Busy weekend. Fun. Definitely fattening, tho'. :/ I made this.
And these...
Last weekend's sledding.
I was lucky enough to get flowers this weekend. :)
Always gotta fool with nature. I'm bad that way.
My flowers, my parent's wedding fifty years ago, and my son's photograph.
From the snow sculpture competition..."posterize effect" used to give
all that white some definition... Took first place...I call him
"Invisible Man With Newspaper," (see link at top of post) but it's not
his real title. (It's just "Invisible Man," now that I've looked it up.) ;)
I'm sort of taking a break from writing as there's much going on
right now, including doing the preliminarys for a move to a new town
(20 years living in this general area...I'm so overdue!)
I still spend time every week enjoying photography..so there'll always be pics. :)
So yesterday President Bush gives the press 45 minutes notice
that he's going to give one of his rare news conferences. The NY Times
(above) kindly provides some translation or at least context for some statements or more correctly, non-statements made by the Bush camp.
Yesterday in Iraq, before the hastily-called White House news
conference, the largest number of Americans were killed on a single
day since we invaded the country in search of
WMDs almost two years ago. (There were no WMDs-- just bad "intelligence"). We are now there
(officially) to spread democracy and destroy tyranny ( I think).
Not until later in the conference when ask directly for a comment on the
highest death toll of American soldiers in one day in Iraq since we
invaded it, did the Bush camp offer up some of these deliciously "OMFG,
I can't believe that they uttered those words"-type responses. (This
is an example of the child-like thinking/behaviour, "If I act like it
didn't happen, maybe I can make everyone else believe what I
believe--and everything will be okay!")
...By Wednesday afternoon, in an interview with Al Arabiya, the satellite
television network, he (the president) had incorporated his response to the crash into his
larger message about freedom.
"Today a tragic helicopter accident is a reminder of the risks inherent in
military operations," he said in the television interview, again in response to
a question.
"We mourn the loss of life. But I am convinced we're doing the right thing by
helping Iraq become a free country, because a free Iraq will have long-term
effects in the world, and it will help the people of Iraq realize their dreams
and aspirations and hopes."
Now
of course, a reiteration of our reason for occupying Iraq. Remember,
if you keep repeating it again and again and act like you sincerely
believe the bullshit your mouth is spewing, not only will you convince
yourself that you are telling the truth but you'll bring along quite a
number of "supporters of our country/our president" (the rest of us are
unpatriotic heathens, as our lack of support for the Administration's
behaviour means we are against the American (our way or the high) way. --Cyn
Mr. Bush's decision not to mention the helicopter crash in his opening
statement, the Bush adviser said, was part of a longstanding White House
practice to avoid having the president mention some American deaths in Iraq but
not others.
"It's almost a policy," said the adviser, who asked not to be named because
the president does not want aides talking about the inner workings of the White
House, "because if you mention one, you have to mention them all." (my bolding)
On Iraq policy, Mr. Bush has sought this week to rise above the daily bad
news (my italics)- insurgents vowed this week to cut off the heads of Iraqis and their
children if voters went to the polls - and to put a positive stamp on an
election that could be disrupted by insurgent attacks on Sunday and set the tone
for the next four years.
Isn't it noble of our prez to "rise above" the bad news--I'm sure the loved ones of those killed this week and in all the
other long weeks of this war, are very appreciative of Geo. Bush
brushing off news of their deaths in the best interest of his administration agenda the Iraqi election.--Cyn
"You know, it is amazing, first of all, they're having a vote at all," Mr.
Bush said in response to the first question, about whether he expected a big
turnout in the Iraqi election. "A couple of years ago, people would have been
puzzled by someone saying that the Iraqis will be given a chance to vote."
It
is such a wonderful opportunity we've "given" the Iraqi people--it
almost seems like a noble-enough excuse for destroying their country
and killing them by the thousands. --Cyn
White House officials said that planning for the news conference began on
Monday and that it was essentially Mr. Bush's idea. Although the president
typically dislikes news conferences, White House officials also say he is
closely involved in setting strategy in dealing with the news media and
understands when it is in his interest to use his powerful podium to try to
shape public perception of the news.
"The president viewed it as an opportunity to talk about the Inaugural
Address, the elections in Iraq, and to look ahead to the State of the Union,"
said Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary. "He thought this would be
a good time to do it." Mr. Bush's State of the Union address is set for Feb.
2...
The message, a senior administration official said, is: "We're not going to
wake up on Monday with the sparrows chirping in downtown Baghdad. This is not
going to be perfect."
'Ya think? News flash to the "experts": We already
know it's not going to be perfect. It may in fact, based on all that
has transpired since we stuck ourselves into the morass which is Iraq,
be perfectly awful. --Cyn
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
An upbeat president at his news conference on Wednesday as he
declared, "I firmly planted the flag of liberty."
This article caught my eye much like the pretty and creatively
flavoured-sounding bottles of vodka did at a local liquor store the
other day when I bought my almost 22 y.o. (and still-
doesn't-have-those-pesky-traffic-tickets -quite-paid-off-but-will, "next
paycheck,") son his and his naturalized American/ Polish-born
girlfriend their stash for a week or two. She favours vodka and since it's become so trendy my son will drink it too. That and Labatt's Blue, it seems.
Jaanuary 26, 2005
SPIRITS OF THE TIMES
A Humble Old Label Ices Its Rivals
By ERIC ASIMOV
The idea for the Dining section's tasting panel was to sample a
range of the new high-end unflavored vodkas that have come on the
market in the last few years in their beautifully designed bottles and
to compare them with a selection of established super-premium brands.
To broaden the comparison, or possibly as a bit of mischief, our
tasting coordinator, Bernard Kirsch, added to our blind tasting a
bottle of Smirnoff, the single best-selling unflavored vodka in the
United States, but a definite step down in status, marketing and bottle
design.
After the 21 vodkas were sipped and the results compiled, the Smirnoff was our hands-down favorite.
Shocking? Perhaps. Delving into the world of vodka reveals a spirit
unlike almost any other, with standards that make judging it
substantially different from evaluating wine, beer, whiskey or even
root beer. A malt whiskey should be distinctive, singular. The same
goes for a Burgundy or a Belgian ale. But vodka? Vodka is measured by
its purity, by an almost Platonic neutrality that makes tasting it more
akin to tasting bottled waters, or snowflakes.
Yet in just a few decades vodka has become the most popular spirit
in the country. It is now the default liquor in cocktails once made
with gin, and with its glossy merchandising it has set a marketing
standard for high-end spirits that the other liquors are all struggling
to emulate. It's quite an achievement for something that the government
defines as "neutral spirits, so distilled, or so treated after
distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be without
distinctive character, aroma, taste or color."
