Just Jesus Land

Well, I read Jesus Land. I got it partly right. It does involve the heavy handed treatment of the author, Julia Scheeres and her adoptive Afro-American brother David, at a christian camp for supposedly troubled teenagers, the New Horizon Youth Ministry's camp, Escuela Caribe in the Dominican Republic. But their stay at Escuela Caribe was only part of the tale.

On the larger scale it is a story of abuse; physical, emotional, sexual abuse. It's also a story of racial prejudice and religious bigotry. It is a story of narrow minded stupidity. It is a story of hatred and self loathing. These elements come together in violence perpetrated against children; most pointedly Julia and David, whose childhood is stolen from them by a sadistic father, a self-involved religious automaton mother, another adoptive Afro-american brother who is also a sexual predator, racial hatred at their high school and the Lafayette, Indiana community, and the incredible stupidity and further sadism of those running the camp in the Dominican Republic.

Much of this is done in the name of old testament, fire and brimstone christianity.

While there is an air of predictability about Scheeres' narrative, it is that, perhaps, which makes it even sadder and all the more maddening. This story has been told before, many times. Every time we hear of this kind of abuse, we tend to believe, or at least hope that the act of airing these harrowing tales in books and other media will be useful in putting an end to it. But, of course, it doesn't. Demented, stupid people keep coming down the pike who use religion, among other weapons cruely against people, usually children, who haven't the wherewithal to defend themselves. The biblical concept of original sin is routinely used against children by supposedly pious adults as a justification for violence; all in the guise of turning troubled kids away from satan and toward abject supplication to god.

It should be said that Jesus Land is also a love story; the mutual love of Julia and David. The hell that the two of them lived through as societal and family outcasts served to create a bond between them. Each provided a small island of peace for the other. Julia and David were the only ones who had any understanding of what was happening to them. Each was the only person the other could trust.

I won't divulge the ending for anyone who hasn't but has an interest in reading Jesus Land. Not that it's some kind of mystery, but it doesn't end quite how you might think. Suffice it to say that Julia Scheeres is a survivor. Unfortunately, many others are not.

A couple of web sites of interest: http://www.nhym-alumni.org and www.nhym-alumni.org. The first was set up by a group of New Horizon alumnae who use the site as a tell all against the organization. The second is the New Horizon Youth Ministry's web site. They are still in business, and judging from the site, going great guns. That is great, indeed!

TLS

Evil is Afoot!

You just can't make this stuff up. Check out

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070214/india_nm/india287685

We Westerners are just a nasty, depraved bunch.

TLS

Jesus Land and Beyond

This post, in slightly different form, was originally written as a comment on Julia Scheeres' blog site in response to her post titled "Ghosts of My Brother." Ms. Scheeres is the author of Jesus Land, the story of the life and death of her adoptive brother and, at least in part the disastrous effect a "tough love" religious camp had on him. Jesus Land was listed on the NYT bestseller list for some time.

I haven't read Jesus Land as yet. I have been aware of it owing to its success, but just haven't gotten around to it. As some of you may know I have read Sam Harris' and Richard Dawkin's recent books, among others. I am also in hopes of viewing the Jesus Camp film which has made some news of late.

While Ms. Scheeres now resides in San Francisco, she originally hails from in or around Lafayette, Indiana. Her blog profile states that she "outgrew" Indiana. I can relate to that, but I guess I never did - outgrow it, that is. I still live in the Hoosier State. Ah, but that's another story.

Several years back there was a christian based group in Indy that was housing a number of mainly Russian orphans (and children effectively orphaned by the incarceration, and/or addictions of their parents) at a former Stouffers Inn Hotel on north Meridian St. and the former Julietta Home on the far eastern edge of Marion County.

Via a roundabout means we were contacted by the group at Julietta to inquire if their kids could come to our home to pick apples. At the time we had seven apple trees and no means to utilize the overwhelming crop they produced. So, one sunny September afternoon we hosted a group of around twenty to twenty five kids ranging in age from six or seven to around seventeen to pick our apples. It is interesting to note that these kids were not eligible for adoption. They were all conscripted to return to Russia at age eighteen to serve in the military.

They wound up hauling out perhaps fifty or more bushels of apples, and we also allowed them to pick the grapes from our small arbor. Few of the kids spoke any appreciable English, and ostensibly for that reason, we were requested to refrain from making any attempt to communicate directly with them. At the time we thought that a bit strange. But overall, it seemed to be a happy experience for all. Perhaps it was just the effect of being outside on a lovely late summer day.

