the Top Ten.
Maybe later I will be able to compose a few end o' the year thoughts... but for now, I'm out of things to say.
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Another "Top Ten 2003" List!
Here are my choices for the Top Ten PoMoXian stories of 2003. My criteria for choosing is that the story needs to encapsulate an issue that is somewhat contentious among Christians themselves and affects the way that Christianity is seen by the more general culture in America and it's primary sphere of influence (aka "the West.")
Each story poses a challenge to anyone who tries to briefly summarize it, but I'll sum up my reason for choosing the topic as best I can.
1. The War in Iraq
After a year and more of build-up, the USA proceeded to invade Iraq, in the face of worldwide popular opposition and a sizeable minority here at home. Christians were polarized by a desire to support our president and our troops in their battle with a despised tyrant on the one hand, and concerns about "preemptive war" and the use of violent "shock and awe" tactics that wreaked enormous destruction on the cities of Iraq. For some, the war was a justified, possibly even inspired campaign against evil, led by a godly, morally focused president, and for others, it was a cynical pursuit of power and wealth that misused or contradicted biblical teachings on the role that Christians should take in resisting evil.
2. It's a Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay World
Open expressions of homosexuality continued to become more commonplace and visible in the mainstream of American life, well beyond the entertainment industry, where depictions of gays have become routine. For those who find homosexual relationships offensive, this was a difficult year. From the trivial (Madonna kissing Britney and Christina), to more profound issues regarding same-sex marriage and the ordination of a gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, Christians faced the challenge of responding to the demands for acceptance from those who felt it was time to come out of the closet and claim their "place at the table" in society. While it appears that many in our society are comfortable with this emergence of gay attitudes and sensibilities, some observers see the potential for a significant backlash that could have legal and political implications for the year ahead.
3. Judeo-Christianity vs. Islam
The question of how Christians relate to followers of the other Abrahamic religions is certainly not new, but the war in Iraq and the USA's deeper-than-ever involvement in Islamic society raised the stakes considerably and brought Islam to a higher degree of awareness to many people who never seriously considered its claims. Some Christians view Islam as a thoroughly corrupt departure from the Judeo-Christian tradition, while others see it as an honorable way of faith that is currently dealing with an "extremist" problem not unlike what has occured over the course of Christian history (e.g. during the Crusades.) Similarly, Judaism has been strongly embraced by some Christians (most notably premillennialist evangelicals and fundamentalists), creating a surge of support for the nation of Israel in their struggle against hostile Palestinian forces. Questions of eschatology and the Jews status as the "chosen people" remain highly contentious and sometimes result in confusion from non-Christians who want to understand the stance that Christians take in regard to Middle East issues.
4. 10 Commandments Monument
This was probably the most visible demonstration of a fairly small group of activist conservative Christians who feel led to bolster the claim that the USA is a "Christian nation" by installing monuments, mandating the Pledge of Allegiance with emphasis on the "under God" phrase, leading prayers at public school events, etc. Judge Roy Moore invested the full power of his office as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and wound up losing his case, for the time being at least. His followers view him as a courageous, perhaps prophetic defender of righteousness, others see him as a rabble rouser or a shrewd politico. What isn't clear is just how much the general public is willing to accept or concede to those who want to pay homage to Christianity in the public square, since most of these matters are settled in courts, not at the ballot box or in legislative bodies.
5. Myths at the Megaplex
The movie industry brought closure to two major screen epics this year, as the Matrix and Lord of the Rings trilogies each saw their final installments released. Without going into reviews of either series, it's sufficient to say that they each were successful at stirring up conversations on theological and philosophical themes across a wide expanse of the public, getting people to talk openly and somewhat freely about "the meaning of life" in ways that organized religion seems to have lost the ability to do. Maybe the fact that the issues were brought up in the relatively safe arena of "entertainment" rather than "religion" has something to do with it.
6. Growth of the United Security States of America
Though most people in the country haven't been directly affected in ways that they perceive as negative, there's little doubt that many of us are wondering just how much everyday life will change as the new Department of Homeland Security and Patriot Act legislation fully establish themselves and settle in to ordinary routines. The color-coded terrorism alert system, rigorous checks at airports, increased use of surveillance and other government interventions are becoming familiar, and so far at least, public opposition or alarm has been muted. But religious groups are taking notice of these new allowances and some are beginning to question just how much they should accept or resist the government's ability to intrude, especially if there's no public accountability for "secret" operations.
7. The "Porn-ing" of Western Civilization
It's another one of those "old" issues that rose to a new level of prominence. This year, pornography seems to have entered the mainstream to the point where it could be said to be a "fixture" of our entertainment industry. Cable TV broadcasts of Howard Stern regularly feature interviews with porn stars, the E! network's "Hollywood True Story" series did an episode about Jenna Jameson, "Girls Gone Wild" ads barely conceal nudity and come close to revealing sex acts on the air, and of course the Internet, cable and satellite broadcasts supply all the porn, at an affordable price, that any consumer could ever want. Music performers and videos regularly incorporate porn style and sexually explicit themes in their content and a TV series ("Skin") attempted to build on this apparent acceptance of porn by featuring a pornographer as a lead character (but the show was quickly canceled, indicating that people still prefer their porn somewhat better concealed, and have little interest in the lives of those involved in producing it.) For the most part, Christians seem to be standing by helplessly against the onslaught, and probably a higher percentage of them than care to admit it are part of the consumer demographic.
8. Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal
The thought of priests taking advantage of vulnerable children entrusted to their care is bad enough, but when the institutional hierarchy was implicated in covering up the misconduct and knowingly placing unsuspecting others at risk by transferring pedophiles to new parishes, it got very hard to take. Even non-Catholic Christians were appalled that a denomination could get so enmeshed in trying to manage and conceal such depraved behavior from ordained leaders. The erosion of respect and credibility for many church leaders was significant and called into question their ability to speak effectively on a variety of other moral and ethical issues.
9. New Kinds of Christianity
From Elaine Pagel's "Beyond Belief," to authors like Marcus Borg and Brian McLaren, alternative versions of what it can or could mean to be a Christian in today's culture continued to find appreciative audiences. "Open Theism" stoked the fires of debate in evangelical circles, while the best-selling "DaVinci Code" wrapped up many thousands of readers with intriguing conspiracy theories implying that Christian theology and doctrine were based on false pretenses. Old fashioned, straight-ahead orthodoxy still has numerous adherents, but the cultural trends make it easier than ever to make a credible claim at being a Christian without necessarily have to sign on to a comprehensive systematic set of doctrines or a denominational identity.
10. Bio-ethical dilemmas
The Terri Schiavo case, the partial-birth abortion ban, the AIDS crisis in Africa and elsewhere, debates over human cloning and stem-cell research, the "morning after pill," and other similar controversies all pose difficulties for Christians who seek guidance and clarity on these fundamental issues of life and death. As medical and scientific knowledge develops, it seems to be increasingly difficult to find definitive insight or direction from ancient scriptures that were written in an era when humans had such little control over their health, reproduction and ability to regulate pain or the progress of disease. It's an area where it's easy to invoke platitudes and stick with rigid principles, until one is brought into a personal encounter with a comatose relative, an infertile couple, a debilitating illness or undesired pregnancy. Many Christians seek to provide leadership in addressing these concerns, but currently, the church speaks with multiple and conflicting voices, and it's hard to imagine a consensus developing in the foreseeable future.
So those are my Top Ten for 2003. Any of them are worthy of in-depth discussion. If there are issues that you'd like to comment on, or something that you think I left off the list, please send me an email! (One of these days, I will try to set up a "comment" section on this blog but at the moment I have no idea how to do that...
Here are my choices for the Top Ten PoMoXian stories of 2003. My criteria for choosing is that the story needs to encapsulate an issue that is somewhat contentious among Christians themselves and affects the way that Christianity is seen by the more general culture in America and it's primary sphere of influence (aka "the West.")
Each story poses a challenge to anyone who tries to briefly summarize it, but I'll sum up my reason for choosing the topic as best I can.
1. The War in Iraq
After a year and more of build-up, the USA proceeded to invade Iraq, in the face of worldwide popular opposition and a sizeable minority here at home. Christians were polarized by a desire to support our president and our troops in their battle with a despised tyrant on the one hand, and concerns about "preemptive war" and the use of violent "shock and awe" tactics that wreaked enormous destruction on the cities of Iraq. For some, the war was a justified, possibly even inspired campaign against evil, led by a godly, morally focused president, and for others, it was a cynical pursuit of power and wealth that misused or contradicted biblical teachings on the role that Christians should take in resisting evil.
2. It's a Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay World
Open expressions of homosexuality continued to become more commonplace and visible in the mainstream of American life, well beyond the entertainment industry, where depictions of gays have become routine. For those who find homosexual relationships offensive, this was a difficult year. From the trivial (Madonna kissing Britney and Christina), to more profound issues regarding same-sex marriage and the ordination of a gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, Christians faced the challenge of responding to the demands for acceptance from those who felt it was time to come out of the closet and claim their "place at the table" in society. While it appears that many in our society are comfortable with this emergence of gay attitudes and sensibilities, some observers see the potential for a significant backlash that could have legal and political implications for the year ahead.