( So, in other words, it's a "base."--Cyn)
A lack of distinctiveness is a separate matter from a lack of
distinction. The vodkas we tasted had character and their own flavors
and aromas, even though the differences among them were often subtle
and difficult to articulate.
"I'm looking for interest," said Eben Klemm, a cocktail expert who
joined me for the tasting, along with my colleagues Florence Fabricant
and William L. Hamilton, who writes the Shaken and Stirred column for
the Sunday Styles section. "Some were so unique that they stood out,"
he added, "while others were pure, simple and austere."
Mr. Klemm, whose heady title is director of cocktail development for
B. R. Guest, a restaurant group that includes Dos Caminos, Fiamma and
Vento in New York, found himself torn in two directions in assessing
the vodkas. Because we tasted them straight, he judged them as solo
beverages yet could not help extrapolating how they would taste in
cocktails, which are overwhelmingly the vehicle for consuming vodka.
Mr. Hamilton, too, wondered whether his perceptions might change.
"When deployed in mixed drinks, these slight flavor profiles that I
enjoyed might cause trouble," he said.
Ms. Fabricant, on the other hand, dismissed such existential issues.
"Go with the flow," she suggested, adding that the qualities she sought
in the vodkas included elegance, neutrality and balance. "As a vodka
drinker who likes vodka on the rocks, I picked out what I would want to
drink," she said.
I'm not much of a vodka drinker myself, although I do like a good
bloody mary. I prefer gin in classic gin drinks like martinis and
gimlets that have largely evolved into vodka cocktails. But I
appreciate the purity and depth of a fine vodka. Those I liked best
were all smooth rather than harsh, and balanced and harmonious rather
than burdened by alcoholic heat. They had a presence in the mouth that
we sometimes referred to as texture or substance.
That being said, at the end of our tasting it was Smirnoff at the
top of our list, ahead of many other names that are no doubt of higher
status in stylish bars and lounges. Some of those names did not even
make our Top 10. Grey Goose from France, one of the most popular
vodkas, was felt to lack balance and seemed to have more than a touch
of sweetness. Ketel One from the Netherlands, another top name, was
felt to be routine and sharp, although Mr. Klemm did describe it as "a
good mixer."
More than 300 vodkas are on the market now, and of course we could
not taste them all. Notable brands that we omitted included Chopin,
Finlandia, Rain and Tanqueray Sterling. But our tasting included 5 of
the 10 best-selling unflavored vodkas in the United States and the 5
best-selling imported vodkas.
What set Smirnoff apart, we agreed, was its aromas and flavors,
which we described as classic. Smirnoff of course has a long history.
The company was founded in Russia in the 19th century, and after the
Russian Revolution the family, then spelling its name Smirnov, left the
country and eventually ended up in France. The brand, now owned by
Diageo, was introduced in the United States in 1934 and eventually
became the best-selling brand with the slogan "It will leave you
breathless."
Perhaps our description of Smirnoff as classic was nostalgic,
possibly a result of the imprinting of its flavors and aromas on our
brains in some early quest through our parents' liquor cabinets. But
its smooth neutrality and pleasing texture also won it points, and its
success illustrates a vital truth about vodka.
Unlike most other spirits and certainly unlike beer and wine, vodka
does not necessarily benefit from artisanal manufacturing. The bearded
bumpkin who minds the barrels in the ad campaigns for bourbon has no
place in the production of vodka. In fact most so-called vodka
producers do not even distill their own spirits.
In the United States almost all vodka producers buy neutral spirits
that have already been distilled from grain by one of several big
Midwestern companies like Archer Daniels Midland. The neutral spirits,
which are 95 percent alcohol or more, are trucked to the producers,
where they are filtered, diluted and bottled. In our tasting only one
brand, Teton Glacier Potato vodka, was distilled by the producer.
Another producer, Hangar 1, distills a portion of its spirits and buys
the rest.
What sets vodkas apart from one another are essentially the base
ingredients used in the distillation and the water. Most spirits can be
made only from certain prescribed ingredients, but vodka can be
distilled from just about anything that can be fermented into alcohol:
grains, vegetables, even fruits.
Our tasting included vodkas made from wheat, rye and potatoes, even
a couple that used grapes. Hangar 1 is distilled partly from wheat and
partly from viognier grapes, which perhaps lend the slight sweetness
the panel detected. Possibly the combination results in a complexity,
which we all liked. Another vodka, Cîroc Snap Frost from France, is
distilled entirely from grapes, but we sensed a disjointedness in it
that kept it off our list.
Like gin, vodka can be produced just about anywhere, and our tasting
included four from the United States; four from Poland; three each from
Russia, France and the Netherlands; and one apiece from Switzerland,
Estonia, New Zealand and Sweden. Russia and Poland both claim to be the
originators of vodka. None of the Russians made our list, but two of
our Top 3 were from Poland. The Wyborowa, which comes in a striking
bottle designed by the architect Frank Gehry, was elegant and
mysterious and seemed to keep drawing us in. ( Ooh, ooh I want to buy that one!"--me again.)The Belvedere was
exceptionally pure and smooth.
Nifty packaging!
All four entries from the United States made the list. In addition
to Smirnoff and Hangar 1 they were Skyy, which Ms. Fabricant suggested
would be superb ice cold, and Teton Glacier Potato vodka, which seemed
to conform to the government definition of tasteless and odorless.
Thank you Jack (click on Jack's name) for the nice comments on the photos. I'm sorry, I had to re-post that post, posting this one instead in order to delete the duplicate thumbnails in the far right area of the main page :breath: and in doing so, lost 'em! (I invite you to click on Jack's link--he's a published poet and story-writer and just an all-round cool guy.)
For those who enjoy " naturals."
Using this post to bump down the one below. One must click the sidebar
title of this and possibly other posts to get them to display properly
in the Firefox browser. I don't know about Explorer as I loath using
it--probably there, too. Need to buzz over to fill out a
TypePad help ticket to help me figure out how to fix this. I'm thinking
complete redesign, but I'm so unmotivated. :sigh:
(Left
to right) President George W. Bush, Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, and former President Bill Clinton sit together during the
dedication ceremonies for the William J. Clinton Presidential Center,
Nov. 18, 2004, in Little Rock, Ark.
...but will we hate her anyway?
I think we--lots of purple and blue and red folks--will. If we could, we might vote ol' William Jefferson back as prez. We love the guy. A lot more of us do anyway, than would vote for Hillary for the position I'm guessing she's coveted for a very long while.