However, a few weeks later news hit the airwaves regarding this group and its heavy handed tactics at disciplining their charges. The name of the group escapes me at this writing. Some of the kids were reported to have been isolated in lightless rooms, trussed up in blankets, sometimes for days. The kids were often harrangued for their transgressions - whatever they may have been - in interrogation sessions rather ironically reminiscent of Stalinist era KGB or East German Stasi tactics. A number of other accusations were leveled at the group. I don't recall if there was any other alleged physical abuse, nor do I remember there being any accusations of sexual mis-conduct on the part of the overseers.

The end result, though was that the Russian government quickly pulled the plug on the group and whisked all of the kids back to the motherland. This revelation put a damper on our enthusiasm. What had seemed so blissful on "apple day," turned to a sense that we had abetted forced child labor.

The puritan ethic which still holds fast in this country often leaves one dumbfounded. The misery that is brought to bear against people of all ages, but most painfully, against children in the name of religion is despicable. The supposedly protective umbrella of religion often provides, rather a font of guilt, self-loathing and hate that gives license to all manner of abuse and, as we are now witnessing, mass murder.

TLS

Thoughts on Yet Another Cold Night

It has been very cold here in Indy for several days. We had an entire week with lows dipping below zero and haven't even approached the freezing point since I can't remember when. Now those of you in more northern climes are no doubt unimpressed. But it's a matter of what you're used to. If it snows a half inch in Atlanta, everyone goes ape shit. Indiana normally gets a fair share of "winter" weather, but this stretch of cold coupled with some significant snow is not the norm.

I just read the latest report from upstate New York that some areas have as much as 110" of new snow. That's more than nine feet! Holy crap! They won't dig out of that till the end of July. What the hell do you do with nine feet of snow?

But still.

The local weather guys are predicting no significant break in our situation. There is even another snow storm in the works as an arctic low is set to combine with heavy moisture coming up from the gulf. The next "perfect storm" on the brew. What a crock.

Oddly, we had the warmest January on record. No snow. A good deal of rain. But February has come in like an early arriving lion who has apparently eaten all the damn lambs.

So much for the blasted weather.

I posted some of my articles I've written here at Blog Critics Magazine (http://blogcritics.org) over the last several days. Overall they have been reasonably well received. An older article titled "On Death" didn't get much in the way of comments, but was chosen one of the selected "articles of the week" by their editorial staff. Pretty good, huh?

What is rather funny, though is that an article titled "The Folly of the Iraq War" got what I initially thought was major response. I don't believe that any post I've written here has had more than a dozen or so comments. The great majority of them get none. (No, no, that's all right. I've learned to accept it. I understand. Really.) As of this writing a total of 350 comments have been written under my Iraq article.

When it began to take off, I was delighted and surprised. While some of the comments were rather scornfull of my offering in that they felt it amounted to nothing but old news, some seemed to like all or portions of it for varying reasons. However, it soon became clear that my little article was of no particular concern to anyone. My bubble burst. Of those 350 comments, perhaps a couple dozen are even remotely related to the article. Most are concerned with what I assume are ongoing disputes between a number of contributors, editors and commenters which began long before I came on the scene. Being a newby, it didn't occur to me that there was long established in-house squabbling. Mercy me!

Apparently, one of the commenters is also a heavy contributor and editor on the site, one Dave Nalle. He has made comments under at least two names which others consider a dastardly deed. I have no opinion one way or the other. It comes down to being a tempest in a teapot as far as I'm concerned.

When I went through the process of registering for the site, I read any number of admonishments against personal attacks. They would not be tolerated! Well, aparently that ship sailed long ago. Pretty much everyone ranted that their fellow ranters are lying scum who should go fuck themselves by whatever means available - hard and often.

I should note that this group seems to hover around the "Political" section of the site. It is divided up into various areas of interest. Of course, I posted my Iraq article and also my article about Bobby Kennedy under the "Politics" banner. A couple other articles were posted under "Culture" and one under "TV/Film." As noted, they went largely unnoticed, but at least they were not subjected to the maelstrom of accusation and name calling.