3. Judeo-Christianity vs. Islam
The question of how Christians relate to followers of the other Abrahamic religions is certainly not new, but the war in Iraq and the USA's deeper-than-ever involvement in Islamic society raised the stakes considerably and brought Islam to a higher degree of awareness to many people who never seriously considered its claims. Some Christians view Islam as a thoroughly corrupt departure from the Judeo-Christian tradition, while others see it as an honorable way of faith that is currently dealing with an "extremist" problem not unlike what has occured over the course of Christian history (e.g. during the Crusades.) Similarly, Judaism has been strongly embraced by some Christians (most notably premillennialist evangelicals and fundamentalists), creating a surge of support for the nation of Israel in their struggle against hostile Palestinian forces. Questions of eschatology and the Jews status as the "chosen people" remain highly contentious and sometimes result in confusion from non-Christians who want to understand the stance that Christians take in regard to Middle East issues.
4. 10 Commandments Monument
This was probably the most visible demonstration of a fairly small group of activist conservative Christians who feel led to bolster the claim that the USA is a "Christian nation" by installing monuments, mandating the Pledge of Allegiance with emphasis on the "under God" phrase, leading prayers at public school events, etc. Judge Roy Moore invested the full power of his office as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and wound up losing his case, for the time being at least. His followers view him as a courageous, perhaps prophetic defender of righteousness, others see him as a rabble rouser or a shrewd politico. What isn't clear is just how much the general public is willing to accept or concede to those who want to pay homage to Christianity in the public square, since most of these matters are settled in courts, not at the ballot box or in legislative bodies.
5. Myths at the Megaplex
The movie industry brought closure to two major screen epics this year, as the Matrix and Lord of the Rings trilogies each saw their final installments released. Without going into reviews of either series, it's sufficient to say that they each were successful at stirring up conversations on theological and philosophical themes across a wide expanse of the public, getting people to talk openly and somewhat freely about "the meaning of life" in ways that organized religion seems to have lost the ability to do. Maybe the fact that the issues were brought up in the relatively safe arena of "entertainment" rather than "religion" has something to do with it.
6. Growth of the United Security States of America
Though most people in the country haven't been directly affected in ways that they perceive as negative, there's little doubt that many of us are wondering just how much everyday life will change as the new Department of Homeland Security and Patriot Act legislation fully establish themselves and settle in to ordinary routines. The color-coded terrorism alert system, rigorous checks at airports, increased use of surveillance and other government interventions are becoming familiar, and so far at least, public opposition or alarm has been muted. But religious groups are taking notice of these new allowances and some are beginning to question just how much they should accept or resist the government's ability to intrude, especially if there's no public accountability for "secret" operations.
7. The "Porn-ing" of Western Civilization
It's another one of those "old" issues that rose to a new level of prominence. This year, pornography seems to have entered the mainstream to the point where it could be said to be a "fixture" of our entertainment industry. Cable TV broadcasts of Howard Stern regularly feature interviews with porn stars, the E! network's "Hollywood True Story" series did an episode about Jenna Jameson, "Girls Gone Wild" ads barely conceal nudity and come close to revealing sex acts on the air, and of course the Internet, cable and satellite broadcasts supply all the porn, at an affordable price, that any consumer could ever want. Music performers and videos regularly incorporate porn style and sexually explicit themes in their content and a TV series ("Skin") attempted to build on this apparent acceptance of porn by featuring a pornographer as a lead character (but the show was quickly canceled, indicating that people still prefer their porn somewhat better concealed, and have little interest in the lives of those involved in producing it.) For the most part, Christians seem to be standing by helplessly against the onslaught, and probably a higher percentage of them than care to admit it are part of the consumer demographic.
8. Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal
The thought of priests taking advantage of vulnerable children entrusted to their care is bad enough, but when the institutional hierarchy was implicated in covering up the misconduct and knowingly placing unsuspecting others at risk by transferring pedophiles to new parishes, it got very hard to take. Even non-Catholic Christians were appalled that a denomination could get so enmeshed in trying to manage and conceal such depraved behavior from ordained leaders. The erosion of respect and credibility for many church leaders was significant and called into question their ability to speak effectively on a variety of other moral and ethical issues.
9. New Kinds of Christianity
From Elaine Pagel's "Beyond Belief," to authors like Marcus Borg and Brian McLaren, alternative versions of what it can or could mean to be a Christian in today's culture continued to find appreciative audiences. "Open Theism" stoked the fires of debate in evangelical circles, while the best-selling "DaVinci Code" wrapped up many thousands of readers with intriguing conspiracy theories implying that Christian theology and doctrine were based on false pretenses. Old fashioned, straight-ahead orthodoxy still has numerous adherents, but the cultural trends make it easier than ever to make a credible claim at being a Christian without necessarily have to sign on to a comprehensive systematic set of doctrines or a denominational identity.
10. Bio-ethical dilemmas
The Terri Schiavo case, the partial-birth abortion ban, the AIDS crisis in Africa and elsewhere, debates over human cloning and stem-cell research, the "morning after pill," and other similar controversies all pose difficulties for Christians who seek guidance and clarity on these fundamental issues of life and death. As medical and scientific knowledge develops, it seems to be increasingly difficult to find definitive insight or direction from ancient scriptures that were written in an era when humans had such little control over their health, reproduction and ability to regulate pain or the progress of disease. It's an area where it's easy to invoke platitudes and stick with rigid principles, until one is brought into a personal encounter with a comatose relative, an infertile couple, a debilitating illness or undesired pregnancy. Many Christians seek to provide leadership in addressing these concerns, but currently, the church speaks with multiple and conflicting voices, and it's hard to imagine a consensus developing in the foreseeable future.
So those are my Top Ten for 2003. Any of them are worthy of in-depth discussion. If there are issues that you'd like to comment on, or something that you think I left off the list, please send me an email! (One of these days, I will try to set up a "comment" section on this blog but at the moment I have no idea how to do that...
Saturday, December 27, 2003
Christmas Gifts!
Here's a summary of what I got for Christmas.
First, let me say that compared to a lot of people, our family didn't spend all that much money on gifts this year. Partly because of many other bills and expenses we're dealing with (college tuition, car repairs, home remodeling from earlier in the year, expanded insurance coverage now that the twins have their permits, etc.) And also because we just didn't see the need to be so materialistic and consumer-like in purchasing the big ticket items that so many advertisers try to portray as mandatory for this time of year.
So anyway...
I got the Boondocks collection, A Right to be Hostile. Aaron McGruder is the sharpest currently working comic strip artist that I know of, though I have to give props to Garry Trudeau for his wit and longevity.
The Essential Silver Surfer, Vol. 1. A recollection of my childhood past, even though the issues collected in this volume were all released before I discovered Marvel comics. The Surfer still ranks as the most cosmic hero of them all and I so enjoy reading Stan Lee's lofty pseudo-philosophical prose.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Expanded DVD set. Another incredible package of fascinating documentaries about the making of the film, as well as enriching additions and background to the main feature itself.
Treasure of the Sierra Madre DVD. A great Bogart performance and compelling story makes this classic one of my favorite old-time movies. I also have the special edition of Casablanca from the same series of Warner Brothers reissues - it's excellent and I would imagine that "Treasure" will be as well.
Metropolis DVD - This is the authorized restored version of the 1927 Fritz Lang silent film that stands as a milestone of the science fiction genre. Fabulous set designs drew my interest - I've seen some poor quality transfers on VHS but I'm looking forward to watching a crisp version of what is commonly regarded as a masterpiece of early cinema.
12 Monkeys DVD - Cool movie, great time-travel saga with a Terry Gilliam twist. I put these four titles on a list of 50 different DVDs that I would like to get for Christmas so they were all surprises, except for the Two Towers which I made clear was "needed" for me to fully enjoy Christmas. :o)
Bowling for Columbine DVD - I picked this one myself using a gift certificate that I got. Michael Moore is an excellent filmmaker and I am eager to see all the extra stuff that he added to this release.
Slippers
Hand Made Glass wind chimes
a Detroit Lions baseball cap (it's not exactly the same as the one depicted in the link, but it's the closest I could find.)
...and the funniest gift I got was a pair of VHS videos from the Pentecostal preacher Jesse DuPlantis. They were from my grandma, who thought Jesse was a comedian! One is titled "Running Toward Your Giant" and the other is "A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like a Medicine." The laughter in my mom's living room was uproarious, especially when I went into my revivalist's voice and read the blurbs off the back of the case: "It's amazing how many people will stand back and let a stinking devil from hell defy the promises of God. This video challenges you to stand in the strength of God, run toward that giant in your life and defeat it in the name of Jesus."
I hope that you all are as happy with the gifts you received as I am with mine!
Here's a summary of what I got for Christmas.
First, let me say that compared to a lot of people, our family didn't spend all that much money on gifts this year. Partly because of many other bills and expenses we're dealing with (college tuition, car repairs, home remodeling from earlier in the year, expanded insurance coverage now that the twins have their permits, etc.) And also because we just didn't see the need to be so materialistic and consumer-like in purchasing the big ticket items that so many advertisers try to portray as mandatory for this time of year.
So anyway...
