Sphere: Related ContentTechnorati Tags: Religious Extremists,EducationThe phrase, Dear Gentle Reader(s), means, in effect, education is sinful. Well, that’s one way to interpret it. Go here for a more detailed and, probably, more accurate discussion.
It’s a name given to a particular Islamist cult in Africa currently wreaking havoc in Nigeria.
The cult is more interested in “Western” education, to be sure, but too many religionists are leery of modernizing education for their potential adherents.
In California, fundamentalist Christians helped to destroy a move for more creative thinking in the 1990s; in Afghanistan and Pakistan the Taliban and other Islamists destroy girls’ schools; text books from Saudi Arabia often seem lodged in the 7th century.
The war against terror won’t be won in the military battlefield; it needs must be won in the classroom.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Boko Haram—More widespread than you’d think?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
11.14.2139
Note to self: Suggest to nieces and nephews they put a clause in their wills for their grandchildren that there be established a national holiday on November 14, 2139, in honor of the master rapscallion of greed, Bernie Madoff, who would’ve been released from prison on that day, had he lived out his sentence.
Have a good B.M. Day, everyone!
Sphere: Related ContentSunday, July 12, 2009
ERP?
A dilemma, Dear Gentle Reader(s) has descended.
It seems one was ensconced in a dentist’s chair, preparing for a routine replacement of a rather superficial filling (one not requiring extensive drilling) when one responded to a packing of string under the gum area with a wince.
“Too much pain?”
“Um, well, I feel it.”
“OK. Let me give you another shot.”
“Thank you.”
Skip ahead four weeks.
“Explanation of Dental Benefits” from MetLife: “For benefit determination purposes, procedure D9110 is not a covered dental expense since it is considered a part of procedure D23 91 and benefits are not separately payable for this procedure.”
“Hmmm,” one hmmms. “What is D9110? Dunno. Let’s look.” Referring to the procedure code at the top of the page, D9110 is…Wait for it…Emergency Relief of Pain.*
So one didn’t get enough “relief of pain” from the first shot, and the second shot cost $100!
Perhaps one ought to seek the services of a different dentist.
Perhaps.
Too bad, though. It was a pleasant 2 year relationship.
*Hence, ERP
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, July 10, 2009
Huh?
There is a law school, Dear Gentle Reader(s), which goes by the name of Ave Maria School of Law, that is currently engaged in a wrongful termination law suit and, in so doing, is raising some interesting diction (in the sense of word choice) issues.
You can read about it on the web site of The National Law Journal.
What is most interesting is this: [Ave Maria School of Law] is trying to declare law professors as ministers to avoid a wrongful termination suit from proceeding.
The professors aren’t ordained, but somehow they’re ministers because they work for a religious institution.
Word games—the bane of logic.
Fun times.
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, July 07, 2009
Enough, Already!!!
Dear Gentle Reader(s), how much more do we have to know about Governor Palin? Better, has anyone read anything, anything at all, new about her in the past month or so?
There can’t be very much interest in her political future. Except for extremists in the right wing of the electorate—and there aren’t enough votes there for her to be a serious contender—no one seriously considers her a “contender.”
There might still be enough of a concern for people to begin to ask serious questions of Senator McCain, i.e., “What on earth were you thinking?” Other than that, let the woman do whatever she wants to do.
It’s time for the punditry to let go. We’ve already paid enough attention to that particular train wreck.
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, July 04, 2009
Eye-rolling Smiley
Sometimes, Dear Gentle Reader(s), it’s so easy, that one thinks an effort is hardly worthwhile.
Case in point—over at the Townhalldotcom Muckroom, Bill O’Reilly’s column starts with this titbit: “In fact, we are becoming a nation of braying sheep…”
Ah, Bill-o—to use the Hallowed Keith’s word—, sheep, my boyo, don’t bray, they bleat. Jackasses bray.
Either way, though, Bill-o’s covered.
Happy Fourth, America. Remember the troops.
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, June 27, 2009
Lest the Natives Be Restless….