I may avoid the "Politics" section in the future. Although, some of it was rather entertaining. It's surprising how imaginative people can be through their invective. I recommend the site to any of you unfamiliar with it. There is in fact some good writing to be found there. Some of it, if I may say so, is mine. (I'm hot stuff!) By the way, I post at Blog Critics under the name "Baritone" just to keep homeland security off balance.

Hee, hee.

Keep up the good work you motherfuckers! (Sorry, Jazzy)

At least it's something to do on a cold winter's night.

TLS

Big day for Indy & Chi Town, disappointment at home

This is the big day for the citizens of the fair cities of Indianapolis and Chicago. By the time most anyone reads this, one of those cities will be the home of the Super Bowl champs. A great day.

However, disappointment hit home. My son in Germany was to board a plane in Berlin and arrive in Indy around 5:30PM today. He arose at around 6AM and soon after boarded a train for the 2 hour ride to Berlin, then made his way to the airport.

Upon checking in he couldn't find his passport. Then it dawned on him. His passport was left sitting on his desk back at his apartment. He had used it to do a pre-check-in on line. It never made it back into his travel pack.

It's the kind of thing that we all do at one time or another; the kind of thing that drives us to distraction and worse. My son was devastated. The plan, of course, was to get to Indy in time to take a seat and watch the Super Bowl at the old homestead. My wife and I were looking forward to having him home. We haven't seen him since last August. It would be great to share watching the game with him.

He called his brother who then called us to relay the news. It left me feeling hollow and feeling my son's pain. I know this doesn't measure up to what families are going through with their kids in war zones. But family is family.

Fortunately, the airline allowed my son to reschedule his flight without penalty. He will be coming in on Tuesday. Our other son is flying in Wednesday. We will all be together for a few days. That is great. We will just have to watch the game separately. Somehow, I think we will survive.

TLS

P.S. The Colts won! Woohoo!!

Blockage? You're Talking Blockage?

Yep. I went to see a cardiologist today, and that ugly word cropped up. I got BLOCKAGE. Well, that sucks! It's a bad thing, right?

What to do, what to do? Roto Rooter comes to mind. Liquid Plumber? Draino? The doctor forces a chuckle. "No, no, and no." Then the good doctor, who, I believe, hails from India or thereabouts, says: "You don hiv de bon don doo nu biddle da nob dib kondando, ha, ha, ha." What a guy. We all just laughed and laughed.

We pulled ourselves together and after a good deal of repetition I think I discerned that I have a posterior artery which is probably 70% to 80% blocked. Just the one, I guess. He pointed out rather jovially that it is not the "widow maker" artery, and it is not completely blocked. (This was determined via a stress test coupled with nuclear [or nucular if you're a republican,] injections and scans prior to and after my nine and a half minutes on the treadmill.)

Good.

I guess.

Well, now I am going from simply taking an aspirin and multi-vitamin in the morning to where I will soon be downing those plus Zocor for high cholesterol, and something to slow my heart rate, a beta blocker, the name of which I never quite understood, and - AND I am now supposed to carry nitroglycerin tablets with me in the event my chest explodes. I have always been under the impression that nitroglycerin possessed a tendancy to explode. But what do I know? Nitroglycerin for poop sakes!

Life moves on inexorably with changes that inevitably lead us to the happy hunting grounds.

Things changed for me today. I don't feel any different. I haven't been having any pain, sweating or shortness of breath, but nevertheless, things have changed. This is the first definitive chink in my immortal armor. By golly. I might not live forever. People have been telling me that is the case for some time, but I never really believed that it applied to me.

True, I've had some knee problems - a torn miniscus, a little arthritis - but that had little to do with continuing to draw breath. It just slowed me down a bit. A little pain. Mostly just a nuisance.

But a blockage? That's my heart, man! That's pretty basic.

Then the doctor tells me I'm fat. What's up with that? I point out that "I wouldn't be fat if it wasn't for my weight. Ha, ha." And, then: "My gelatinous gut here? Well, it used to be my chest but owing to the effects of gravity... Ha, ha, ha." He doesn't get it. "Yes, he says, you weigh a great deal, and so you are fat. You have the belly fat. Badinably kondeendi pundamakoli. Okay? We'll see you."

And he's gone.

I slip my shirt back over my ponderous bulk, and my wife and I make our way back to our car. We decide to trek up to Trader Joes grocery and look for low sodium food. I pointed out to her that sugar has no sodium (or fat for that matter.) But, alas, she's diabetic.