I got the Boondocks collection, A Right to be Hostile. Aaron McGruder is the sharpest currently working comic strip artist that I know of, though I have to give props to Garry Trudeau for his wit and longevity.
The Essential Silver Surfer, Vol. 1. A recollection of my childhood past, even though the issues collected in this volume were all released before I discovered Marvel comics. The Surfer still ranks as the most cosmic hero of them all and I so enjoy reading Stan Lee's lofty pseudo-philosophical prose.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Expanded DVD set. Another incredible package of fascinating documentaries about the making of the film, as well as enriching additions and background to the main feature itself.
Treasure of the Sierra Madre DVD. A great Bogart performance and compelling story makes this classic one of my favorite old-time movies. I also have the special edition of Casablanca from the same series of Warner Brothers reissues - it's excellent and I would imagine that "Treasure" will be as well.
Metropolis DVD - This is the authorized restored version of the 1927 Fritz Lang silent film that stands as a milestone of the science fiction genre. Fabulous set designs drew my interest - I've seen some poor quality transfers on VHS but I'm looking forward to watching a crisp version of what is commonly regarded as a masterpiece of early cinema.
12 Monkeys DVD - Cool movie, great time-travel saga with a Terry Gilliam twist. I put these four titles on a list of 50 different DVDs that I would like to get for Christmas so they were all surprises, except for the Two Towers which I made clear was "needed" for me to fully enjoy Christmas. :o)
Bowling for Columbine DVD - I picked this one myself using a gift certificate that I got. Michael Moore is an excellent filmmaker and I am eager to see all the extra stuff that he added to this release.
Slippers
Hand Made Glass wind chimes
a Detroit Lions baseball cap (it's not exactly the same as the one depicted in the link, but it's the closest I could find.)
...and the funniest gift I got was a pair of VHS videos from the Pentecostal preacher Jesse DuPlantis. They were from my grandma, who thought Jesse was a comedian! One is titled "Running Toward Your Giant" and the other is "A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like a Medicine." The laughter in my mom's living room was uproarious, especially when I went into my revivalist's voice and read the blurbs off the back of the case: "It's amazing how many people will stand back and let a stinking devil from hell defy the promises of God. This video challenges you to stand in the strength of God, run toward that giant in your life and defeat it in the name of Jesus."
I hope that you all are as happy with the gifts you received as I am with mine!
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Ho-ho-hum
Here we are just a couple days away from Christmas and I really haven't had much to say about the holiday itself, other than mentioning a shopping trip or two. The truth is, I really don't feel all that Christmas-y, for various reasons. What's on my mind is mostly work stuff, and a list of tasks and obligations that require my attention. I've eaten a fair amount of Christmas food, chocolates, mixed nuts, goodies of all sorts, and we've been discussing the meaning of Advent in a class at church. But honestly, it just feels to me like a day that's going to come and go as quickly as any other, and I really don't feel all that sad or sorry about it. My kids are older, but not old enough to be very close to starting their own families, so the sentimental aspect of the season is not very strong. And in some ways, I think the "real meaning of Christmas" topic has been examined to the point of exhaustion. I find it hard to come across any aspect of the Christmas story that I haven't already encountered in years past, and I'm not such a traditionalist that I get all that much satisfaction from hearing the old story one more time. It's not like I'm beyond "awe and wonder" but it just seems like Christmas, from whatever angle one cares to consider it, is kind of played out and not much of a source of transcendent insight for me at this point in my life.
Am I sounding Scroogey or Grinchy? I hope not! I have nothing "against" Christmas at all, it's just not grabbing me this year, and that's just how it is with me, if you care to know. I will enjoy the family get-togethers and exchanging gifts, for all that. But I don't expect to be spiritually moved to any significant degree, no more than I might on any other occasion.
God bless us, everyone, anyway!
Here we are just a couple days away from Christmas and I really haven't had much to say about the holiday itself, other than mentioning a shopping trip or two. The truth is, I really don't feel all that Christmas-y, for various reasons. What's on my mind is mostly work stuff, and a list of tasks and obligations that require my attention. I've eaten a fair amount of Christmas food, chocolates, mixed nuts, goodies of all sorts, and we've been discussing the meaning of Advent in a class at church. But honestly, it just feels to me like a day that's going to come and go as quickly as any other, and I really don't feel all that sad or sorry about it. My kids are older, but not old enough to be very close to starting their own families, so the sentimental aspect of the season is not very strong. And in some ways, I think the "real meaning of Christmas" topic has been examined to the point of exhaustion. I find it hard to come across any aspect of the Christmas story that I haven't already encountered in years past, and I'm not such a traditionalist that I get all that much satisfaction from hearing the old story one more time. It's not like I'm beyond "awe and wonder" but it just seems like Christmas, from whatever angle one cares to consider it, is kind of played out and not much of a source of transcendent insight for me at this point in my life.
Am I sounding Scroogey or Grinchy? I hope not! I have nothing "against" Christmas at all, it's just not grabbing me this year, and that's just how it is with me, if you care to know. I will enjoy the family get-togethers and exchanging gifts, for all that. But I don't expect to be spiritually moved to any significant degree, no more than I might on any other occasion.
God bless us, everyone, anyway!
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Weekend Wrap Up
Yesterday I recapped the things I'd been doing earlier in the week, through Thursday. Friday was a Christmas shopping night, so not much to say about that except that I walked out of the line at Best Buy after getting stuck for over five minutes behind a "problem customer" but I had no choice to go to another register because they have an employee assigned to regulate who goes where. So after I asked to switch lanes and was told no, I set the merchandise down, left the store and went over to Circuit City to buy the same items. That showed them!
Saturday, I got on the computer and did some blogging, obviously, then I went out and did some more Christmas shopping, for Julie this time. Everyone else is done. Today I went to church, then over to my mother-in-laws for that side of the family's Christmas gathering. We got our usual jar of nuts from Koeze's and three sticks of almond bonket (however that's spelled.) It's a sweet Dutch pastry, if you need a clue.
Bush at War
I'm just about finished with the book "Bush at War" by Bob Woodward. It's interesting, kind of enlightening, also rather frustrating at times because it demonstrates just how hard-to-reach our governing rulers are when they get their minds made up about how to conduct foreign policy. I would say that Woodward played it pretty safe, didn't write anything that would cost him his high level of access to the major players of the Bush administration. While it's not necessarily written as an endorsement of Bush policies, and has some content that could be interpreted in unflattering ways, I think the overall impression that the book would make on the hypothetical "average reader" is favorable and somewhat apologetic. There are many occasions where Woodward could have challenged the assumptions or dug deeper into the subject matter, but the style is light, the book reads quickly and basically serves as a little peek behind the scenes, giving colorful anecdotes that reveal more about the temperament of the key figures in the war against the Taliban of 2001-2002 than in the complex reasons behind the various decisions that were made.
Overall, the book has me thinking about the nature of our government these days, what kind of an entity the United States of America actually is when it gets down to pragmatic realities and pursuing our national interests. My general conclusion is that Bush is doing what he believes is necessary to uphold his responsibilities to the nation, and my biggest disagreement with him may stem from a different view of what our national interests "ought" to be. In the realm that he, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc. inhabit, accumulating, holding and wielding power is the prime objective. Presumably, if power is conceded, then our freedom and liberty are at risk. I am just not confident that we define freedom and liberty in the same way. And I am concerned that too often, our policies abridge the human rights of people in other nations, when we support governments and economic arrangements that produce rather than alleviate poverty. Now anything that I could honestly say to defend my concern would be based on reading the research of others. In my own life, I'm just basically doing my thing, living off a social worker's salary and getting by the best I can. But I don't presently trust the basic orientation of the Republican Party at this time - to me, their platform seems more about division and exploitation than about national unity and promoting human progress. Woodward's book casts the war in Afghanistan as a simple exercise of going after the bad guys who were responsible for 9/11. Subsequent events and the long track record of the members of this administration indicate to me that, while settling the score with terrorists was a big part of the war's justification, a lot more was included when setting objectives for the final outcome. I feel like I have to do a lot more study to understand just what kind of an effect the push toward corporate globalization (which is what I consider to be the US government's "bottom line" agenda, both Democratic and Republican) has on the people in other lands.
Yesterday I recapped the things I'd been doing earlier in the week, through Thursday. Friday was a Christmas shopping night, so not much to say about that except that I walked out of the line at Best Buy after getting stuck for over five minutes behind a "problem customer" but I had no choice to go to another register because they have an employee assigned to regulate who goes where. So after I asked to switch lanes and was told no, I set the merchandise down, left the store and went over to Circuit City to buy the same items. That showed them!
Saturday, I got on the computer and did some blogging, obviously, then I went out and did some more Christmas shopping, for Julie this time. Everyone else is done. Today I went to church, then over to my mother-in-laws for that side of the family's Christmas gathering. We got our usual jar of nuts from Koeze's and three sticks of almond bonket (however that's spelled.) It's a sweet Dutch pastry, if you need a clue.
