Respect your Mother...

This Easter, my friend Heather got a heavy lesson in caution while in nature. I'm still in shock with how easily she could have been taken... and appreciative at how gentle our Hawaii climate is. Add it to the list of things I will miss...

Clever...

The answer to the classic neo-con question here.

Instead of my own writing I'm linking to other people's. Gee this "blog" stuff is easy!

Seriously, I'll write something real at some point..

Democracy in a persistent vegetative state...

I'm just gonna go ahead and throw this whole thing in here... this is really happening in 2005 America.

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures?

Friday, March 25, 2005

By John Gibson

Just to burnish my reputation as a bomb thrower, I think Jeb Bush should give serious thought to storming the Bastille.

By that I mean he should think about telling his cops to go over to Terri Schiavo's hospice, go inside, put her on a gurney and load her into an ambulance. They could take her to a hospital, revive her, and reattach her feeding tube. It wouldn't save Terri exactly; she'd still be in the same rotten shape she was in before they disconnected the feeding tube.

But the point is, the temple of the law is so sacrosanct that an occasional chief executive cannot flaunt it once in a while, sort of drop his drawers on the courthouse steps and moon the judges, as a way to protest the complete disregard courts and judges have shown here, in this case, for facts outside the law.

For instance, Michael Schiavo and Terri Schiavo are still married, under the law. Anybody else in the world notes with interest that Michael Schiavo has a new love interest and has been engaged in living long enough that he has two children by her.

Now let's see — any woman in America can see Michael Schiavo and Terri Schiavo are not really married anymore. But judge after judge after judge after judge still nods his or her head and mutters, married? Yup, they're married?

This is important because as husband, Michael Schiavo is her guardian and allowed to say what happens to her, how the money in her estate is spent, and so forth.

There are other issues that all the judges here have decided don't rise to the level of importance — that they would order Schiavo kept alive while more hot air is expended on this subject.

But for me the big one is the judicial tendency to say, as long as the law and the process has been followed correctly and justly, doesn't matter if she lives or dies.

Strikes me that that's adherence to law to a fault.

I know lawyers and judges don't think that way, but real people do.

Oh John, you're not saying judges aren't real people, are you?

Well, judging by what happened here, I'd say yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

So Jeb, call out the troops, storm the Bastille and tell 'em I sent you.

When this country has its own Reichstag fire, we can't pretend we didn't see it coming.

In uncharted territory...

Can't say it better than my man Gore (no, not him; the other one): "This is something new under the sun--that a president, just because he feels like it, can declare war on anybody."

http://citypages.com/databank/26/1268/article13085.asp

And let's hear it for Uncle Noam:

http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=6805&sectionID=41

Good Friday, everybody. It's a great day to be a lapsed Catholic...

Arrested development

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

You Are 27 Years Old

27 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Erik made everyone play the "guess how old Paul is" game. Closest guess: 28. So does this mean I am youthful or childish? Oh well. At least I have all my hair.

Losing my religion...

Before the coverage gets too overwhelming I just want to say big ups for Ashley Smith, the Christian lady that talked the Atlanta killer down and saved her own life in the process. The news keeps talking about her "bravery," and hell yeah she was brave... but more than that she was compassionate. She engaged with this guy and showed human kindness to him... even though he was probably among the people least deserving of any sympathy on that day. I think if people want to know "What Would Jesus Do," well one of the things he might do is make eggs for a homicidal maniac who was holding him hostage.

And I don't think Brian Nichols can blame his shit of the fact that very few of the so-called Christians act like they are. But it would sure be a better country if all those churches taught Ashley Smith's kind of Christianity.

'Nuff said about that...

I've been really struggling with my attitude about religion over the past days and weeks. I have really tried to embrace a sense of God in the world, ever since I went to the vipassana retreat where Trudy Goodman talked about God (the weekend Shari left me, hmm). I have seen other people's faith and thought it seemed to be a centering influence in their lives. But it really doesn't seem to be taking with me. In good times and bad, I think about God and thank God or ask for strength... but it seems hollow to me.

I am a spiritual person, and I do still hold a very strong connection to my practice. I am superstitious and pagan as ever, if not more so... but God and religion really don't seem to be a part of my world. And so, recently, I've been getting more and more OK with that. I am, after all, a thoroughly postmodern man. And, for all the Tarot cards and ritual, I'm a computer scientist and a Philly hardhead. So I feel like what I am after is what's called an integral spirituality, bringing together the seemingly disconnected worlds of science and spirit.

So where I will end up in my relationship with God is anybody's guess. I don't intend to give up my fondness for the Catholic liturgy, rosary beads, my Tarot or my athame. But I'm reaching towards a higher place, and that feels good.

If scary.

Back to Earth...

I'm starting to get my equilibrium back after my trip to the Relationship Twilight Zone over the past bunch of weeks. I got my latest "last email" from L last night... maybe this one will be the last last, who knows. It would be nice, cause I still haven't really processed what went down. So much of the San Diego trip has a dreamlike quality to it, it's like if I hadn't seen Michelle and Olive it'd be like I didn't go there at all.

Anyway, I'm back, and Blogger is behaving itself for a change, so we'll see if I can get back my momentum. It feels like a whole "new-period" period; between the stress and the compensatory partying/sleeping in/not running I picked up a good 5 pounds too... so I need to turn over a new leaf: blog regularly, run, cut the beer and chocolate. Etc.

David's birthday party last night was a nice change of pace. I went around telling everybody about my move and felt bad about it; people seemed sad and I felt sad. I miss the Big Island already! I'm sure after a month over there I'm going to wonder why I ever left. I still feel it is the right decision, but I definitely want to do a lot of Big Islandy things over the next months.

Anyway, I'm sick of college, single, getting over a horrible breakup and out of shape: but I still love this fucking life! God I'm weird.