Interesting take on the Iranian protests, Dear Gentle Reader(s), is noted in today’s The Washington Post.
It seems the regimes of China, Cuba, and Burma have been trying to keep the news about the Iranians’ protest away from the people of those benighted countries.
Never let it be said that petitioning the government is futile. Sometimes the gain is not immediately observable.
It’s always good to see thugs become nervous.
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, June 23, 2009
Sly Puss
Today, Dear Gentle Reader(s), let us salute a man with a sense of humor, and a sly one at that.
Our hero’s name is Daniel Politi, and he writes a summary of leading newspapers’ front pages for Slate Magazine. His wit is on view with today’s* subject line: “Iran's Guardian Council: Election Was Kosher.”
It’s like the first sip of a very cold, very dry Bombay martini, eh wot?
To Daniel Politi—today’s funniest person in the worrrrrrld!
*Posted Tuesday, June 23, 2009, at 6:33 AM ET
Sphere: Related ContentMonday, June 15, 2009
Hie to another place for a different view
Transparency, Dear Gentle Reader(s), is the catch word du jour, so one must strive for as much of it as possible.
As a follow up to yesterday’s post encouraging you to visit Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish, today there’s encouragement for you to visit The New Republic’s online site to read Marty Peretz’s take on the Iranian elections.
Peretz holds that the elections were, indeed, valid because of the widespread support of the vast numbers of poor people out in the smaller towns and villages. (Interesting to note that Hugo Chavez’s government was one of the first to congratulate Ahmadinejad. Poverty has a voice which is too often neglected by politicians. Otherwise Hugo would be a footnote rather than whatever he is now.)
Of course, note, too, that Sullivan’s coverage is just short of live—tweeters tweeting and cell phone videos in real time--while the Peretz comment is based on public polling which occurred some two or three weeks ago.
Stay tuned.
Keep reading.
Sphere: Related ContentSunday, June 14, 2009
Hie thee to Andrew’s place
Andrew Sullivan is doing yeoman’s work publishing reports out of Iran.
Get over to his website, The Daily Dish, for up to the minute tweets.
Yea, Sullivan!
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, June 05, 2009
Muckroom Follies—Desperately Seeking…Something
Alas, Dear Gentle Reader(s), the editors and commentators over at Townhall’s Muckroom are not having a good year.
The racism card isn’t working, the gender card isn’t working, the anti-same sex marriage card is losing its trumping ability. So what’s a desperate pundit to do?
Grab onto the nearest puff of smoke, it seems.
The June 5 Muckroom email has these two entries:
1. Linda Chavez has this lede--“The diversity crowd doesn't really believe in diversity. In fact, what they're really aiming for is conformity of opinion.” This, DGR(s), from a spokesperson from the party which is going through a period of expelling what some call RINOs (Republican In Name Only) from the party. If that isn’t aiming for conformity of opinion, nothing is.
2. Under the title of “MTV’s Shock and Fraud,” Brent Bozell works himself into a lather over the “Bruno-buttock-Eminem” joke. When a representative of MTV says, “That's all anyone wants to talk about, so let's get it out of the way. They rehearsed it at dress and yes, it went as far as it did on the live show then,” Bozell fulminates “Can you believe the chutzpah of MTV, disparaging the media they're shamelessly exploiting, that "all anyone wants to talk about" is that they'd manufacture this new low, this shock-jock-strap plot?”
It is to laugh, then to sigh, then to worry. The paucity of legitimacy of the right has never before been so easily observed. With serious decisions being made and the right wing commentariat floundering, we could be in danger of making mistakes without the vision of all parties concerned with the big picture.
Get serious, Muckroom denizens.
A loyal opposition isn’t worthy if there’s nothing to which one is opposed.
Sphere: Related ContentSunday, May 31, 2009
Get a room, George!
Here’s a rather intriguing lede, Dear Gentle Reader(s), from George Will’s contribution to Townhall.com: “Epiphanies are a dime a dozen among congressional Democrats as they discover urgent new reasons to experience the almost erotic pleasure of commandeering other people's money.”