Bush at War
I'm just about finished with the book "Bush at War" by Bob Woodward. It's interesting, kind of enlightening, also rather frustrating at times because it demonstrates just how hard-to-reach our governing rulers are when they get their minds made up about how to conduct foreign policy. I would say that Woodward played it pretty safe, didn't write anything that would cost him his high level of access to the major players of the Bush administration. While it's not necessarily written as an endorsement of Bush policies, and has some content that could be interpreted in unflattering ways, I think the overall impression that the book would make on the hypothetical "average reader" is favorable and somewhat apologetic. There are many occasions where Woodward could have challenged the assumptions or dug deeper into the subject matter, but the style is light, the book reads quickly and basically serves as a little peek behind the scenes, giving colorful anecdotes that reveal more about the temperament of the key figures in the war against the Taliban of 2001-2002 than in the complex reasons behind the various decisions that were made.
Overall, the book has me thinking about the nature of our government these days, what kind of an entity the United States of America actually is when it gets down to pragmatic realities and pursuing our national interests. My general conclusion is that Bush is doing what he believes is necessary to uphold his responsibilities to the nation, and my biggest disagreement with him may stem from a different view of what our national interests "ought" to be. In the realm that he, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc. inhabit, accumulating, holding and wielding power is the prime objective. Presumably, if power is conceded, then our freedom and liberty are at risk. I am just not confident that we define freedom and liberty in the same way. And I am concerned that too often, our policies abridge the human rights of people in other nations, when we support governments and economic arrangements that produce rather than alleviate poverty. Now anything that I could honestly say to defend my concern would be based on reading the research of others. In my own life, I'm just basically doing my thing, living off a social worker's salary and getting by the best I can. But I don't presently trust the basic orientation of the Republican Party at this time - to me, their platform seems more about division and exploitation than about national unity and promoting human progress. Woodward's book casts the war in Afghanistan as a simple exercise of going after the bad guys who were responsible for 9/11. Subsequent events and the long track record of the members of this administration indicate to me that, while settling the score with terrorists was a big part of the war's justification, a lot more was included when setting objectives for the final outcome. I feel like I have to do a lot more study to understand just what kind of an effect the push toward corporate globalization (which is what I consider to be the US government's "bottom line" agenda, both Democratic and Republican) has on the people in other lands.
Return of the King
Here are a few more thoughts about the ROTK film that I mentioned so briefly in yesterday's blog (originally posted last night on my PoMoXian email list.)
I saw the movie this past Thursday night, with my family, and a good portion of my enjoyment was stealing brief glances down the row of seats to see my children's cheezy grins at the coolness of what they saw on the screen. Not that every moment of the film was "smile-inducing" on the level of the emotions that the story triggered - but the whole thing was delightful as far as the craftsmanship and power of the story was concerned. It is indeed a rare privilege to be in on the ground floor, so to speak, of what will undoubtedly come to be regarded as a sheer masterpiece of cinematic art.
Honestly, though, I have had a hard time writing down anything resembling a review. I won't try my hand at that until after a second viewing. I'm mostly feeling like there's not much I could add to what's already been written by others. Plus, there is a lot to digest when I think of the magnitude of the whole story/film/phenomenon and the cultural impact it's made on so many different people. With the trilogy being "complete" (mostly - there's still the expanded DVD to be released next year...) there's also a kind of finality to deal with. We can't really speculate on "what's gonna happen next," not that there's anything lacking at this point.
I think what we are feeling is somewhat similar to what the audience who first heard Beethoven's Ninth Symphony experienced after its debut and early performances. Like we've been in the presence of genius, an expression of the creative spirit that will outlive all of us and remain strong into succeeding generations.
A lot of people are falling all over themselves trying to convey just how impressed they are. It's worth the try, just so that we can each bear witness as we're capable to what a splendid job the entire LOTR production company did in this "labor of love."
I'll wrap up all this gushing to ask about other films that Peter Jackson has made. I will hit the IMDB after I post this, but at the moment, I can't name any of his other films. Of course, I am now officially committed to seeing the rest of his work and will be there in the audience for anything that bears his name in the future until something happens to persuade me otherwise. I think Jackson has already out-performed George Lucas by any yardstick and the only real advantage I see that Steven Spielberg has is longevity and a broader range of work in different genres over the course of time. But neither of them have taken on such "perilous" material, by that I mean a project that had such lofty expectations going in and could have been a monumental disaster if not well-executed.
Here are a few more thoughts about the ROTK film that I mentioned so briefly in yesterday's blog (originally posted last night on my PoMoXian email list.)
I saw the movie this past Thursday night, with my family, and a good portion of my enjoyment was stealing brief glances down the row of seats to see my children's cheezy grins at the coolness of what they saw on the screen. Not that every moment of the film was "smile-inducing" on the level of the emotions that the story triggered - but the whole thing was delightful as far as the craftsmanship and power of the story was concerned. It is indeed a rare privilege to be in on the ground floor, so to speak, of what will undoubtedly come to be regarded as a sheer masterpiece of cinematic art.
Honestly, though, I have had a hard time writing down anything resembling a review. I won't try my hand at that until after a second viewing. I'm mostly feeling like there's not much I could add to what's already been written by others. Plus, there is a lot to digest when I think of the magnitude of the whole story/film/phenomenon and the cultural impact it's made on so many different people. With the trilogy being "complete" (mostly - there's still the expanded DVD to be released next year...) there's also a kind of finality to deal with. We can't really speculate on "what's gonna happen next," not that there's anything lacking at this point.
I think what we are feeling is somewhat similar to what the audience who first heard Beethoven's Ninth Symphony experienced after its debut and early performances. Like we've been in the presence of genius, an expression of the creative spirit that will outlive all of us and remain strong into succeeding generations.
A lot of people are falling all over themselves trying to convey just how impressed they are. It's worth the try, just so that we can each bear witness as we're capable to what a splendid job the entire LOTR production company did in this "labor of love."
I'll wrap up all this gushing to ask about other films that Peter Jackson has made. I will hit the IMDB after I post this, but at the moment, I can't name any of his other films. Of course, I am now officially committed to seeing the rest of his work and will be there in the audience for anything that bears his name in the future until something happens to persuade me otherwise. I think Jackson has already out-performed George Lucas by any yardstick and the only real advantage I see that Steven Spielberg has is longevity and a broader range of work in different genres over the course of time. But neither of them have taken on such "perilous" material, by that I mean a project that had such lofty expectations going in and could have been a monumental disaster if not well-executed.
Saturday, December 20, 2003
Thursday 12/18/03: Worth the Wait
We went to see Return of the King on Thursday night. Good flick. Lives up to all the hype. So when does the DVD come out?
We went to see Return of the King on Thursday night. Good flick. Lives up to all the hype. So when does the DVD come out?
Wednesday 12/17/03: MUCH TOO MUCH
One thing that I didn't mention that happened on Tuesday is that Julie and I discovered that our furnace was having a problem. Namely, it wasn't keeping the house warm, because it wasn't igniting any flame to generate the heat that would raise the overall temperature in our home. Big problem, seeing how we live in Michigan and it's December and all...
I found the number of Advanced Heating & Cooling. Their service guy, T.J., had replaced the ignitor last year so I figured it may still be waranty-covered or replaceable at some kind of discount. I later discover that he's pretty much an independent repairman guy who just uses an answering service number to contact him when a customer calls.
So I call Advanced, his answering service pages him and he gets back to me, we set up an appointment for him to come check it out after noon on Wednesday. I have to work, but my daughter will be home so I say, sure come over, we need it fixed ASAP. The interior temperature was around 63 when I spoke with him and probably got lower as we slept that night. It was bitter cold outside and we have a few drafty windows that let the chill in.
However, these plans were complicated when I heard that Alyssa wasn't going to be home after all. She'd been called in to work at Flowerland because of a sick call. She's back from college for the next few weeks, just FYI. So I figured I'd have to take off early from work to meet him and approve whatever repair he felt was needed.
I also had previously scheduled our '93 Intrepid for some front end work. One of the ball joints was going bad, and the car made this disturbing crunching/clunking sound most of the time when I made any kind of a sharp turn. I was genuinely concerned about the wheel falling off if I didn't get it taken care of very soon. The job had actually been set up for the previous week but they had to cancel because the technician who would do the repair was off that day. So I didn't want to push this repair back any further.
So now we had to get the Intrepid to the garage at 7:45 am, when Zink's opens, and from there, I'd whip Julie and Alyssa to work by 8:00 am. Thankfully, everything is close enough together that this timetable was realistic, though still very tight. After I dropped off those two, I went straight in to work, where I had a 9:00 am appointment to deal with a fairly sensitive matter involving some questionable conduct by a staff from one of our neighboring programs that affected the home I supervise.
Complicating my workday even further was our plan to have our annual Family Christmas Party that same evening. This involves preparing the unit for a few dozen visitors, including friends and relatives of our clients, and staff and their families. There are just a lot of details to be managed and as Home Supervisor, I have a lot of that responsibility fall on me. But now I would have to leave early to meet the furnace repair guy, as well as pick up Julie when she got off at 3pm, Alyssa when she got off at 5pm, and somewhere in all that find time to go pick up the Intrepid which was due to be fixed the same afternoon.