She has cajones tho' (guess that's not a newsflash, huh?), being the first out of the gate in terms of attempting to do the seemingly impossible--get red and blue voters behind one candidate on the abortion issue. (I assume...I need to read the full story when my head's not throbbing from a little accident on a snowy "hill" today. There really are no "hills" here -- 'twas a slope at a reservoir-- I was doing great until I jumped on a dumb little disc while I waited for the "real" sled to come back up the hill with my spouse and son. I totally didn't lean right and completely wiped out, head first... I'm sure it was amusing to watch.) Anyway, on to the article...
ALBANY, New York
Jan. 24 - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Monday that the
opposing sides in the divisive debate over abortion should find "common
ground" to prevent unwanted pregnancies and ultimately reduce
abortions, which she called a "sad, even tragic choice to many, many
women."
In a speech to about 1,000 abortion rights supporters near the New
York State Capitol, Mrs. Clinton firmly restated her support for the
Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion
nationwide in 1973. But then she quickly shifted gears, offering warm
words to opponents of legalized abortion and praising the influence of
"religious and moral values" on delaying teenage girls from becoming
sexually active.
"There is an opportunity for people of good faith to find common
ground in this debate - we should be able to agree that we want every
child born in this country to be wanted, cherished and loved," Mrs.
Clinton said.
Her speech came on the same day as the annual anti-abortion rally in
Washington marking the Roe v. Wade anniversary. [Page A17.]
Mrs. Clinton's remarks were generally well received, though the
audience was silent during most of her overtures to anti-abortion
groups. Afterward, leaders of those groups were skeptical, given Mrs.
Clinton's outspoken support for abortion rights over the years.
Mrs. Clinton, widely seen as a possible candidate for the Democratic
Party's presidential nomination in 2008, appeared to be reaching out
beyond traditional core Democrats who support abortion rights. She did
so not by changing her political stands, but by underscoring her views
in preventing unplanned pregnancies, promoting adoption, recognizing
the influence of religion in abstinence and championing what she has
long called "teenage celibacy."
She called on abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion
campaigners to form a broad alliance to support sexual education -
including abstinence counseling - family planning, and morning-after
emergency contraception for victims of sexual assault as ways to reduce
unintended pregnancies.
"We can all recognize that abortion in many ways represents a sad,
even tragic choice to many, many women," Mrs. Clinton told the annual
conference of the Family Planning Advocates of New York State. "The
fact is that the best way to reduce the number of abortions is to
reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in the first place."
Leading anti-abortion campaigners, in both New York and nationwide,
pounced on Mrs. Clinton as a suspect spokeswoman for compromise and
common ground.
"I think she's trying to adopt a values-oriented language, but it
lacks substance, at least if you compare it to her record," said Tony
Perkins, president of the Family Research Council in Washington. "If
you look at Senator Clinton's voting record on this issue, it's like
Planned Parenthood's condoms - it's defective."
Mrs. Clinton's address came as the Democratic Party itself engages
in its own re-examination of its handling of the issue in the wake of
Senator John Kerry's loss in the presidential race.
Democratic senators such as Harry Reid of Nevada and Dianne
Feinstein of California have also pressed for a greater focus on
reducing unintended pregnancies, and some Democratic consultants have
urged that party leaders mint new language to reach voters who
identified moral values as a top issue for them in last November's
election.
"Our focus in the speech was to make sure that she still
communicated that she was pro-choice - she doesn't want to undermine
that - but she also thinks we can have some common ground among all
sides and make abortion rare," Neera Tanden, legislative director for
Mrs. Clinton, said in a telephone interview.
Before the election, Mrs. Clinton was a visible and public defender
of abortion rights, appearing at a huge rally in Washington last spring
and denouncing what she called Republican efforts to demonize the
abortion rights movement.
And in her remarks, she seemed to acknowledge that this image of
her was well known by anti-abortion campaigners while adding that, to
her, it did not tell the full story about her views. "Yes, we do have
deeply held differences of opinion about the issue of abortion and I,
for one, respect those who believe with all their hearts and conscience
that there are no circumstances under which any abortion should ever be
available," Mrs. Clinton said, going on to assert that even some
critics still support abortions in some cases, such as when the life of
the mother is at risk.
The senator also made a nod to the values issue on Monday in
praising faith-based and religious organizations for promoting
abstinence.
"Research shows that the primary reason teenage girls abstain from
early sexual activity is because of their religious and moral values,"
Mrs. Clinton said.
Mrs. Clinton made clear that she did not favor abstinence-only programs of sexual education.
Finally, we get some
winter weather. I grew up in Toronto and Connecticut and to me, real winter will
always entail lots of snow. Living in the Chicago area with it's super high
frigid winds (lake effect) and nothing to show for it --namely snow--really
sucks. If one has to put up with the cold there may as well be the novelty of a
couple coats of the white stuff.Yay for snow!
11pm Update: Blizzard Conditions Hit New England 11pm EST, January 22, 2005 By
WeatherBug Chief Meteorologist, Mark Hoekzema
The early hours of a historic blizzard are well underway in
southern New England where heavy snow and howling winds will create whiteout
conditions across the Northeast from northern New Jersey to Down East Maine.
Saturday night, the major winter had reformed off the Virginia and Maryland
coast and heavy snow was expanding across New England. Blizzard conditions are
expected in the Northeast after dumping 4-13" across the northern Plains, Great
Lakes, Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic regions.
As the storm strengthens and moves northeast along the coast toward a
position just south of Martha's Vineyard on Sunday morning, strong upper level
winds will begin to tap Atlantic moisture and throw it back inland over the cold
air at the surface. This will keep the heavy snow rates going between northern
New Jersey and eastern Massachusetts.
Just before midnight on Saturday, snowfall totals had pushed over 10" in
parts of eastern Massachusetts, with nearly 11" on the ground in Gloucester.
Most locations in New England had between four and eight inches at midnight.
Snowfall rates of 2-3 inches will occur throughout the night and some
locations may record snow at the rate of 4 inches per hour in some of the
convective thundersnows that are expected.
In New York, travel on most roads was extremely difficult or rapidly becoming
impossible as snowfall totals pushed over a foot in western New York. Snow
amounts in Syracuse had topped 15 inches at 11pm. The New York State DOT was
reporting whiteout conditions on many highways and law enforcement was urging
people to stay off the roads.
Snow had tapered off to snow showers or had ended in Detroit, Cleveland,
Pittsburgh, Washington DC and earlier Saturday evening in Philadelphia. Lake
effect snow showers had diminished around Chicago and other locations near the
Great Lakes. Accumulations ranged from just a few inches in Pittsburgh
and Washington to up to over one foot in some neighborhoods near
Chicago. Snow amounts were less than expected across Ohio, western
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia due to a dry slot of air and fast westerly
winds that pushed snow rapidly to the east. Snowfall was generally in the 2-7"
range across those areas.
