The perspective is the gift (Quote of the Day)

When people come to speak to me, whatever they say, I am struck by a kind of incandescence in them, the "I" whose predicate can be "love" or "fear" or want," and whose object can be "someone" or "nothing" and it won't really matter, because the loveliness is just in that presence, shaped around "I" like a flame on a wick, emanating itself in grief and guilt and joy and whatever else. But quick, and avid, and resourceful. To see this aspect of life is a privilege of the ministry which is seldom mentioned.

-- Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

(via A Mindful Life)

A church divided?

Apparently the Catholic church is divided over the acceptability of evolution. Almost a decade ago, Pope John Paul II made news when he said that evolution was "more than just a hypothesis" -- indeed, he spoke as one aware of the breadth and depth of the explanatory power of the theory:

It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of the theory.

But, as usual, Vatican scholars can find room for many interpretations in the interstices of what their predecessors have and haven't spelled out. At least one Cardinal seems to think that scientific approaches to the origins of life are inherently incompatible with faith, but many of his colleagues disagree. The opinion of the current pope is unclear -- he's been involved in previous statements of principle that endorsed the compatability of scientific research and religious faith, but he also stated at his installation that an individual is "the result of a thought of God" rather than "casual and meaningless product of evolution." Not known whether he will wade into the present debates . . .

(first article via Follow Me Here)

Update: a group of Catholic scientists are asking the pope to weigh in.

Stop running from your own values

Atrios reiterates the blogistan drumbeat that the Democrats need leaders who can articulate our values, rather than trying to apologize for or run away from them. Even the Republicans are reconsidering their right-wing positions, so there's no reason for the left to try to pick them up!

So, other than hating the gay and maybe the evils of video games, the nation is pretty much on our side. Why are we always running from these issues?

Yes, let's get on with the leadership already!

Update: Digby pipes up in a similar vein:

We should sit tight. We're already in the middle, right where most of the public is. It's just that the public didn't realize it until recently. When the wingnuts start devouring each other we should tie them together and run against the whole lot. I know this because I watched it happen in the 80's. To us.

Well put.

It's us against us!

Fafblog reflects on the ideological divisions within the Democratic party...

(via Atrios)

Weekend outing

Via the ever-amusing mimi smartypants, a trash-talking trip to the aquarium . . .

Hey, catfish, Sylvia Plath called: she wants her depression back. Snap out of it, sad sack. I didn't pay seventeen bucks to watch some half fish/half cat have a nervous breakdown. Been there, done that, fish.

With photos of the offending critters, of course. tee hee.

Now *that's* some Friday cat-blogging

These acrobatic/flying cats pretty much blow my mind. A little normal kittenish jumping is enough to throw my quiet house in disarray -- one can only imagine what these beasties could accomplish in a witching hour...

(via kottke)

Bonus Pixel recap for the weekend:

I'll take hypocrisy for, oh, $500, Alex

You. Must. Be. Kidding.
Priests, meet Catholic dogma...

All better now!

Apparently the best way to end criticism of the treatment of Guantanamo detainees is just to ship them elsewhere, as though that excused their prior treatment and were consistent with previous claims of the serious danger they posed. Sigh.

Putting the question a different way

Rebecca Bood asks the unexpected and intriguing question, "What happens to the First Amendment when the US government recognizes Indian land as holy ground?" Apparently the answer is something along the lines of Cultural sensitivity comes up against the nonendorsement of religion!

In one case, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against an 8-foot cross that had stood since 1934 on a hill in the Mojave National Preserve in California commemorating US soldiers lost in World War I. Yet another panel of judges from that same appellate court ruled that the owner of property in Arizona could not extract sand and gravel for commercial concrete from his land because Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni tribes considered it to be sacred.

Critics say that declarations of hallowed ground by the federal government - just as in cases involving Christmas crèches and other religious displays - go against the First Amendment.

To what degree does/should the historical uniqueness of Native American symbols and sites exclude their handling from standards regarding the equitable treatment of religions?

Among the more well-known sites at least partially protected because of their religious and cultural importance to native Americans are Medicine Wheel and Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Rainbow Bridge in Utah, and Cave Rock on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.

These cases could require the generation of new language for describing judicial rationale -- certainly "sacred to tribe X" is different from "historically significant to the United States because of its traditional position in native culture," and they may not demand the same kinds of protections.

(via Rebecca's Pocket)

What I believe in this microsecond is what counts...

Senator Rick Santorum professes uncertainty about whether Intelligent Design belongs in the classroom...
(?!)

(via Atrios)

Do Family Values folks really value families?

In an appropriate follow-up to this previously noted story, Echidne looks at the policy positions of the "family values" clan and then looks around herself in Europe (vacationing) at the families who have restricted working hours, supported daycare, and extended vacation time to spend with their children.

These are all things that the wingnuts oppose. They also oppose environmental protection, even though that would keep children healthy, and work safety regulations, even though those could keep the parents of children healthy and alive. They oppose limitations to the amount of overtime firms can demand from workers, even though overtime means that a parent might never be at home when the children are awake. They oppose subsidized daycare, even if this means that the children of the poor are unsupervised during the day. In fact, the wingnuts oppose everything that makes family values more than just talk.

Once you recognize that their arguments don't really support families trying to get by, you're left with some unpleasant options about where their deeper loyalties lie.

Can't really add much to this one.

