Tsunami? What tsunami?

I'm just popping in quickly to make an observation. Then I'll get back to diaper duty.

As I write this the estimated death toll for the Asian Tsunami Disaster has risen above 76,000 and is expected to top 100,000. I thought that I would peruse some of the blogs of our "christian" friends and see what kind of relief efforts were going on and what they had to say about the event in general. Well, apparently they haven't heard about it.

The great leader of the free world originally promised $15 million in aid and then when he was called "stingy" the US announced that it would up the amount to $35 million. Democracy Now! put this in perspective by pointing out that Bush will spend between $30 and $40 million on his inauguration celebration next month and he has spent an average of $228 million per day in Iraq.

Maybe Bush thinks that if he ignores this there will be that many less muslims in world to deal with. But I can't understand why our christian bloggers aren't organizing fund drives for the victims of God's wrath in Asia.

Santa's Helper 2004

Yesterday was my annual day as Santa's helper. I think we made twelve stops this year--three senior citizens and nine with kids. The kids were the cutest ever.

This little girl talked to Santa non-stop in her own special language.


All of the families were very happy and thanked Santa for coming to see the kids. This year we a had a couple of parents who were laid off because their employer shut down and moved out of the country, we had one family with two kids and the mother had a stroke after the birth of the second, a couple of kids with health problems, and the senior citizens were so happy to see us. The one lady even asked me to change the filter in her furnace (which was in the kitchen) for her.



The only thing that I didn't like was being away from the baby for that long.

Quote of the Day

"That kid is soooo bleeping cute!"
-- Aunt Katie

Birth story

Birth is the most exciting thing and scariest thing I have ever witnessed. It was a long labor. She planned on doing it without any kind of pain relief but after suffering through back labor and going without much sleep for over two days she changed her mind. I am so glad that she did. The midwife suggested an epidural so we talked to the anesthesiologist and agreed to do it. Within minutes she was asleep and she slept through contractions for a few hours.

About twelve hours after we arrived she was able to start pushing. She pushed on almost every contraction for 3 1/2 hours. I could see the baby's hair but he just wouldn't come out. The midwife brought the doctor in and they said that they wanted to use a vacuum to help get the baby out. We asked about the risks and after they explained them we tried a few more pushes and then agreed to the vacuum.

So the pediatrics team showed up and manned the baby warmer, the doctor and the midwife put on gowns and eye protection and we were ready to have a baby. I was right there as the doctor pulled the head out. Then an arm and another arm and the rest of the baby. As soon as it was out they put two clips on the cord and cut between them. They took the baby's limp blue body right to the warmer where they suctioned his nose and mouth and rubbed him and gave him oxygen. He took a breath and and then let out a scream. His face and torso turned purple then pink. His arms and legs remained a bit purple for a while.

By this point my knees were getting weak and my head was spinning. I thought for sure that there was something wrong with him. I went over to get a closer look him and he was beautiful. My eyes filled with tears. I went back over to his mother and held her hand. She asked if he was okay and I told her that he was beautiful.

We spent the next two and a half days there. The baby is extremely pleasant. He is being followed for a few minor (we hope) health concerns but he is great. It seems like we've always had him.

Quote for today

"You are a citizen of a great and powerful nation. Are you not ashamed that you give so much time to the pursuit of money, and reputation, and honors, and care so little for truth and wisdom and the improvement of your soul?"
--Socrates, The Apology

Teaching Peace

The fall 2004 issue of Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy is a special issue devoted to "teaching peace." There are some interesting things in it, including an article entitled "Conversations in the Blogosphere: Weblogs in Inclusive Pedagogy of Peace and War" by Jo Ann Oravac. But two things caught my attention. The first was in a review article called "Eco-pedagogy: Philosophy and Praxis for a Peaceful World". Below is an excerpt:

For my students at least, the possibility the "war" might include the gross inequities between the industrialized and the developing nations--or practices such as clear-cutting which destroy not only wildlife habitat but the lives of local people; or the targeting of the world's disenfranchised for the siting of waste dumps and landfills; or the continuous, unavoidable, deadly exposure of all organisms to biocides and other toxins in food, water, soil, and air; or the consumerism, globalization, and Wal-martization" which are the underlying causes of all the above--is a novel, unnerving, and often unacceptable concept.
-- Jeri Pollack, "Eco-pedagogy: Philosophy and Praxis for a Peaceful World", Tranformations Vol XV No. 2

That is one sentence. In the first paragraph. There is one even longer in the next paragraph. I think I'm a fairly intelligent guy but by the time I got to the end of the that sentence I could not remember what the beginning was. This was only a five page article but I gave up part way though the second page. I think she had some good things to say but who is going to pay any attention.

That's part of the problem with "us"--the left, the intellectual elite, or whatever they are calling us these days--we can't just say "weapons of mass destruction" or "terrorists" or "flip-flopper" and get six million people to grunt in agreement. We have this need to over-explain everything.