I got out of my 9:00 am meeting a little after 10:00 and went back up to my office. I chatted with staff, got some more fill-in on how the girls were doing, the usual stuff. Then around 10:30, T.J. called and said he was ready to head over to my house and fix the furnace. So I had to leave on very short notice, without really doing much if any of the party set-up that I had planned to do. Fortunately, I had already done nearly all of the necessary shopping the day before.
So up the freeway I dashed, and T.J. got to my house not too much after I did. I expected that he'd find the malfunctioning part, replace it, charge me a hundred bucks or so for the 15 minutes it took him to resolve the problem, and we'd at least have some heat again.
Didn't work out quite so easy. It seems that the part T.J. wanted to replace isn't manufactured anymore, and he wasn't able to find any warehouses in the area that still had any in stock. He also went on to tell me that Luxaire, the brand of furnace that came with our house, is one of his least favorites to work on because "they have their own peculiar way of doing things." I don't follow all the details, but for example, the broken piece we need to replace uses four wires to do what two wires normally does on most furnaces. There are other complications and "temperamental" issues pertaining to the Luxaire brand as well, apparently. So T.J. resorted to improvising, coming up with a part that was adapted to over-ride the broken piece. He said it was kind of like putting a Chevy axle into a Ford, but it was probably the best he could do until a proper replacement could be found. If that quest failed, we'd be looking at buying a new furnace...
T.J.'s struggles to fix the furnace went on and off throughout the day. As of today (early Saturday afternoon) we still don't know if the needed part is going to be found - he's got a nationwide search of his distribution network going but hasn't heard any conclusive results yet and probably won't until Monday now. A few more tidbits about the furnace: it's 14 years old and this particular model was only manufactured for eight months before it was phased out or replaced for who knows what reason. GGgggghhhhh.... how tedious. So now, if we want heat, we have to manually light it up, which is kind of fun, but for some reason, the thing keeps shutting down due to lack of gas moving through the pipeline even though I've got the thermostat set up to 80 degrees. The gas is shutting off for some other reason that we haven't been able to determine yet. The automatic ignitor switch is overridden, so maybe that has something to do with it. So we have to re-light the furnace every 15 - 30 minutes if we want to pump more heat into our dwelling place. Brrrrrrrrrrrr...
So I'm looking at a potential $1500 bill or maybe more!
Then there's the Intrepid. It's a '93 model, with approx. 145,000 miles on it. I was told the ball joint repair would run around $200 and could be finished around 3:00 pm.
Wrong.
There were also two tie-rods going bad that the guy at Zink's recommended I replace. That added another $300 to the bill. They also hadn't been able to start the repair until 2:00 or so, which meant that they would have to "two-man" it if they had any chance to get it done before they closed at 7:00 pm. That wasn't really very good as far as my needs were concerned, I politely let him know. I explained to him the busy-ness of my afternoon and evening. Oh, did I happen to mention that my youngest son also had a dentist appointment at 6:00 pm? Just to add a little to the dramatic tension...
So I approved the repair, the whole thing, just do it, gotta have reliable transportation even though I'm not sure the Intrepid is worth investing $500 into but whatya gonna do?
Went to pick up Julie, explain the whole business to her, got her home and we talked out our various options. Throughout all this time, I was also calling work explaining to them that my intentions to return and help with the party preparation were sincere but not easily fulfilled because of all the problems I was running into, so they'd have to carry on without me but I'll be there as soon as I possibly could!
So after dropping off Julie at home, I went out to buy a few small gifts for my "Secret Santa" person at work, since we were due to reveal who had whom and give our final gifts at our team meeting the next day, Thursday morning. Also, I had to pick up plastic cups and candy canes to bring to the party. And from that errand, I went to pick up Alyssa from work at 5 pm.
Then we got home and we coordinated what had yet to be done. T.J. showed us how to re-light the furnace. I called Zink's to tell them that I'd pay for the repair sometime after 6:00 pm even if it wasn't done, since I'd probably have to pick up the Intrepid after they closed at 7:00. They assured me that they'd be finished by closing time. So the plan was for me to drop off Julie and Derek at the dentist, go from there to Zink's to pay up, go back home for a little bit, then back to the dentist around 7:00 pm to pick them up again, then we'd go to Zink's, I'd get the Intrepid and head from there to the Christmas party. Which is pretty much what happened.
So I wound up being late to the party, and wasn't able to do all of the traditional welcoming and hosting things that I do, but I was able to do some of them, in different order than what we've estabished the past several years. We had a big turnout, around 60 people, the most that we could ever recall coming over to one of these events. Quite fun, and I give our staff my utmost respect and gratitude for getting it all together without me. I was still more than a little disoriented coming from all the domestic problem-solving that I'd been dealing with all day, all the running around and tight scheduling, to an atmosphere at work that was quite different than what we all normally deal with - even though there was a positive mood overall in the house, there were a lot of emotionally sensitive kids to deal with and a lot of eyes on me for various reasons.
What a wierd and expensive day.
One thing that I didn't mention that happened on Tuesday is that Julie and I discovered that our furnace was having a problem. Namely, it wasn't keeping the house warm, because it wasn't igniting any flame to generate the heat that would raise the overall temperature in our home. Big problem, seeing how we live in Michigan and it's December and all...
I found the number of Advanced Heating & Cooling. Their service guy, T.J., had replaced the ignitor last year so I figured it may still be waranty-covered or replaceable at some kind of discount. I later discover that he's pretty much an independent repairman guy who just uses an answering service number to contact him when a customer calls.
So I call Advanced, his answering service pages him and he gets back to me, we set up an appointment for him to come check it out after noon on Wednesday. I have to work, but my daughter will be home so I say, sure come over, we need it fixed ASAP. The interior temperature was around 63 when I spoke with him and probably got lower as we slept that night. It was bitter cold outside and we have a few drafty windows that let the chill in.
However, these plans were complicated when I heard that Alyssa wasn't going to be home after all. She'd been called in to work at Flowerland because of a sick call. She's back from college for the next few weeks, just FYI. So I figured I'd have to take off early from work to meet him and approve whatever repair he felt was needed.
I also had previously scheduled our '93 Intrepid for some front end work. One of the ball joints was going bad, and the car made this disturbing crunching/clunking sound most of the time when I made any kind of a sharp turn. I was genuinely concerned about the wheel falling off if I didn't get it taken care of very soon. The job had actually been set up for the previous week but they had to cancel because the technician who would do the repair was off that day. So I didn't want to push this repair back any further.
So now we had to get the Intrepid to the garage at 7:45 am, when Zink's opens, and from there, I'd whip Julie and Alyssa to work by 8:00 am. Thankfully, everything is close enough together that this timetable was realistic, though still very tight. After I dropped off those two, I went straight in to work, where I had a 9:00 am appointment to deal with a fairly sensitive matter involving some questionable conduct by a staff from one of our neighboring programs that affected the home I supervise.
Complicating my workday even further was our plan to have our annual Family Christmas Party that same evening. This involves preparing the unit for a few dozen visitors, including friends and relatives of our clients, and staff and their families. There are just a lot of details to be managed and as Home Supervisor, I have a lot of that responsibility fall on me. But now I would have to leave early to meet the furnace repair guy, as well as pick up Julie when she got off at 3pm, Alyssa when she got off at 5pm, and somewhere in all that find time to go pick up the Intrepid which was due to be fixed the same afternoon.
I got out of my 9:00 am meeting a little after 10:00 and went back up to my office. I chatted with staff, got some more fill-in on how the girls were doing, the usual stuff. Then around 10:30, T.J. called and said he was ready to head over to my house and fix the furnace. So I had to leave on very short notice, without really doing much if any of the party set-up that I had planned to do. Fortunately, I had already done nearly all of the necessary shopping the day before.
So up the freeway I dashed, and T.J. got to my house not too much after I did. I expected that he'd find the malfunctioning part, replace it, charge me a hundred bucks or so for the 15 minutes it took him to resolve the problem, and we'd at least have some heat again.
Didn't work out quite so easy. It seems that the part T.J. wanted to replace isn't manufactured anymore, and he wasn't able to find any warehouses in the area that still had any in stock. He also went on to tell me that Luxaire, the brand of furnace that came with our house, is one of his least favorites to work on because "they have their own peculiar way of doing things." I don't follow all the details, but for example, the broken piece we need to replace uses four wires to do what two wires normally does on most furnaces. There are other complications and "temperamental" issues pertaining to the Luxaire brand as well, apparently. So T.J. resorted to improvising, coming up with a part that was adapted to over-ride the broken piece. He said it was kind of like putting a Chevy axle into a Ford, but it was probably the best he could do until a proper replacement could be found. If that quest failed, we'd be looking at buying a new furnace...
T.J.'s struggles to fix the furnace went on and off throughout the day. As of today (early Saturday afternoon) we still don't know if the needed part is going to be found - he's got a nationwide search of his distribution network going but hasn't heard any conclusive results yet and probably won't until Monday now. A few more tidbits about the furnace: it's 14 years old and this particular model was only manufactured for eight months before it was phased out or replaced for who knows what reason. GGgggghhhhh.... how tedious. So now, if we want heat, we have to manually light it up, which is kind of fun, but for some reason, the thing keeps shutting down due to lack of gas moving through the pipeline even though I've got the thermostat set up to 80 degrees. The gas is shutting off for some other reason that we haven't been able to determine yet. The automatic ignitor switch is overridden, so maybe that has something to do with it. So we have to re-light the furnace every 15 - 30 minutes if we want to pump more heat into our dwelling place. Brrrrrrrrrrrr...