Snow began to fall in New York City by late morning, starting a long siege of
snow, wind and cold that will wreak havoc on travel through the airports in the
Northeast. By midnight Saturday, snow had tapered off over northern New Jersey
but a re-intensification of snow was likely to occur as the Atlantic moisture
begins to feed inland overnight. Snow amounts in the New York metro area ranged
from 6-12 inches and over a foot on parts of Long Island at 11pm Saturday.
Another 6-12 inches is likely overnight.
Many airlines have delayed or cancelled flights in and out of
Chicago and Detroit and other cities around the Great Lakes.
A snowball melts on the side of a limousine as Vice President Richard
Cheney waves during the inaugural parade in Washington, January 20,
2005. Flag-draped coffins and anti-war chants competed with pomp and
circumstance on Thursday at the inauguration of President George W.
Bush (news - web sites) along the snow-dusted, barricaded streets of
central Washington. REUTERS/Tim Shaffer
Thu Jan 20, 3:37 PM ET Original link
It's my understanding that you are promoting the notion that SpongeBob SquarePants is a fag-lovin' commie. Or something like that.
Doctor Dobson, you may be right. I mean, just look at the way he "plays" with his best friend, Patrick the Starfish-- in a town a called Bikini Bottom! Scandalous!
I want you to know Dr. Dobson, that you have my complete support in your crusade to spread the word that SpongeBob SquarePants is "pro-homosexual" and he is promoting :gasp: tolerance of people who may not be rich Republicans, extreme right conservative Christians, or rednecks (your devout followers, in other words).
Conservatives Pick Soft Target: A Cartoon Sponge
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON,
Jan. 19 - On the heels of electoral victories barring same-sex
marriage, some influential conservative Christian groups are turning
their attention to a new target: the cartoon character SpongeBob
SquarePants.
"Does anybody here know SpongeBob?" Dr. James C. Dobson, the founder
of Focus on the Family, asked the guests Tuesday night at a black-tie
dinner for members of Congress and political allies to celebrate the
election results.
SpongeBob needed no introduction. In addition to his popularity
among children, who watch his cartoon show, he has become a well-known
camp figure among adult gay men, perhaps because he holds hands with
his animated sidekick Patrick and likes to watch the imaginary
television show "The Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy."
Now, Dr. Dobson said, SpongeBob's creators had enlisted him in a
"pro-homosexual video," in which he appeared alongside children's
television colleagues like Barney and Jimmy Neutron, among many others.
The makers of the video, he said, planned to mail it to thousands of
elementary schools to promote a "tolerance pledge" that includes
tolerance for differences of "sexual identity."
The video's creator, Nile Rodgers, who wrote the disco hit "We Are
Family," said Mr. Dobson's objection stemmed from a misunderstanding.
Mr. Rodgers said he founded the We Are Family Foundation after the
Sept. 11 attacks to create a music video to teach children about
multiculturalism. The video has appeared on television networks, and
nothing in it or its accompanying materials refers to sexual identity.
The pledge, borrowed from the Southern Poverty Law Center, is not
mentioned on the video and is available only on the group's Web site.
Mr. Rodgers suggested that Dr. Dobson and the American Family
Association, the conservative Christian group that first sounded the
alarm, might have been confused because of an unrelated Web site
belonging to another group called "We Are Family," which supports gay
youth.
"The fact that some people may be upset with each other peoples'
lifestyles, that is O.K.," Mr. Rodgers said. "We are just talking about
respect."
Mark Barondess, the foundation's lawyer, said the critics "need medication."
On Wednesday however, Paul Batura, assistant to Mr. Dobson at Focus on the Family, said the group stood by its accusation.
"We see the video as an insidious means by which the organization is
manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids," he said. "It is a
classic bait and switch."
"... For God's sake, don't listen to (Defense Secretary Donald)
Rumsfeld. He doesn't know what in the hell he's talking about on this." ~ Sen. Joe Biden's remarks during Dr. Rice's confirmation hearing at the U.S. Senate
Foreign Relations committee, where she was approved by a 16-to-2 vote.
Rice Acknowledges Bad Iraq Decisions
Wed Jan 19, 2005 03:07 PM ET
By Saul Hudson and Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice
said on Wednesday the Bush administration made some bad decisions in
Iraq and was unprepared for stabilizing the country in a rare
acknowledgment of mistakes.
Her remarks came during her confirmation hearing at the U.S. Senate
Foreign Relations committee where she was approved by a 16-to-2 vote to
be the first black woman as the top U.S. diplomat despite Democrats'
criticism over the Iraq war.
Rice, President Bush's national security adviser for the last four
years, is expected to be approved by the full Republican-led Senate,
probably on Thursday, the day Bush is to be inaugurated for a second
term.
Democrats on the committee complained that the Bush administration was
unwilling to learn from mistakes to change policies in Iraq, be candid
about the cost of continued deployment and develop an effective exit
strategy.
"We have made a lot of decisions in this period of time. Some of them
have been good, some of them have not been good, some of them have been
bad decisions, I am sure," Rice told the committee.
She did not specify what were the bad decisions but said in at least
one case, "We didn't have the right skills, the right capacity, to deal
with a reconstruction effort of this kind."
The 50-year-old former Stanford University provost also acknowledged
the State Department's intelligence arm dissented before the war over
some information about Iraq's weapons capability and needed to be
listened to more. The administration cited such weapons in its buildup
to the U.S.-led war; none have been found.
TELL THE BOSS
Bush chose one of his closest confidants to replace Colin Powell, who
was popular at home and abroad but often appeared out-of-step with Bush
by stressing diplomatic solutions to a White House criticized for a
go-it-alone approach to crises.
Rice's acknowledgment of mistakes followed complaints her testimony
belied the reality on the ground, where an insurgency rages and where
U.S. efforts to train Iraqi security forces to take over from U.S.
troops have been beset by delays.
The committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, lambasted
her for citing administration figures that 120,000 Iraqi security
forces have been trained as part of an exit strategy for eventually
replacing the 150,000 American troops.
Anthony Cordesman, a security expert at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies think tank in Washington, said the vast majority
of Iraqis the Bush administration has trained are incapable of fighting
effectively and Bush and Rice have acknowledged problems of desertion
and absenteeism among them.
"You all don't do anything except parrot 'We've trained 120,000
forces,"' Biden said. "So I go home and people ask me ... 'Why are we
still there? -- 120,000 trained Iraqis? -- Why are we still there?"'
"... For God's sake, don't listen to (Defense Secretary Donald)
Rumsfeld. He doesn't know what in the hell he's talking about on this."