One has to wonder, just how can Will make the declarative statement that there is an “almost erotic pleasure” in taking charge of the money paid into the government’s treasury by taxpayers? How does he know there is a near-erotic pleasure to taxing? What sort of foreplay gets ol’ George going?
Maybe it’s a case of wishful projection? (“I love money! I loooovvvve money! Gimme!!! Oooh. Ahhhh. Ummm…”)
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, May 30, 2009
Ah, Truth or Truthiness
There is, Dear Gentle Reader(s), a full page ad in today’s The Desert Sun* (Palm Springs/Coachella Valley) which gives credit to Representative Mary Bono for her vote in favor of the recently passed energy plan.
It’s a wonder of circumspection in part, and in something else in small part.
“Leading businesses and moderate conservation groups” is the lead phrasing. The catch word there is “moderate.” No tree huggers, folks. Circumspection.
The second para begins with “Despite enormous pressure to toe the Washington line…” Key word—Washington. The pressure didn’t come from Washington. Whatever that is. It came from the Republican party. Something else. Fudging?
Bono-Mack (her married name) voted outside of the Republican caucus. The ad nimbly sidesteps that fact. This is, after all, a bastion of Republican thinking (Prop Hate, er, 8 passed easily in the area).
Republican pressure becomes Washington pressure. OK. That’s doable.
*May 30, 2009, A14
Sphere: Related ContentThursday, May 28, 2009
Facts? We don’ need no stinkin’ facts!
Of all the claims which the pro-Prop 8 folks present, Dear Gentle Reader(s), is one made by Andrew Pugno a spokesperson for Protectmarriage.com. Speaking on Public Radio’s Air Talk on May 27, 2009, he said this, “Marriage predates government.”
Really? Any proof of that? Certainly not in any anthropological study can that statement be substantiated.
It went something like this (OK, my conjecture, but it certainly makes more sense than his): First came mating; Second came family—with someone making decisions (and that process could have been shared); Third came tribe—with someone making decisions for several families—one of which was controlling the mating processes); Fourth came some dissatisfaction with decisions which went against some common practices (Whadda mean, we can’t eat pork?); Fifth came superstition to use as a tool against the dissatisfaction (Because It told me to tell you not to do that); Sixth came the refinement of superstition into religion.
Perhaps a bit fanciful, but that’s the lineage according to the anthropological studies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Government, rudimentary, to be sure, existed prior to marriage because until government came into existence, what we call marriage today was coupling for the purpose of propagating the species. Cultural differences between tribes came later, but “government” arose out of need to protect the tribe.
For certain, “Marriage predates government,” stated with such certainty by Pugno, is at best a virtual fib.
Sphere: Related ContentSaturday, May 23, 2009
Really?
Ah, Dear Gentle Reader(s), sometimes they make it so easy.
Take, for instance, today’s Townhalldotcom muckroom. There’s a piece by Linda Chavez titled “When in Doubt, Blame Bush.” It contains this softball, “you have to wonder what [President Obama] would do without George W. Bush to kick around.”
Um…
Nope. Not really.
Perhaps eal with the economy? Health care? Greening power? Securing Afghanistan? Modernizing Islam? Third World poverty? Inner city poverty?
How many more examples would you think Chavez needs?
Sphere: Related ContentSunday, May 17, 2009
A dollar 98? A dollar 400?
Does one suppose, Dear Gentle Reader(s), that the seller of this car learned to write cost numbers somewhere other than here in the U.S.?
IN case it seems fuzzy, that is a period after the 1.
What fun!
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, May 15, 2009
Could’ve, Would of, Shoulda (“Ve” are watching!)
George Pelecanos, Dear Gentle Reader(s), is the newest “old” writer of note to cross this desk. One down, one in progress, a few to go. The reason for this post isn’t George so much as his editor and some other editor of years past which let the –of pass as indicator of character instead of insisting on ‘ve.