So I'm looking at a potential $1500 bill or maybe more!
Then there's the Intrepid. It's a '93 model, with approx. 145,000 miles on it. I was told the ball joint repair would run around $200 and could be finished around 3:00 pm.
Wrong.
There were also two tie-rods going bad that the guy at Zink's recommended I replace. That added another $300 to the bill. They also hadn't been able to start the repair until 2:00 or so, which meant that they would have to "two-man" it if they had any chance to get it done before they closed at 7:00 pm. That wasn't really very good as far as my needs were concerned, I politely let him know. I explained to him the busy-ness of my afternoon and evening. Oh, did I happen to mention that my youngest son also had a dentist appointment at 6:00 pm? Just to add a little to the dramatic tension...
So I approved the repair, the whole thing, just do it, gotta have reliable transportation even though I'm not sure the Intrepid is worth investing $500 into but whatya gonna do?
Went to pick up Julie, explain the whole business to her, got her home and we talked out our various options. Throughout all this time, I was also calling work explaining to them that my intentions to return and help with the party preparation were sincere but not easily fulfilled because of all the problems I was running into, so they'd have to carry on without me but I'll be there as soon as I possibly could!
So after dropping off Julie at home, I went out to buy a few small gifts for my "Secret Santa" person at work, since we were due to reveal who had whom and give our final gifts at our team meeting the next day, Thursday morning. Also, I had to pick up plastic cups and candy canes to bring to the party. And from that errand, I went to pick up Alyssa from work at 5 pm.
Then we got home and we coordinated what had yet to be done. T.J. showed us how to re-light the furnace. I called Zink's to tell them that I'd pay for the repair sometime after 6:00 pm even if it wasn't done, since I'd probably have to pick up the Intrepid after they closed at 7:00. They assured me that they'd be finished by closing time. So the plan was for me to drop off Julie and Derek at the dentist, go from there to Zink's to pay up, go back home for a little bit, then back to the dentist around 7:00 pm to pick them up again, then we'd go to Zink's, I'd get the Intrepid and head from there to the Christmas party. Which is pretty much what happened.
So I wound up being late to the party, and wasn't able to do all of the traditional welcoming and hosting things that I do, but I was able to do some of them, in different order than what we've estabished the past several years. We had a big turnout, around 60 people, the most that we could ever recall coming over to one of these events. Quite fun, and I give our staff my utmost respect and gratitude for getting it all together without me. I was still more than a little disoriented coming from all the domestic problem-solving that I'd been dealing with all day, all the running around and tight scheduling, to an atmosphere at work that was quite different than what we all normally deal with - even though there was a positive mood overall in the house, there were a lot of emotionally sensitive kids to deal with and a lot of eyes on me for various reasons.
What a wierd and expensive day.
Tuesday 12/16/03: WMJPC Meeting
Continuing with my recap of this past week...
Tuesday night I went to the West Michigan Justice and Peace Coalition meeting. My personal task was to present a set of guidelines for our email discussion list, so I did that and they were well received. Otherwise, I generally participated in the discussion of numerous items on the agenda. You can read for yourself the minutes of what we talked about and since I have plenty more to say on other subjects, I'll let these notes speak for themselves.
Continuing with my recap of this past week...
Tuesday night I went to the West Michigan Justice and Peace Coalition meeting. My personal task was to present a set of guidelines for our email discussion list, so I did that and they were well received. Otherwise, I generally participated in the discussion of numerous items on the agenda. You can read for yourself the minutes of what we talked about and since I have plenty more to say on other subjects, I'll let these notes speak for themselves.
Monday 12/15/03 The Weather Underground
Finally! It's Saturday morning and at last I have some time to sit down and blog for awhile without having to wait to use the computer (or kick one of my kids off, which is usually what I have to resort to in order to have evening access to the PC.) As I said yesterday, it's been a jam-packed week.
Let me finish up my comments on the Weathermen. Though I remember hearing about them as a kid when they were active and fairly notorious, it didn't register on me just how far they had gone in conducting terrorist activities. They actually planted a bomb in the US Capitol building! As well as another dozen or two incidents in all different regions of the USA. Though they made a decision to try and avoid inflicting human casualties (with their bombs exploding late at night in empty rooms), it still seems remarkable to me that things went as far as they did. And since this was the case, why did we not have the kind of Patriot Act/Homeland Security national clampdown consolidation of power that we've seen since 9/11? My thought is that our political leaders were, as a whole, more conscientiously concerned with protecting constitutional liberties than they are now. Even though we still have some outspoken champions of free speech and the Bill of Rights in general, that consensus has eroded on both the left and the right, and we have a significant number of politicians who would curtail those freedoms for the sake of an expedient solution to some problem or another.
I don't have hard data to back me up on this, but it's my sense of how things are. It seems like our anxieties are still the object of manipulation by various powerful forces in this country - I'd like to encourage people to not get so hung up on worrying about "the bad guys." Obessing over their potential for doing evil may incline us to support misguided policies and those who would enact them to further their own agenda, rather than providing for the common good.
But back to the Weather Underground film. One must really listen to their own rhetoric to get a real appreciation of how quickly righteous indignation can turn into dangerous delusion. These young adults took hold of a few radical principles and elevated them to such serious importance that they lost all sense of perspective. Weaving archival footage of the Vietnam conflict and putting it all in the context of a massive nationwide anti-war movement helps us understand their frustration as the casualties and atrocities continued to escalate in SE Asia. And I must also say, if we think that Bush is a poor-to-mediocre president, one only has to view a few clips of Nixon in his prime to get a sense of how grossly offensive presidential rhetoric can be. I appreciated the chance to get a glimpse of how the political polarization that I see as characteristic of these times has really been going on for quite awhile.
Well I could ramble about this film quite a bit more but I think that's sufficient for now. Afterwards, viewers had a group discussion about the documentary and its significance. There were a few older folks there who'd lived through all that stuff and had good insight into other aspects of the Weathermen story. And a lot of younger folks who were probably interested in learning about what an earlier generation of activists had gone through in their struggles against the Establishment. A cool time, a chance to talk openly about the role of violence and non-violence when resisting government sanctioned and privileged injustice. Okay, time to move on to other things that happened this week.
Finally! It's Saturday morning and at last I have some time to sit down and blog for awhile without having to wait to use the computer (or kick one of my kids off, which is usually what I have to resort to in order to have evening access to the PC.) As I said yesterday, it's been a jam-packed week.
Let me finish up my comments on the Weathermen. Though I remember hearing about them as a kid when they were active and fairly notorious, it didn't register on me just how far they had gone in conducting terrorist activities. They actually planted a bomb in the US Capitol building! As well as another dozen or two incidents in all different regions of the USA. Though they made a decision to try and avoid inflicting human casualties (with their bombs exploding late at night in empty rooms), it still seems remarkable to me that things went as far as they did. And since this was the case, why did we not have the kind of Patriot Act/Homeland Security national clampdown consolidation of power that we've seen since 9/11? My thought is that our political leaders were, as a whole, more conscientiously concerned with protecting constitutional liberties than they are now. Even though we still have some outspoken champions of free speech and the Bill of Rights in general, that consensus has eroded on both the left and the right, and we have a significant number of politicians who would curtail those freedoms for the sake of an expedient solution to some problem or another.
I don't have hard data to back me up on this, but it's my sense of how things are. It seems like our anxieties are still the object of manipulation by various powerful forces in this country - I'd like to encourage people to not get so hung up on worrying about "the bad guys." Obessing over their potential for doing evil may incline us to support misguided policies and those who would enact them to further their own agenda, rather than providing for the common good.
But back to the Weather Underground film. One must really listen to their own rhetoric to get a real appreciation of how quickly righteous indignation can turn into dangerous delusion. These young adults took hold of a few radical principles and elevated them to such serious importance that they lost all sense of perspective. Weaving archival footage of the Vietnam conflict and putting it all in the context of a massive nationwide anti-war movement helps us understand their frustration as the casualties and atrocities continued to escalate in SE Asia. And I must also say, if we think that Bush is a poor-to-mediocre president, one only has to view a few clips of Nixon in his prime to get a sense of how grossly offensive presidential rhetoric can be. I appreciated the chance to get a glimpse of how the political polarization that I see as characteristic of these times has really been going on for quite awhile.
Well I could ramble about this film quite a bit more but I think that's sufficient for now. Afterwards, viewers had a group discussion about the documentary and its significance. There were a few older folks there who'd lived through all that stuff and had good insight into other aspects of the Weathermen story. And a lot of younger folks who were probably interested in learning about what an earlier generation of activists had gone through in their struggles against the Establishment. A cool time, a chance to talk openly about the role of violence and non-violence when resisting government sanctioned and privileged injustice. Okay, time to move on to other things that happened this week.
Friday, December 19, 2003
IT'S BEEN A VERY BUSY WEEK!
Here's the rundown on what I've been up to since Sunday (other than work, which I won't talk about here...)