California Sen. Barbara Boxer, one of the two Democrats in the
committee to vote against Rice, urged her to change policy where
necessary. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the former Democratic
presidential nominee, also voted against confirming Rice.
"It seems to me there is a rigidness here, a lack of flexibility," Boxer said.
The Bush administration, which has pursued its Iraq policy in the face
of persistent criticism, has generally avoided acknowledging mistakes.
The New York Times in an editorial worried over Rice's unwillingness to
change strategy meant she would simply try to "sell flawed American
foreign policy to reluctant governments abroad."
I try not to think about the fact that this country
is to suffer through four more years of both GWBush and The Donald. I mean, we pretty much know what to expect from Shrub but Rumsfeld, don't
you think he's just going to keep fucking up? And he's never going to
stop being an arrogant asshat.
C'mon people, put some effort into this--Rumsfeld is not competent.
--Cyn
Dear Friend,
We must stop rewarding incompetence, start demanding accountability, and for the sake of the troops in Iraq, we must replace Donald Rumsfeld.
I was surprised and disappointed that you told the Washington Post last week that no Bush administration official should be held accountable for our failures in Iraq. As the situation worsens and more American lives are lost and troops deployed to the region, it's time to stop rewarding incompetence and to start demanding accountability. For the sake of our men and women in uniform and their families here at home, I urge you to start by replacing Donald Rumsfeld. His record of failure and his inability to play it straight with the American people and our troops overseas make him unfit to serve as Secretary of Defense for one more day, never mind four more years.
If you care about restoring our credibility around the world and our credibility with our troops on the ground in Iraq, you've got to start by removing Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. That's why I am joining Senator John Kerry and hundreds of thousands of Americans in adding my name to the johnkerry.com petition calling for Rumsfeld's immediate removal from office.
I urge you to act without delay. We can't afford any more auto-penned letters of condolences and shifting stories about what kind of armor we have to protect our troops.
American soliders and their families are counting on you as Commander in Chief to hold those in charge of the war in Iraq to the highest standards.
Replace Rumsfeld
ON THIS DAY
On Jan. 18, 1912,
English explorer Robert F. Scott and his expedition reached the South
Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had gotten there first.
(This had to really suck. It's almost akin to American astronauts landing on the moon back in 1969, only to find a Russian flag implanted upon the lunar surface.)
If I could write a poem, to help you ease your pain, filled with love and joy for you, a soft and warm spring rain. The words I used would soothe your heart, and fill you full of glee, You'd feel the love I sent to you, Oh happy you would be If I could find the words, To make the hurting stop, You'd dance and sing and twirl around, You'd learn to do the bop If I could hold you in my arms, and give you my sunshine, Your heart would feel a summer place, and you'd know you were fine If I could pen the things that would, Spread hope and understanding, my fingers would be sore today, cause you know I'd be writing If I could give a tenth of me, and of the love inside me, This world would be a better place, and smiling you would be ~ J.R.V.A.
January 14, 2005
I'm in a period of mulling over what to do with the rest of my life.
The meager disability benefits I've collected since the diagnosis of congestive heart failure most likely are to end soon. In other words, I need to find a job.
My formal training is as a clinical counselor but there are major roadblocks to going back to that work, not the least of which is I'm not sure if I believe in the efficacy of most counseling.
Overall, I've liked what I've been doing with my life and as traditional as it currently is...I'm happy. I look back on the maelstrom that was my life prior to the heart failure and I don't want to go back to that. I won't go back. I came very close to losing my life. I'm not going to work just to earn a paycheck. But how do I find something meaningful? And how am I ever going to reign myself in enough to answer to a boss? And with all the medical shite that comes with hiring me (appts. w/ specialists, various tests throughout the year, side effects) why would anyone want me as part of their team? It's a conundrum, and I'm allowing it to make me lose sleep and overeat and blow off my workouts--so it needs to be resolved.
In that spirit, I'm perusing information on how best to get ones act together. I suppose I'm looking for some help deciding where to start . There are some valid points to Gordon Livingston's contentions in his new book, "Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know
Now," though I do not agree with a statement late in the article that "only bad things happen quickly." I'm not sure I even understand that assertion, but it's been my life experience that bad things can be very long and drawn out, depending on the circumstance(s).
Overall, the review-type article is an interesting read.
I do wholeheartedly agree with the need for a "mute button" on our lives. I often feel like I'm on sensory overload and it's all I can do to keep it all tamped down.
Also, is past behavior the best predictor of future behaviour, as the author asserts? I'm giving that one some thought as I'm considering a step back into the field of counseling. If ones future acts are predicated on what ones done in the past, then what is the point of counseling?
The heart of what the author argues is thatthe key to happiness is looking at your life not as it
should be but as it is. Only then can you honestly plan your future.
I can see this point. It's not that we should accept our current life situation in a way that there's no movement towards change, but rather if we stay stuck in the wishful thinking mode of things will be different in the future, "if only I do "X," today is going to get short shrift.
.................................... Most of life's
heartbreak comes from ignoring the reality that past behavior is the
most reliable predictor of future behavior, he says. Good intentions
aren't a substitute for good acts. Sweet nothings mean nothing. Just do
it.
Psychiatrist spreads word: Look at people's actions
By Roxanne Roberts
The Washington Post
January 10, 2005
Quit talking. Stop listening. We'd all be better off with a "mute" button on the soundtrack of our lives.
That, in a word or four, is the essential lesson of life, according to
psychiatrist Gordon Livingston. After three decades of hearing people
pour out their dreams, disappointments and fears, his single most
valuable piece of advice is this:
"We are not what we think, or
what we say, or how we feel. We are what we do. Conversely, in judging
other people we need to pay attention not to what they promise but how
they behave. ... We are drowning in words, many of which turn out to be
the lies we tell ourselves or others."
Most of life's
heartbreak comes from ignoring the reality that past behavior is the
most reliable predictor of future behavior, he says. Good intentions
aren't a substitute for good acts. Sweet nothings mean nothing. Just do
it.
This lesson is the second essay in Livingston's new book,
"Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know
Now." Actually, it's 30 things you needed to know when you were young
but wouldn't have listened to -- but better late than never.
As much as I have empathy
for the earthquake/tsunami victims, I am fascinated by the mechanism
that caused their misery. It reminds me that in the
great scheme of things ("the Earth, the universe and everything") we
are very minor players. The Earth rules, no matter how powerful the
human race perceives itself to be.
There's a weird kind of comfort in that.
January 11, 2005
Deadly and Yet Necessary, Quakes Renew the Planet
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
They
approach the topic gingerly, wary of sounding callous, aware that the
geology they admire has just caused a staggering loss of life. Even so,
scientists argue that in the very long view, the global process behind
great earthquakes is quite advantageous for life on earth - especially
human life.
