Web Log Archive, July 23rd to August 5th, 2006
Saturday, August 5th, 2006
"I am
wary of the unnaturalness involved in any attempt to exert control over
uncontrollable forces. It is the individual moments of restlessness, of
bleakness, of strong persuasions and maddened enthusiasms that inform
one's life, change the nature and direction of one's work, and give final
meaning and color to one's loves and friendships.
I have often asked myself whether, given the choice, I would choose to have
manic-depressive illness. It's complicated. Depression is awful beyond words or
sounds or images. It bleeds relationships through suspicion, lack of confidence
and self-respect, the inability to enjoy life, to walk or talk or think
normally, the exhaustion, the night terrors, the day terrors. There is nothing
good to be said for it except that it gives you the experience of how it must be
to be old, to be old and sick, to be dying; to be slow of mind; to be lacking in
grace, polish and coordination; to be ugly; to have no belief in the
possibilities of life, the pleasures of sex, the exquisiteness of music or the
ability to make yourself and others laugh.
Some people say that they know what it is like to be depressed because they have
gone through a divorce, lost a job or broken up with someone. But these
experiences carry with them feelings. Depression, instead, is flat, hollow and
unendurable. It is also tiresome. People cannot abide being around you when you
are depressed.
So why would I want anything to do with this illness? Because I honestly believe
that as a result of it I have felt more things, more deeply; had more
experiences, more intensely; loved more, and been more loved; laughed more often
for having cried more often; appreciated more the springs, for all the winters;
worn death "as close as dungarees," appreciated it-and life-more;
seen the finest and the most terrible in people, and slowly learned the values
of caring, loyalty and seeing things through."
Excerpted (and edited) from An
Unquiet Mind by Kay
Redfield Jamison
Friday, August 4th, 2006 "That man is richest whose needs are least." Chinese proverb
The Wrong Assessment, 2002, by R. A. Pai
The One that I beckoned didn't answer the call
He had built in-between a formidable wall
I should have fought my battles all alone
Than rely on Him, the most elusive One
Many were the travails and tempests I faced
These I would like, from my mind erased
The night was long, fearful and lonely
I had to face it singlehanded, boldly.
The battle then followed and I was victorious
I was the greatest, the most glorious
Self-effort mattered and nothing else, I realised
It was futile to have beckoned the God that failed.
The next night He told me in my dream
"I didn't fail you as you deem,
The wall between us was built by you,
I was all along with you, in the battle too!"
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
There are at least three rather recent important (call them)
'historical' facts that seem never to be mentioned by our MSM
and seem not to be remembered by most people with whom I come in contact:
1) that in 1953, a democratically-elected Iranian government was overthrown (to
be replaced by a Western-friendly monarchy) during a CIA
instigated coup and
2) that in 1988 an Iranian commercial airliner was 'accidentally'
shot down by a US Navy vessel on patrol in the Straits of Hormuz. Two
hundred-ninety people were killed. Notwithstanding its concession that the
action was unintentional, the US refused to pay reparations, intimating that the
Iranians had deliberately made the passenger plane seem like a
hostile military aircraft to 'embarrass' our Navy in the court of public
opinion. [See...those people don't share our reverence for human
life!] The Lockerbie bombing (of Pan American Flight 103) in December of
the same year was said to have been in retaliation for this tragedy and
3) that in 1993, Bill Clinton sent twenty-three
tomahawk missiles into downtown Baghdad. Three of the missiles missed their
target (the Iraqi Intelligence Services Building) and hit nearby dwellings,
killing eight civilians. By any definition, this was an act of
'terrorism', for there was no strategic objective.
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006
"Instead
of the unknown fear, the anxiety without end,
some men of the higher circles prefer the simplification of known
catastrophe.
They know of no solutions except the landing of Marines.
They prefer the bright, clear problems of war---as they used to be.
For they still believe that 'winning' means something, although they never
tell us what."
C Wright Mills (1916-1962)
Today's word is 'eschatology', defined as "the branch of theology concerned with the end of the world or of humankind".
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
"No
one understands another's grief, no one understands another's joy.
My music is
the product of my talent and my misery.
And that which I have written in my
greatest distress
is what the world seems to like best."
Franz Schubert
(1797-1828)
Monday, July 31st, 2006
But....but...drunks
don't lie!
A drunken man's words are a sober man's thoughts.
"After
drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very
wrong and for which I am ashamed. I drove a car when I should not have, and was
stopped by the LA County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job
and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other
person. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and
said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am
deeply ashamed of everything I said. Also, I take this opportunity to apologize
to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been
there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. I
disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I
have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and
profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming
of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my
return to health."