The writer, naturally, tries for some sort of verisimilitude while writing dialogue. Even the perfect sentences of Jane Austen take on “color” when delivering language of certain characters.
The use of could of, however, is suspect as a genuine replication of non-standard articulation. The f and the v are both fricatives. They are produced by passing air between the upper front teeth and the bottom lip, the difference is that the v uses a sound from the larynx along with the friction of air.
Thus, the author who uses could of might as well be using could’ve. The resulting sound is exactly the same—of has the pronunciation of ‘ve no matter the education of the speaker. The more precise effect of character indication would be achieved, if articulation is to be used as an indication of character, by the use of coulda—or its almost as popular variation—could-a.
In Pelecano’s case, the editor of The Big Blowdown allowed, on page 289, a “could of" in mid-page and then, a couple of (coupla?) lines down, a “could’ve.” Hedging a bet? Indifference? Not paying attention to speech patterns?
Somebody got paid nice bucks to edit the book, not to mention the author’s royalty. That’s good money in exchange for…what? This error cannot be let pass unchallenged. Therefore, aspiring authors and editors, be warned: The “ve” patrol is on alert.
(OK, so this is a nit. In these times, though, focusing on a nit or two is a valuable tool in averting meltdown.)
Sphere: Related ContentThursday, May 14, 2009
A Hopeful Step to the Trash Heap of History
Thoreau’s confinement in a New England jail resulted in a nice little epigram—the body might be jailed, but thought, once uttered, cannot be recalled or squelched.
Which brings us, torturously, to the current debate, Dear Gentle Reader(s), of the Matthew Shepard Act, which purports to punish certain acts as “hate crimes.” It is surely foolish to try to criminalize hate, but that really isn’t the primary purpose of hate crimes legislation, is it?
What such legislation does is to foster a discussion about the genesis of hate, at least as regards certain social situations. How long has it been since there was a white on black killing where the perpetrator escaped justice? Or since the perpetrator was able to claim a “Twinkie defense?” Or a homosexual panic defense?
The more we speak of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, the more light is shone on these topics, and the less it is possible for bias to develop into a murderous rage.
What we need is more thought, and more people willing to speak their thoughts. At some point in the near future the hate crime laws will be erased from the books. That erasure is another “consummation devoutly to be wished.”
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, April 24, 2009
America’s Soul Is the Soul of All of Us
If, Dear Gentle Reader(s), you are one of those who is divided about whether or not the justice system of The United States should initiate and pursue possible war crimes of some previous administration personnel, then hie thee to Paul Krugman’s piece in today’s The New York Times. It should go a long way toward helping your make up your mind.
Krugman falls definitely on the side of justice moving forward.
…America is more than a collection of policies. We are, or at least we used to be, a nation of moral ideals. In the past, our government has sometimes done an imperfect job of upholding those ideals. But never before have our leaders so utterly betrayed everything our nation stands for. “This government does not torture people,” declared former President Bush, but it did, and all the world knows it.
In the name of our “moral ideals,” the investigation of the previous administration’s activities must be allowed to go forward. We owe it to ourselves, to our history, and to our future.
Sphere: Related ContentTuesday, April 14, 2009
Juvenilia Revived
Oh my, Dear Gentle Reader(s), it seems those embarrassing moments of “in-the-know” from one’s youth which result in red-faced giggles never really fade into oblivion.
Take, for instance, the current reich-wing spate of “tea parties” being held to protest taxing plans of the Obama administration.
Add a smidgen of…(ahem)…”adult” entertainment information, namely the use of “tea bag” as a metaphor for…(ahem #2)…scrotum.
Then mix with a headline from the Townhall(dot)com email advertisement which reads “Your Tea Bag Might Be on TV April 15th!” and you have a very successful recipe for an episode of smirks, titters, and tee-hees. “Really?!!? Will there be tea baggers and tea bagging? On TV? Whee! We’ve come a long way, baby!”
Thanks, Townhalldotcom. I needed that fun fitlet.
*Set your imagination loose.
Sphere: Related Content