Powerful jolts like the one that sent killer waves racing across
the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26 are inevitable side effects of the constant
recycling of planetary crust, which produces a lush, habitable planet.
Some experts refer to the regular blows - hundreds a day - as the
planet's heartbeat.
The advantages began billions of years ago, when this crustal
recycling made the oceans and atmosphere and formed the continents.
Today, it builds mountains, enriches soils, regulates the planet's
temperature, concentrates gold and other rare metals and maintains the
sea's chemical balance.
Plate tectonics (after the Greek word "tekton," or builder)
describes the geology. The tragic downside is that waves of quakes and
volcanic eruptions along plate boundaries can devastate human
populations.
"It's hard to find something uplifting about 150,000 lives being
lost," said Dr. Donald J. DePaolo, a geochemist at the University of
California, Berkeley. "But
the type of geological process that caused
the earthquake and the tsunami is an essential characteristic of the
earth. As far as we know, it doesn't occur on any other planetary body
and has something very directly to do with the fact that the earth is a
habitable planet."
Many biologists believe that the process may have even given birth to life itself.
The main benefits of plate tectonics accumulate slowly and globally
over the ages. In contrast, its local upheavals can produce regional
catastrophes, as the recent Indian Ocean quake made clear.
Even so, scientists say, the Dec. 26 tsunamis may prove to be an
ecological boon over the decades for coastal areas hardest hit by the
giant waves.
Dr. Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, a geologist at Wesleyan University who
grew up in Indonesia and has studied the archipelago, says historical
evidence from earlier tsunamis suggests that the huge waves can
distribute rich sediments from river systems across coastal plains,
making the soil richer.
"It brings fertile soils into the lowlands," he said. "In time, a more fertile jungle will develop."
Dr. de Boer, author of recent books on earthquakes and volcanoes in
human history, added that great suffering from tectonic violence was
usually followed by great benefits as well.
"Nature is reborn with
these kinds of terrible events," he said. "There are a lot of positive
aspects even when we don't see them."
Plate tectonics holds that the earth's surface is made up of a
dozen or so big crustal slabs that float on a sea of melted rock. Over
ages, this churning sea moves the plates as well as their superimposed
continents and ocean basins, tearing them apart and rearranging them
like pieces of a puzzle.
The process starts as volcanic gashes spew hot rock that spreads
out across the seabed. Eventually, hundreds or thousands of miles away,
the cooling slab collides with other plates and sinks beneath them,
plunging back into the hot earth.
The colliding plates grind past one another about as fast as
fingernails grow and over time produce mountains and swarms of
earthquakes as frictional stresses build and release. Meanwhile, parts
of the descending plate melt and rise to form volcanoes on land.
The recent cataclysm began in a similar manner as volcanic gashes
in the western depths of the Indian Ocean belched molten rock to form
the India plate. Its collision with the Burma plate created the
volcanoes of Sumatra as well thousands of earthquakes, including the
magnitude 9.0 killer.
But despite such staggering losses of life, said Robert S. Detrick
Jr., a geophysicist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,
"there's no question that plate tectonics rejuvenates the planet."
Sen. Boxer and Senate Minority Leader Reid during the objection to the
Ohio Electoral voter certification.
To all US citizens and permanent residents: Please pay attention. Thanks.
Remember Fahrenheit 911 when no senator would object to the certification of
the Florida vote? Not this year. Sen. Barbara Boxer joined the objection to
voting irregularities in Ohio and the new Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid of
Nevada stood with her. This forced the House and Senate to hold two hours of
debate on the integrity of voting in our country -- hopefully beginning some
real reform.
EDIT: Whilst Sen. Boxer & Sen. Reid made their objections to certifying an "irregular" voting process, they repeatedly stated that the point was not to remove GW Bush. They would have been delusional to think otherwise. Now however, the Rush Limbaughs of the world are jumping all over the objection, bashing both Sen. Boxer and Dems. in general. Didn't we say back in 2000 when Al Gore was elected by popular vote but GW became prez, that we wanted to see the voting process closely examined for flaws and then go all out to repair them? Didn't we?
Thousands of people are sending thank you letters to Sen.
Boxer and Sen. Reid. Join me in signing the thank you letter at:
I find this editorial discouraging, but it highlights what's even more so--not the direction this country is headed in, but where we are right now-- living the lives of a very bad work of fiction.
I remember as a child growing up, how often I'd hear tsk-tsking about the corrupt and immoral Russians and in comparison, how pristine the American way of life was. Now loads of our dirty laundry flutters in the wind for all the world to see... and we shrug and turn away. LOOK.
I've
been thinking of writing a political novel. It will be a bad novel
because there won't be any nuance: the villains won't just espouse an
ideology I disagree with - they'll be hypocrites, cranks and scoundrels.
In my bad novel, a famous moralist who demanded national outrage
over an affair and writes best-selling books about virtue will turn out
to be hiding an expensive gambling habit. A talk radio host who
advocates harsh penalties for drug violators will turn out to be hiding
his own drug addiction.
In my bad novel, crusaders for moral values will be driven by
strange obsessions. One senator's diatribe against gay marriage will
link it to "man on dog" sex. Another will rant about the dangers of
lesbians in high school bathrooms.
In my bad novel, the president will choose as head of homeland
security a "good man" who turns out to have been the subject of an
arrest warrant, who turned an apartment set aside for rescue workers
into his personal love nest and who stalked at least one of his
ex-lovers.
In my bad novel, a TV personality who claims to stand up for regular
Americans against the elite will pay a large settlement in a sexual
harassment case, in which he used his position of power to - on second
thought, that story is too embarrassing even for a bad novel.
In my bad novel, apologists for the administration will charge
foreign policy critics with anti-Semitism. But they will be silent when
a prominent conservative declares that "Hollywood is controlled by
secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in
particular."
In my bad novel the administration will use the slogan "support the
troops" to suppress criticism of its war policy. But it will ignore
repeated complaints that the troops lack armor.
The secretary of defense - another "good man," according to the
president - won't even bother signing letters to the families of
soldiers killed in action.
Last but not least, in my bad novel the president, who portrays
himself as the defender of good against evil, will preside over the
widespread use of torture.
How did we find ourselves living in a bad novel? It was not ever
thus. Hypocrites, cranks and scoundrels have always been with us, on
both sides of the aisle. But 9/11 created an environment some liberals
summarize with the acronym Iokiyar: it's O.K. if you're a Republican.
The public became unwilling to believe bad things about those who
claim to be defending the nation against terrorism. And the hypocrites,
cranks and scoundrels of the right, empowered by the public's
credulity, have come out in unprecedented force.