Monday night I went to see a documentary film about the Weather Underground. The Weathermen were a group of extreme hippie activists who engaged in acts of terrorism, mainly planting bombs in buidlings around the United States as acts of protest against the government during the early 70's.
I just got called up for dinner, so I'll leave off here. Check out the website for more about that film. It's a very powerful portrayal of a remarkable era, especially considering where things are at in the USA these days. Despite my disagreement with the Weathermen's tactics, I feel like we are less free and more fearful in today's cultural climate than we were back then, and this is a big loss.
Here's the rundown on what I've been up to since Sunday (other than work, which I won't talk about here...)
Monday night I went to see a documentary film about the Weather Underground. The Weathermen were a group of extreme hippie activists who engaged in acts of terrorism, mainly planting bombs in buidlings around the United States as acts of protest against the government during the early 70's.
I just got called up for dinner, so I'll leave off here. Check out the website for more about that film. It's a very powerful portrayal of a remarkable era, especially considering where things are at in the USA these days. Despite my disagreement with the Weathermen's tactics, I feel like we are less free and more fearful in today's cultural climate than we were back then, and this is a big loss.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD... "WE GOT HIM"
I had the unique pleasure of being awake this morning when the news of Saddam Hussein's capture was just breaking on the BBC World Service that my local NPR station plays in the wee hours of Sunday morning when I go out to pick up the newspapers that my sons and I deliver each week.
Quite an event - I also saw the press conference when they first aired the video clip showing him with the beard, the medical examination, etc. As well as the pathetic, miserable little hole in the ground where he was hiding for who knows how long. The emotion of the Iraqis in the room who erupted verbally when his image came on the screen was electrifying. Such passion, and I could only imagine how deeply personal that moment was for so many people who have suffered or lost loved ones at the hands of that tyrant and his regime. Wow.
Obviously, this is a big moment in the unfolding story of Iraq and the USA role there. I am hopeful that it will give the Iraqi leaders a boost and give their people an opportunity to get involved in a truly democratic process that will govern and rebuild their society.
I could go off on a political tangent but instead I'll stay more on the spiritual significance of Saddam's capture. I see it as a great opportunity for the achievement of justice. I'm really glad he's still alive, even though I have to figure most of his ardent followers are feeling grievously betrayed by his passivity and lack of strong resistance. People are supposed to go to their martyrdom for this guy? And he was calling for such tactics, supposedly? I hope that the common folk of the world who it seems are sometimes all too willing to get behind "strong men" like Saddam will see just how self-serving and cowardly they really are when it gets down to it.
But I do look forward to his trial. To me, that will be the best thing that could happen as far as Saddam's ultimate fate was concerned - like with Milosevic, it's good to see these bullies held accountable, on the stand, tried by a court and with all the facts that can be determined entered into the annals of law and history. No heroic last stand, no mystery as to his final ends, nothing really to commemorate or honor in a "noble demise." So I commend those responsible for getting the job done.
I'm still against the war and still likely to vote for someone other than Bush though, just ta let ya know! :o)
I had the unique pleasure of being awake this morning when the news of Saddam Hussein's capture was just breaking on the BBC World Service that my local NPR station plays in the wee hours of Sunday morning when I go out to pick up the newspapers that my sons and I deliver each week.
Quite an event - I also saw the press conference when they first aired the video clip showing him with the beard, the medical examination, etc. As well as the pathetic, miserable little hole in the ground where he was hiding for who knows how long. The emotion of the Iraqis in the room who erupted verbally when his image came on the screen was electrifying. Such passion, and I could only imagine how deeply personal that moment was for so many people who have suffered or lost loved ones at the hands of that tyrant and his regime. Wow.
Obviously, this is a big moment in the unfolding story of Iraq and the USA role there. I am hopeful that it will give the Iraqi leaders a boost and give their people an opportunity to get involved in a truly democratic process that will govern and rebuild their society.
I could go off on a political tangent but instead I'll stay more on the spiritual significance of Saddam's capture. I see it as a great opportunity for the achievement of justice. I'm really glad he's still alive, even though I have to figure most of his ardent followers are feeling grievously betrayed by his passivity and lack of strong resistance. People are supposed to go to their martyrdom for this guy? And he was calling for such tactics, supposedly? I hope that the common folk of the world who it seems are sometimes all too willing to get behind "strong men" like Saddam will see just how self-serving and cowardly they really are when it gets down to it.
But I do look forward to his trial. To me, that will be the best thing that could happen as far as Saddam's ultimate fate was concerned - like with Milosevic, it's good to see these bullies held accountable, on the stand, tried by a court and with all the facts that can be determined entered into the annals of law and history. No heroic last stand, no mystery as to his final ends, nothing really to commemorate or honor in a "noble demise." So I commend those responsible for getting the job done.
I'm still against the war and still likely to vote for someone other than Bush though, just ta let ya know! :o)
Saturday, December 13, 2003
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES
I'm trying to read my own blog, but I got a "Sorry, unable to fulfill request message." So now I've gotten on to this page, and I'm gonna see if this will come through. Since this is just a test, and I don't have any particular news to report, you'll just have to bear with me. But wait, I do have some news. I am redesigning PoMoXian.com so expect it to look different by this time tomorrow.
I'm trying to read my own blog, but I got a "Sorry, unable to fulfill request message." So now I've gotten on to this page, and I'm gonna see if this will come through. Since this is just a test, and I don't have any particular news to report, you'll just have to bear with me. But wait, I do have some news. I am redesigning PoMoXian.com so expect it to look different by this time tomorrow.
Thursday, December 11, 2003
I'm supposed to come up with some ideas for my relatives to choose from when they go shopping for my Christmas gift. I have a wish list at Amazon.com with around 50 different DVD's that I would be happy to receive. I could easily add that many CDs and books, but the thing is, I have a lot of that kind of stuff already. I've ripped almost all of my CDs into my hard drive, up around 430 hours or so of music, last time I checked, and even though I will probably edit out some of the dross that I really don't ever think I'll want to listen to on my PC, I have a hard time seeing the point of asking for more. But I still enjoy picking up new stuff every so often. I just revised my "Most Recent" list on the right sidebar. Got some new items: Massive Attack's "Mezzanine" CD (heavy trip-hop, really beautiful headphone music), a Marcus Borg collection I got for a good price, "God at 2000" and a cheap classic martial arts DVD of "Five Deadly Venoms." I do enjoy media! And on that subject, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King opens next week. I will be busy with political action meetings and a Christmas party at work for several nights next week. Not sure when I will fit in a screening of the new epic flick, but I can't imagine we'll wait too long.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Theocracy in the News
On my "Radical-Middle" list, Lorna Forrestor forwarded an excellent article on George W. Bush's use of religious language. In following up on the original source of that article, I found another one titled "American Apocalypse" which I think everyone should read, so without further ado I'll shut up now so that you can get right to it.
On my "Radical-Middle" list, Lorna Forrestor forwarded an excellent article on George W. Bush's use of religious language. In following up on the original source of that article, I found another one titled "American Apocalypse" which I think everyone should read, so without further ado I'll shut up now so that you can get right to it.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Family Guy
I spent a good portion of the evening supporting my children. Curt had a band concert, featuring Christmas music of course. He plays percussion. This is my sixth year attending one of these shows, now he is a junior and next year, he and Derek will both be in the same program. This year though I have to go to Derek's middle school concert on Thursday and listen to the lurching sixth graders plow through "Hot Cross Buns" and "Good King Wenceslas."
After the concert, we came back home and I spent a bit of time with my mom and grandma and Julie having coffee 'n cookies. But then I got on my computer and helped my daughter Alyssa polish up her European Civ paper as she finishes her first semester at Grand Valley State University. She's writing on the transition between medieval and Renaissance art, a good topic. I helped her flesh out a few points, tightened up some of her grammar and colloquiallisms and lay out good intro and conclusions. It was fun doing this over AIM (chat) - I do feel blessed and privileged to live in a time when we can have this kind of convenient and instantaneous communication, on a literate level, across the miles.
It's good to be involved with the 21st century!
I spent a good portion of the evening supporting my children. Curt had a band concert, featuring Christmas music of course. He plays percussion. This is my sixth year attending one of these shows, now he is a junior and next year, he and Derek will both be in the same program. This year though I have to go to Derek's middle school concert on Thursday and listen to the lurching sixth graders plow through "Hot Cross Buns" and "Good King Wenceslas."
After the concert, we came back home and I spent a bit of time with my mom and grandma and Julie having coffee 'n cookies. But then I got on my computer and helped my daughter Alyssa polish up her European Civ paper as she finishes her first semester at Grand Valley State University. She's writing on the transition between medieval and Renaissance art, a good topic. I helped her flesh out a few points, tightened up some of her grammar and colloquiallisms and lay out good intro and conclusions. It was fun doing this over AIM (chat) - I do feel blessed and privileged to live in a time when we can have this kind of convenient and instantaneous communication, on a literate level, across the miles.
It's good to be involved with the 21st century!
Monday, December 08, 2003
MoveOn.org, Howard Dean, political fires are burning!