Men whose masculinity is challenged become more inclined to support war or buy an SUV, a new study finds.

(via Rebecca's Pocket)

You gotta' take some down time

...and I'm greatly reassured to discover that in these war-waging and terrorism-hunting times, Bush has managed to spend almost a quarter of his Presidency on vacation. And that's not counting the naps. No midnight oil for our boy, nosiree; he's all beauty rest.

(via rc3.org)

Thursday kitten blogging

Today's edition is brought to you by Pixel the Possessed. Yes, our darling kitten gets the witching spirit quite frequently, most often taking the form of wild racing around and attacking of toys, but recently also involving the tormenting of innocent older cats. (They hiss, but still must resemble potential playmates, given her relentless returns to the fray.) So today, some crazed kitten photos.


Doesn't take much to fluff her up -- look out, dangling quilt!!


Must kill paper ball at all costs!!


Attack, then run away!
(lather, rinse, and repeat)

In related news, the Onion reports "War On String May Be Unwinnable, Says Cat General"
For past installments of Pixelly goodness, see 1, 2, 3, 4.

Good-news blogging

As an antidote to bad or wearing recent news, two glimmers of hope in difficult circumstances: First, a newly designed water pump for water-poor regions of the world combines play and necessity by using a children's merry-go-round to power the water into a tank, from which people can then collect it as needed.

The Play-Pump is capable of producing 1400 litres per hour at 16 rpm from a depth of 40m, and is effective up to a depth of 100m. A typical hand pump installation cannot compete with this delivery rate, even with substantial effort.

Less toting, more effectiveness, and encouragement of fun. That's good humanitarian effort!
(via boing boing)

In a related story, an experimental eco-village has proved that sustainability works in the most inhospitable climates.

“They have planted millions of trees, thus regenerating an indigenous rainforest. They farm organically and use wind and solar power. Every family enjoys free housing, community meals, and schooling. There are no weapons, no police, no jail. There is no mayor.”

Animal waste fuels the furnace at the local hospital, which is cooled by funneled breezes. And on and on -- amazing.

(via Rebecca's Pocket, I think...)

From the referrer logs...

Most disturbing search to lead to my site today: "Was Benjamin Franklin an Arian?"
[Answer: spell check first, then GO AWAY!!]

But it looks so clean and sparkly!!

An op-ed at the NYTimes puts the lie to people's convictions that bottled water is better than what comes out of the tap. Public water undergoes more stringent regulation for bacteria and contaminents, and study after study finds that many bottled waters are worse than the average toilet bowl, but somehow the marketing gurus have convinced our hygenically paranoid populace to believe otherwise. Furthermore, the packaging, chilling, and waste disposal for all those plastic bottles is an enormous environmental cost (and nearly infinite when compared with drying off your glass).

Of course, tap water is not so abundant in the developing world. And that is ultimately why I find the illogical enthusiasm for bottled water not simply peculiar, but distasteful. For those of us in the developed world, safe water is now so abundant that we can afford to shun the tap water under our noses, and drink bottled water instead: our choice of water has become a lifestyle option. For many people in the developing world, however, access to water remains a matter of life or death.

Use a filter on your tap (or in your fridge) if you worry about your local sources, but stick with drinking fountains and tap water over the high-priced crap.

(via boing boing)

In what company?

An article looking at maternity/parental leave policies finds the US rather out on its own in neglecting this aspect of family support.

To put it another way, out of 168 nations in a Harvard University study last year, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave, leaving the United States in the company of Lesotho, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland.

They cite different views on population growth (and effects of immigration) as well as different approaches of feminist movements in different parts of the world. It would be pretty easy to make an argument based on American obsession with business rights over family issues as well. Anyway... Swaziland? Sigh.

(via Alas, a blog)

A sobering history

Juan Cole takes a historical look at American cultivation of Islamic militants in the last 25 years in a way that lays the shape and effectiveness of the current terrorist threat uncomfortably close to our own feet. It starts with Reagan's enthusiastic arming of Afghani rebels to fight the Soviets, includes our helping them find private sources of funding (including the bin Laden family), and traces lots of wrangling of ever-better armaments for various factions throughout the Mideast. The kind of dot-connecting that's mighty hard to ignore...

By giving the Muj weaponry like the stinger shoulderheld missile, which could destroy advanced Soviet arms like their helicopter gunships, Reagan demonstrated to the radical Muslims that they could defeat a super power.
. . .
[forward to 2005] The American Right, having created the Mujahideen and having mightily contributed to the creation of al-Qaeda, abruptly announced that there was something deeply wrong with Islam, that it kept producing terrorists.

Sigh. Seems long, but there are lots of pictures, so check it out.

(via a furling at Medley)

Off-season horserace fix

During last year's elections, I was watching more than the President and my local Senatorial race -- through kos and other sites, I became interested in and knowledgable about a bunch of promising races around the country where Dems were claiming new voting blocs and reaching out with new messages. Many of those races were long-shots, but they got some new people excited and involved.

Anyway, whether or not you were a political junkie last year, you might be intrigued by things going on in an Ohio special election right now with a dark-horse progressive candidate named Hackett. DavidNYC has a starting place...

[Also, here's a lengthy insider's take on the race.]

Update: and here's a take on the outcome. An expected blow-out became a squeaker, and the Dem. contender is likely to come back as a statewide candidate. wow!