Apologists for the administration would like us to forget all about
the Kerik affair, but Bernard Kerik perfectly symbolizes the times we
live in. Like Rudolph Giuliani and, yes, President Bush, he wasn't a
hero of 9/11, but he played one on TV. And like Mr. Giuliani, he was
quick to cash in, literally, on his undeserved reputation.
I heard today that many of us not literally affected by the Asian tsunami, may suffer "burnout" after weeks of hearing about the disaster of biblical proportions. The affliction is Tsunami Burnout Syndrome, as in being sick of hearing about it (okay, I made up the name but not the story behind it). To this I say, look at this man's face as he is told that he must have his leg taken off.
Scott Eells for The New York Times
An Indonesian who survived the tsunami is told by a volunteer Australian
doctor in Banda Aceh that his leg is infected and must be amputated.
More medical aid is starting to reach the thousands of wounded.
What is that Christian saying? (One of many btw, that I employ and think are quite good--though I use "God" abstractly when I say them. I don't think that's too horrid.)
"There but for the grace of God go I..."?
Pardon me please, if I've mangled it badly--I'm going on sheer memory and that is not always real solid ground.
I gave to OXFAM. What they and the United Nations and other agencies are saying is that the initial outpouring of relief dollars is great, thank you, but down the road--a year from now--more- these countries will still need us...so ( I'm commiting to) give one more time now then again in 6 months or a year. Following
are some of the agencies accepting contributions for aid to people
affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Asia. Click on the links
below to donate to an individual organization or go to Network for Good to donate to multiple organizations.
AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE
45 West 36th Street, 10th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10018
800-889-7146 www.ajws.org | Donate Online
AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE
South Asia Tsunami Relief
Box 321
847A Second Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10017
212-687-6200 ext. 851 www.jdc.org | Donate Online
AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE
AFSC Crisis Fund
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, Pa. 19102
888-588-2372 www.afsc.org | Donate Online
AMERICAN RED CROSS
International Response Fund
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, D.C. 20013
800-HELP NOW www.redcross.org | Donate Online
INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS
Earthquake/Tsunami Relief
1919 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 300
Santa Monica, Calif. 90404
800-481-4462 www.imcworldwide.org | Donate Online
INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHARITIES
Asia Disaster Response
P.O. Box 630225
Baltimore, MD 21263-0225
877-803-4622 www.iocc.org | Donate Online
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE
P.O. Box 5058
Hagerstown, MD 21741-9874
877-REFUGEE or 733-8433 www.theIRC.org | Donate Online
ISLAMIC RELIEF USA
Southeast Asia Earthquake Emergency
P.O. Box 6098
Burbank, Calif. 91510
888-479-4968 www.irw.org/asiaquake | Donate Online
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
700 Light Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
800-LWR-LWR-2 www.lwr.org | Donate Online
MERCY CORPS
Southeast Asia Earthquake Response
Dept. W
P.O. Box 2669
Portland, Ore. 97208
800-852-2100 www.mercycorps.org | Donate Online
Some interesting stuff in this article, broaching one of my favourite topics... American English (and other languages, which happened to come up in discussion among family members this past evening, before I read this) and how the way Americans speak it varies depending on several factors. This article goes into that, so I won't elaborate. I should have trimmed the article but just go ahead and skim to the parts of interest.
One of the reasons I enjoy the subject of regional dialects is because I've lived in several distinctly different regions of the US and Canada, picking up bits and pieces from anywhere I live for six years and beyond.
This how it went:
Born: Toronto, Canada Move to Connecticut, USA, age 6 Got the hell out of CT at 18: several areas in Southern California then central coast of California (south of Monterrey, north of Santa Barbara). Age almost 25: Chicagoland, Illinois, USA
(Plus an awful 6 months living in the outskirts of Austin, Texas. Most vivid memory: dead armadillos--they get hit by cars there and you see them at the side of the road. Picture an armadillo though--strange road pizza they got down there.)
To get a feel for the variety of what Robert MacNeil calls "the great family of North American Englishes," start with the opening sequence of MacNeil's engrossing, three-hour documentary "Do You Speak American?" which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday on WTTW-Ch. 11.
In the montage, Americans from Malibu to Maine speak the program's title in their own dialect. A Californian says, "Do you, like, speak American?" A woman from Cajun country in Louisiana asks in French, "Tu parles Americain?"
Hip-hop artists chime in, "Do you speak American, dawg?" Southern comedian Jeff Foxworthy asks, "Do y'all speak American?" A Spanglish-speaking TV host says, "Estas hablando American?"
MacNeil hosted the landmark 1986 documentary "The Story of English." "I'm curious to see how the language has moved on since then," he says as he signs on this time. "So I'm setting out on a journey now to see what's happening to English in the United States."
"Do You Speak American?" spends too much time showing MacNeil driving from place to place and too little time actually listening to the everyday speech of Americans -- and it uses the terms "language," "dialect," "accent" and "slang" interchangeably. Still, the program provides some wonderful snapshots of American English today, and it proves MacNeil's point that our language is "restless, slangy, constantly changing and ever more informal."
MacNeil begins in New England, where "r's" disappear from the end of such words as "car" and "store." When the British started dropping their "r's" in the early 19th Century and developing what we think of as the BBC accent, East Coast cities, through travel and trade, adopted some of its features -- though the resulting accent turned out sounding less like Alistair Cooke and more like John F. Kennedy.
MacNeil continues through Times Square in New York City, with its flashing advertisements and news and stock market messages rolling by on electronic "zippers." The city's financial, publishing and media might, MacNeil says, make it "the global capital of the English language."
But the global capital's distinctive accent -- "noo yowak" -- is one few Americans associate with sophisticated speech, an irony MacNeil overlooks.
Article continues after the jump:
Language "wars" get special attention, especially the intense rivalry between prescriptivists and descriptivists.
The first group insists the role of English teachers and writers is to prescribe language, instructing people to follow the rules of Standard English at all times. Descriptivists say English isn't static, so all anyone can do is describe the language as it changes and adapts to different settings and time periods.
New York magazine critic John Simon is solidly in the prescriptivist camp. The failure of today's speakers of American English to follow traditional rules means the language "has gotten worse," he laments to MacNeil. "It's been my experience that there is no bottom, one can always sink lower, and that the language can always disintegrate further."
Embracing slang
Jesse Sheidlower, North American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary and an avowed descriptivist, doesn't buy it. American English, in all its variety and flavor, he says, "has always taken great pleasure in its slang. You can find even Walt Whitman writing in praise of slang in the 19th Century, about how wonderful it is and how poetic it is, and how this is the American spirit distilled into language."