Mel
Gibson 7/29/06
Sunday, July 30th, 2006
"There is always a charge that socialism does not fit human nature. Maybe that's true. But can't people be
educated? Can't people learn to cooperate with each other? Surely that must be
our goal, because the alternative is redolent with war and poverty and all the
ills of the world."
Frank Zeidler
(1913-2006)
Saturday, July 29th, 2006
Q: "What do you think of the conspiracy
theories about September 11?"
A: "I’m willing to believe practically any
mischief on the part of the Bush people. No, I don’t think they did it, as
some conspiracy people think. Why? Because it was too intelligently done. This
is beyond the competence of Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld. They couldn’t pull
off a caper like 9/11. They are too clumsy."
...exchange from a recent
interview with Gore Vidal.
Friday, July 28th, 2006
"There
is a time and place for diversion and amusements, but you should never allow
them to override your true purposes. If you were on a voyage and the ship
anchored in a harbor, you might go ashore for water and happen to pick up a
shellfish or a plant. But be careful; listen for the call of the captain. Keep
your attention directed at the ship. Getting distracted by trifles is the
easiest thing in the world. Should the captain call, you must be ready to leave
those distractions and come running, without even looking back. If you are old,
do not go far from the ship, or you might fail to appear when you are called
for." Epictetus, 55-135
Thursday, July 27th, 2006
"Think of what you hate most about
your job. Then think of doing what you hate most for five straight hours, every
single day, sometimes twice a day, in 120-degree heat. Then ask how morale is."
Sgt.
Jose Sixtos
"They say we're here and we've given them freedom,
but really what is that? You know, what is freedom? You've got kids here who
can't go to school. You've got people here who don't have jobs anymore. You've
got people here who don't have power. You know, so yeah, they've got freedom
now, but when they didn't have freedom, everybody had a job." Joshua
Steffey
Wednesday, July 26th, 2006
Uh Oh! According to
the U.S.
Census Bureau, by the time you're in the 65-74 age group, there are about two
available men for every five available women. That is, a ratio (women to
men) of about 2.5 to 1.0.
'Available' is defined here as those who are widowed, divorced, separated or
have never married.
But even within the 55-59 age group, the numbers are not encouraging for
(heterosexual) women. In this group, there are about two available women
for each available man!
"And not all these men in the pool are
relationship material. They date younger women, they aren't in shape and they
think they can be jerks..."
Tom Blake
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006
Oops! Only 3
Ways of Looking At It?
I hadn't yet come across a statement by that noted climate
expert, Senator Jim Inhofe
(of 'no fairies in my family' fame), R-Oklahoma, who has enlightened us with the
following:
"As I said on the
Senate floor on July 28, 2003, "much of the debate over global warming is
predicated on fear, rather than science." I called the threat of catastrophic global warming the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the
American people," a statement that...was not viewed kindly
by environmental extremists and their elitist organizations. I also pointed
out...that those same environmental extremists exploit
the issue for fundraising purposes, raking in millions of dollars, even using
federal taxpayer dollars to finance their campaigns."
(from the) Congressional Record of January 4,
2005.
Monday July 24th, 2006
1) There are those who say that a mere hundred years (or so) of
reliable weather record-keeping does not furnish enough data from which to extrapolate
a trend (if 'trend' is taken to mean a direction of
change over, say, a few thousand years). "And besides," goes the
reasoning, "what criteria should we all decide
to (read: "agree to")
use to decide whether or not the planet is (or is
not) getting warmer?" Sea level? Ocean temperatures? Area of ice cover?
Average noon temperatures in Stockton?
2) Then there are those who accept that the planet is getting warmer yet
are not (yet) prepared to conclude that the cause of this
warming is human activity (like the burning of fossil fuels).
3) The third POV is held by those who both
accept that the planet is warming and accept that the cause is human
activity. Into this 'camp', falls the US
Department of Energy. The DOE scientists posit a mechanism by which
the production of 'greenhouse gases' traps incident radiation (from the Sun).
Although the so-called 'Carbon Flux' cycle is a
step or two more complicated than the simple fact of man-made emissions
of greenhouse gases, a compelling case is made that human activities are
responsible for rapid global climate change...a change for which we are
ill-prepared.
Sunday, July 23rd, 2006
"Gotta go home. Got sumthin to do
tonight. Get ona plane. Go home. It's a long flight. How long is your flight?
That's a long flight. Your country is big. His country is big too."
Rumors abound that our President has fallen 'off
the wagon' or has been ingesting some mind-altering medication. Because the
White House does not want you to know what drugs he is taking (by analyzing his
excreta), a portable toilet
travels with him everywhere.