The other piece in this issue that I liked was a poem:

The Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the flag
we tremble as the fireworks erupt
on the Fourth of July
red, white and blue stars exploding
deafening sounds of friendly fire
helicopters hover above war ships
echoes of jungle warfare, chemical rain
naked children running
through their own rice fields
filled with enemy bombs, not yet detonated
weapons of mass destruction
made in the homeland

of the United States of America
we broke bread with the Indians
the history books tell us
when November rolls around
we eat turkey, give thanks
for food and friends and freedom
we do not tell our children about the slaughtered
the mass graves of men, women, and children
who lived on this land before we did
or those who came here after us, in chains

And to the Republic for which it stands
our forefathers shaped a "finders' keepers" America
we were all created equal:
white, educated, male, land and slave owners only
the blood of wounded spirits, wounded people
stains the flag that our children face
as they recite the pledge each morning

One nation, indivisible
while we cover our blood soaked soil
with rows of identical houses, strip malls,
Wal-Marts, gated communities
and one
big
white
house
filled with "evil doers"
let's remember never to forget
the suffering of the past
the motherless-fatherless children
let's speak for those who were and continue to be
silenced
pledge allegiance to the truth
use your mind as your bow, and your words as your
arrows
to fight the good American fight for peace
with liberty and justice for all

--Maeve D'Arcy

And that is by a seventeen year old student.

Transformations is published semi-annually by the New Jersey Project.

The true meaning of...

Samantha Bee made the following observation on tonight's The Daily Show Mark Your Calendar segment (paraphrased):

Christmas: it's the only religious holiday that is also a federal holiday. So christians can go to their services and everyone else can stay home and reflect on the true meaning of separation of church and state.

Attack of the Yes Men

The Yes Men struck again on Friday, December 3, the 20th anniversary of the Union Carbide Bhopal disaster. BBC World Television emailed them through their site DowEthics.com and asked for a Dow representative to come on and discuss the anniversary.

The Yes Men call what they do "identity correction". They impersonate leaders of corporations and organizations "to publicly humiliate them." It would be refreshing if a corporate PR person actually said things like Mr. Finisterra was saying. He said that DOW accepted full responsiblity for the disaster and intended to compensate the victims because it was the right thing to do.

watch the video

Union Carbide took two hours to respond and said this
from Men's News Daily:

* The Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) will NOT be liquidated. (The fake "Dow plan" called for the dissolution and sale of Dow's fully owned subsidiary, estimated at US$12 billion, to fund compensation and remediation in Bhopal.)

* Dow will NOT commit ANY funds to compensate and treat 120,000 Bhopal residents who require lifelong care. The Bhopal victims have ALREADY been compensated; many received about US$500 several years ago, which in India can cover a full year of medical care.

* Dow will NOT remediate (clean up) the Bhopal plant site. We do understand that UCC abandoned thousands of tons of toxic chemicals on the site, and that these still contaminate the groundwater which area residents drink. Dow estimates that the Indian government's recent proposal to commission a study to consider the possibility of proper remediation at some point in the future is fully sufficient.

* Dow does NOT urge the US to extradite former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson to India, where he has been wanted for 20 years on multiple homicide charges.

* Dow will NOT release proprietary information on the leaked gases, nor the results of studies commissioned by UCC and never released.

* Dow will NOT fund research on the safety of Dow endocrine disruptors (ECDs) considered to have long-term negative effects.

* Dow DOES agree that "One can't assign a dollar value to doing what's morally right," as hoaxter Finisterra said. That is why Dow acknowledged and resolved many of Union Carbide's liabilities in the US immediately after acquiring the company in 2001.

Again, most importantly of all:

* Dow shareholders will see NO losses, because Dow's policy towards Bhopal HAS NOT CHANGED. Much as we at Dow may care, as human beings, about the victims of the Bhopal catastrophe, we must reiterate that Dow's sole and unique responsibility is to its shareholders, and Dow CANNOT do anything that goes against its bottom line unless forced to by law.

Turn Your Back on Bush

Controversial TV ad

Two major US television networks have refused to run this controversial ad--see it here.

CBS, NBC refuse to air UCC television advertisement

United Church of Christ ad highlighting Jesus' extravagant welcome called 'too controversial'

Nov. 30, 2004

CLEVELAND -- The CBS and NBC television networks are refusing to run a 30-second television ad from the United Church of Christ because its all-inclusive welcome has been deemed "too controversial."

The ad, part of the denomination's new, broad identity campaign set to begin airing nationwide on Dec. 1, states that -- like Jesus -- the United Church of Christ seeks to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation.

According to a written explanation from CBS, the United Church of Christ is being denied network access because its ad implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples -- among other minority constituencies -- and is, therefore, too "controversial."

"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks."

Similarly, a rejection by NBC declared the spot "too controversial."

"It's ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial," says the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president. "What's going on here?"
[read more]

But they happily ran those SwiftVet ads that were full of lies...over and over and over.