(Simon retorts that Sheidlower and his lot are "a curse upon their race.")
Anxiety about language change is nothing new, says Dennis Preston, linguist at Michigan State University. He tells MacNeil, "There's a kind of American linguistic insecurity which is very, very old."
On the one hand, we consider British English to be more elegant than ours. "On the other hand, there's American populism and a desire not to be stuffy, not to be too correct," he says.
What is considered correct, Preston says, is the Midwest accent. Linguists refer to that region as the inland North, and it sets the standard for the "normal" pronunciation of American English.
Allan Metcalf explains how this came to be in his superb overview "How We Talk: American Regional English Today" (Houghton Mifflin, 208 pages, $14). In that book, he credits English professor John Samuel Kenyon with helping to shift the perception of standard pronunciation away from the East Coast and closer to Kenyon's native Ohio. In his 1924 book "American Pronunciation," Kenyon, not so modestly, divided American accents into "Southern," "Eastern" and, for his own region, "General American."
However, that influential Midwestern pronunciation is showing changes over time. In a fascinating segment, linguist Bill Labov plays audio clips to demonstrate a phenomenon he calls the Northern Cities Shift: Short vowels have started to become longer in the mouths of many Midwestern speakers. The word "block" has begun to sound like "black"; "bit" resembles "but"; and "Ann" can sound like "Ian."
"Is it fair to say," MacNeil asks, "that North Americans are, in different regions, growing further apart from each other linguistically?"
"I think so," Labov replies. "It's hard to believe. Everyone says to us, we all watch the same radio and television -- how can that be? It's a very surprising finding."
Americans also maintain a remarkable ambivalence toward accents -- the Southern accent (or accents) in particular. On the one hand, Americans tend to admire the emotion and sincerity they associate with the Southern accent. On the other hand, they often hear it as a sign of inferior intelligence.
Foxworthy, the comedian who popularized "You might be a redneck" jokes in the 1990s, doesn't mind being a punch line. "I think Southerners really don't care that Northern people think that [the accent sounds unintelligent]," he tells MacNeil. "Some of the most intelligent people I've ever known talk like I do."
But Foxworthy has some fun with the stereotype. "Nobody wants to hear their brain surgeon say, `Al'ight now, what we're gonna do is saw the top of your head off, root around in there with a stick and see if we can't find that dadburn clot.'"
West Coast factor
After looking carefully at how the Eastern Seaboard ceded its influence on American English to the Midwest, MacNeil mentions only in passing a more modern trend: how the West Coast has emerged as an important language influence.
Today, American English increasingly takes cues from California ("I'm all, like, `As if!'") and Latino dialects such as Spanglish and Chicano.
In particular, the linguistic melting pot of Los Angeles is a cause for alarm to prescriptivists and other purists who fear Spanish will displace English as America's common tongue, but linguist Carmen Fought assuages these fears.
As with European and Asian immigration, "It's still the classic pattern that the first generation born in the United States often will retain the home language, but by the second generation born here, the home language is very often lost," Fought tells MacNeil. "If anything, it's Spanish that's in danger."
"I think there's variations of speaking American," TV and radio personality Steve Harvey tells MacNeil. "You have to be bilingual in this country. And that means you can be very, very adept at slang, but you have to be adept at getting through a job interview."
EDIT: I thought these creatures looked unusually well-preserved to make it onto the dissection table. Thanks to "Don" (see comments) for pointing out that this was a hoax. From Snopes (link below):
Though they are genuine images of some rather strange deep-sea creatures, these photographs have nothing to do with the Indian Ocean tsunami. They date from mid-2003 and were taken as part of the NORFANZ voyage, a joint Australian-New Zealand research expedition conducted in May-June 2003 to explore deep sea habitats and biodiversity in the Tasman Sea. These photographs can be viewed on Australia's National Oceans Office web site.
Last updated: 13 January 2005
The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/photos/tsunami/creature.asp
In the aftermath of the tsunami... Viper fish ( click to enlarge pics)
Umbrella Mouth Gulper
Tongue Sole
Swimmer Crab (This guy I could see on my dinner plate.)
This is a moment to feel deeply bad, for the dead and for those of us who have no explanation.
It's a New Year, but the events of the last week hang heavily on our hearts and minds.
People
held candles and white roses on the tsunami-hit island of Phuket,
tearfully embracing as they grieved, in a poignant symbol of the mood
which darkened New Year celebrations across the globe. In contrast to
the usual revelry, sadness hung over this year's festivities after more
than 124,000 people were killed and millions left homeless by Sunday's
massive Indian Ocean waves. In this photo, a Malaysian girl lights a
candle during a special prayer ceremony for the tsunami victims at a
temple in Kuala Lumpur on December 31, 2004. Photo by Kamarulzaman
Russali/Reuters
Fireworks light up the Sydney Harbour during New Year's Eve
celebrations December 31, 2004. Australia has led the world in a global
minute of silence, parties have been cancelled and trees on Paris's
grand Champs Elysees are shrouded in black as Asia's devastating
tsunami darkens global New Year celebrations. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne
I have this week's front pages arrayed on the desk around me. There's a
picture of dead children lined up on a floor while a mother wails.
There's a picture of a man on the beach holding his dead son's hand to
his forehead. There are others, each as wrenching as the last.
Human beings have always told stories to explain deluges such as
this. Most cultures have deep at their core a flood myth in which the
great bulk of humanity is destroyed and a few are left to repopulate
and repurify the human race. In most of these stories, God is meting
out retribution, punishing those who have strayed from his path. The
flood starts a new history, which will be on a higher plane than the
old.
Nowadays we find these kinds of explanations repugnant. It is
repugnant to imply that the people who suffer from natural disasters
somehow deserve their fate. And yet for all the callousness of those
tales, they did at least put human beings at the center of history.
In those old flood myths, things happened because human beings
behaved in certain ways; their morality was tied to their destiny.
Stories of a wrathful God implied that at least there was an active
God, who had some plan for the human race. At the end of the
tribulations there would be salvation.
If you listen to the discussion of the tsunami this past week, you
receive the clear impression that the meaning of this event is that
there is no meaning. Humans are not the universe's main concern. We're
just gnats on the crust of the earth. The earth shrugs and 140,000
gnats die, victims of forces far larger and more permanent than
themselves.
Most of the stories that were told and repeated this week were
melodramas. One person freakishly survives while another perishes, and
there is really no cause for one's good fortune or the other's bad. A
baby survives by sitting on a mattress. Others are washed out to sea
and then wash back bloated and dead. There is no human agency in these
stories, just nature's awful lottery.
11pm Update: Blizzard Conditions Hit New England