So I went to this meet-up/video screening sponsored by MoveOn.org where I saw a DVD called "Uncovered," an expose on the War in Iraq. Basically, it featured a lot of interviews with various individuals who had different roles in gathering intelligence or interpreting the data about what was happening in the Saddam Hussein regime in the years and months prior to last March when the USA invaded Iraq. Interspersed with these interviews are many video clips of President Bush and the leading figures in his administration (Rumsfeld, Cheney, Powell, Rice, etc.) who were responsible for selling the necessity of the war to the American public and the rest of the world. It was a powerful and somewhat disturbing presentation. But not really surprising, at least to me, because I had my strong suspicions all along that the "intelligence" that was being presented to us to justify a war was being selectively sifted and interpreted so as to maximize the sense of danger that ordinary citizens would have and persuade us that armed conflict was our only reasonable and effective response to the threat.
Well the video is good and important and everyone should see it, but what I enjoyed the most was just the chance to connect with a bunch of new people and pick up a bit of the buzz surrounding these new web-centered populist events that are indeed affecting the way politics is done in this country. I recognized a few familiar faces in the crowd of about 40 or so people who were there, but mostly they were all new. After the video and a brief nationwide conference call where I heard the voices of people like Eli Pariser and Wes Boyd (from whom I've received dozens of emails in months past), there was an hour + of very energizing, enjoyable political chatter. I felt very comfortable and pleased to be there - lots of interesting discussion, many ideas that I found refreshing, and no, this was not a "Bush-bash" where all the world's ills were laid at the feet of the GOP. Of course, the prevailing sentiment was that we need a new president and that the current admin's policies have been catastrophic on several levels, but really the vibe of the meeting was more positive and constructive, wanting to get involved and shape the culture however we can. We recognize that Bush is a formidable politician, well-funded and commanding of many resources - but we want to overcome all that and get behind a political movement that reflects our values and priorities better than our government has done these past three years. It's a big, huge job, but what alternative do we have?
There were a few Howard Dean campaign workers that I connected with and I am officially "intrigued" by his candidacy. There is still a long way to go but I was favorably impressed by what they had to say about their guy and I will be spending a bit more time studying his positions and getting to know who his supporters are in this area. But it is late now, I have an early morning and very busy day at work ahead of me, so I'm gonna quit now without even adding any links to this entry. MoveOn and Howard Dean are so easy to find on the Internet though - you shouldn't need my help!
So I went to this meet-up/video screening sponsored by MoveOn.org where I saw a DVD called "Uncovered," an expose on the War in Iraq. Basically, it featured a lot of interviews with various individuals who had different roles in gathering intelligence or interpreting the data about what was happening in the Saddam Hussein regime in the years and months prior to last March when the USA invaded Iraq. Interspersed with these interviews are many video clips of President Bush and the leading figures in his administration (Rumsfeld, Cheney, Powell, Rice, etc.) who were responsible for selling the necessity of the war to the American public and the rest of the world. It was a powerful and somewhat disturbing presentation. But not really surprising, at least to me, because I had my strong suspicions all along that the "intelligence" that was being presented to us to justify a war was being selectively sifted and interpreted so as to maximize the sense of danger that ordinary citizens would have and persuade us that armed conflict was our only reasonable and effective response to the threat.
Well the video is good and important and everyone should see it, but what I enjoyed the most was just the chance to connect with a bunch of new people and pick up a bit of the buzz surrounding these new web-centered populist events that are indeed affecting the way politics is done in this country. I recognized a few familiar faces in the crowd of about 40 or so people who were there, but mostly they were all new. After the video and a brief nationwide conference call where I heard the voices of people like Eli Pariser and Wes Boyd (from whom I've received dozens of emails in months past), there was an hour + of very energizing, enjoyable political chatter. I felt very comfortable and pleased to be there - lots of interesting discussion, many ideas that I found refreshing, and no, this was not a "Bush-bash" where all the world's ills were laid at the feet of the GOP. Of course, the prevailing sentiment was that we need a new president and that the current admin's policies have been catastrophic on several levels, but really the vibe of the meeting was more positive and constructive, wanting to get involved and shape the culture however we can. We recognize that Bush is a formidable politician, well-funded and commanding of many resources - but we want to overcome all that and get behind a political movement that reflects our values and priorities better than our government has done these past three years. It's a big, huge job, but what alternative do we have?
There were a few Howard Dean campaign workers that I connected with and I am officially "intrigued" by his candidacy. There is still a long way to go but I was favorably impressed by what they had to say about their guy and I will be spending a bit more time studying his positions and getting to know who his supporters are in this area. But it is late now, I have an early morning and very busy day at work ahead of me, so I'm gonna quit now without even adding any links to this entry. MoveOn and Howard Dean are so easy to find on the Internet though - you shouldn't need my help!
Thursday, December 04, 2003
A few interesting websites to pass on...
The Heretics Hangout is where you can read up on a few famous martyrs, in order to learn from their example and successfully avoid being burned at the stake.
The Hall of Church History gives a nice visual walk-through of the most significant developmental stages that Christianity has moved through. Follow the links to get massive amounts of text from the original sources. However, the webmaster has decided leanings in favor of Reformed Evangelicalism, so while he provides a lot of excellent material, it's not as well-rounded as I would make it if I put such a collection together.
Sites Unseen claims to be "Earth's Mightiest Alternative Christian Links Portal," a claim I won't argue with. They list PoMoXian.com as well as this blog, with my name (Dave Blakeslee) as the description of what the site is about. Fair enough. I'm gonna have to put this on my website's page of links. Lots to explore here!
The Heretics Hangout is where you can read up on a few famous martyrs, in order to learn from their example and successfully avoid being burned at the stake.
The Hall of Church History gives a nice visual walk-through of the most significant developmental stages that Christianity has moved through. Follow the links to get massive amounts of text from the original sources. However, the webmaster has decided leanings in favor of Reformed Evangelicalism, so while he provides a lot of excellent material, it's not as well-rounded as I would make it if I put such a collection together.
Sites Unseen claims to be "Earth's Mightiest Alternative Christian Links Portal," a claim I won't argue with. They list PoMoXian.com as well as this blog, with my name (Dave Blakeslee) as the description of what the site is about. Fair enough. I'm gonna have to put this on my website's page of links. Lots to explore here!
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Jumping on the Bandwagon
This past Monday I went to a lecture sponsored by a group that I've been a part of, the West Michigan Justice and Peace Coalition. The Coalition is a new organization consisting of groups in our area that have common objectives of supporting peace and non-violence causes. The event was held at Fountain Street Church and featured Dr. Gary Dorrien, who's done a lot of research on the topic of the "neoconservative movement," which as it turns out has laid out the foreign policy of the current Bush administration. His talk is available on-line in mp3 format, and a text of a speech he gave last April is also available for anyone who would rather read than listen. But I'm not blogging about what he had to say. I found it interesting and stimulating, to be sure. But this blog is more about me. :o)
What I have to say is that I feel a resurgence of interest in the political process, and I'm looking forward to getting involved again in attempts to influence the way our society is governed. Even if I can't help "our side" win an election, I at least feel a strong motivation to participate in giving voice to the opposition. So I intend to attend the MoveOn.org "meetup" that's to be held in my area on Sunday, December 7. I understand that approximately 1,500 such events are planned in different cities across the USA. The purpose of the meetup is to watch a video titled "Uncovered, the Truth about the Iraq War" that MoveOn.org has produced.
I've just come to the conclusion that the current political order in this country is corrupt and in need of drastic overhaul. At this time, I'm inclined to see if the Democratic Party is able to offer some kind of constructive alternative. So are a lot of us. Going to the meeting on Sunday night will give me a chance to connect with other people who want to help make a difference. We'll see where this leads... You can count on me to provide updates on this very spot that you are currently reading, so come back soon!
This past Monday I went to a lecture sponsored by a group that I've been a part of, the West Michigan Justice and Peace Coalition. The Coalition is a new organization consisting of groups in our area that have common objectives of supporting peace and non-violence causes. The event was held at Fountain Street Church and featured Dr. Gary Dorrien, who's done a lot of research on the topic of the "neoconservative movement," which as it turns out has laid out the foreign policy of the current Bush administration. His talk is available on-line in mp3 format, and a text of a speech he gave last April is also available for anyone who would rather read than listen. But I'm not blogging about what he had to say. I found it interesting and stimulating, to be sure. But this blog is more about me. :o)
What I have to say is that I feel a resurgence of interest in the political process, and I'm looking forward to getting involved again in attempts to influence the way our society is governed. Even if I can't help "our side" win an election, I at least feel a strong motivation to participate in giving voice to the opposition. So I intend to attend the MoveOn.org "meetup" that's to be held in my area on Sunday, December 7. I understand that approximately 1,500 such events are planned in different cities across the USA. The purpose of the meetup is to watch a video titled "Uncovered, the Truth about the Iraq War" that MoveOn.org has produced.
I've just come to the conclusion that the current political order in this country is corrupt and in need of drastic overhaul. At this time, I'm inclined to see if the Democratic Party is able to offer some kind of constructive alternative. So are a lot of us. Going to the meeting on Sunday night will give me a chance to connect with other people who want to help make a difference. We'll see where this leads... You can count on me to provide updates on this very spot that you are currently reading, so come back soon!
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