It has been determined that we humans are supposed to take in no more than something like 2000 milligrams of sodium per day. There are packaged foods at Joes that have nearly 1000 milligrams of sodium per serving. I think salt is the first ingredient listed on the package. Most have something in excess of 500 to 600 milligrams per serving. What can you do?

I once purchased a can of sodium free soup. No sodium. Nada. None. That was perhaps the worst tasting thing I've ever eaten, and I've eaten dirt! They could use that stuff on "Fear Factor." No one could eat that crap.

We are salt fiends. Even if we eschew adding it to our food at the table, salt, as they used to say about Prego: "It's in there." No wonder people died young before they discovered how to utilize salt. The hellish taste of their food destroyed their will to live. They wanted to go to the land of milk and honey.

What am I to eat? Low fat, low salt, low sugar, low calories. I can eat air. Or air "lite" would be preferable.

Well. Not to worry. This dastardly clogged artery will not get me down. I will lose weight. I will get in shape. I will eat air. To hell with my knees! I am aiming for the Ironman competition in Hawaii in say, 2008 or, better maybe 2009. Don't want to rush into anything. I will kick some "Big Kahuna" butt.

Of course, I've got to do this while I also go about learning everything so I can retake the damn Jeapordy on line test. I'll put the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica on an IPod and listen while I bike, swim and run. No problem. Not only will I be one smart son of a bitch, I'll be a buff one, too. The girls (and maybe some guys) will swoon. Brains and brawn.

I just hope I can be understood answering the Jeapordy questions with a nitoglycerin pill under my tongue.

TLS

Humility, Thy Name is the Jeapordy On-Line Test

Yeah, I took the Jeapordy On-Line exam. You see, I'm a pretty smart cookie. I know a lot of stuff. I sit watching the show answering the questions left and right. Appalled at how the contestants can be so uninformed. "Who was Bilbo? not Frodo, you dummies!"

So. I signed up to take the exam. I was gonna nail that sucker. It'd just be a matter of time until I would be telling Alex Trebek about some dumb thing I did in college or on my honeymoon, or whatever after the first commercial break, no doubt with yours truly in control of the board. Look out Ken Jennings, I'm gonna play whoopass on Jeapordy.

Tuesday evening, 8:00PM rolls around. I'm a bit nervous, but confident. The clock counts down to zero and the fun begins. The first question pops up. Uh, well, I don't know that one, but hey, let's move on. There's fifty questions. Missing one can't hurt. The second question appears. Hmmm. Well, I uh - on to number three. Hey, I know that one - clack, clack, clack, clack, clack. Nailed it! Number four. Oh, that's uh, oh yeah, er no, uh oops, time's up. Well, crap! Number five. Got it. Number six. I got no idea. The Sargasso Sea? Where the hell is that? Screw it. Number seven. Oh, man. I know that, I know that. Ed Asner! No, no, he was the actor. Who was his character? Time's up, again. Damn! Lou Grant, dammit! Lou Grant for crying out loud. Oh, yeah - Number eight. Woohoo. I know that one. Number nine. That one, too. Now I'm rollin'. Number ten. Oh, boy. What was his name? No, I mean what did he write? "The Tell Tale Heart?" No, that was Poe. Damn, damn, damn! Number eleven - - - and so it goes.

Uh, don't look for me on Jeapordy any time soon. I can't even take the on-line exam again for two years. Talk about a come down. I'm a smart guy, darn it. I shoulda maxed that test. Of course, I am getting a bit long in the tooth. Not as quick as I used to be. Who am I kidding? No one ever mistook me for a bolt of lightning. But, hell, how hard can it be? By golly, I'm gonna bone up over the next couple of years. I'm gonna study - what? Everything. I'll study every damn thing there is. I gotta get on top of all those English kings and queens. The French ones, too. And the Italians, and the Germans, and the Russians, and the - oh, well, I'll get to all of them eventually. I also gotta know about all those "potent potables" - What the hell is a Shiraz?, and all of the vice presidential wives, and all of the Secretaries of State, and, oh yeah and lyrics of all Kurt Cobain's songs, and what phylum arachnids are in, or is arachnid the phylum? No, that's the class, or maybe the species. What was the name of the chimp on the first "Today" show? Fred J. Suggs er no, Muggs. Yeah, Fred J. Muggs. Right? Oh, man. I don't know. I mean, I know, but I don't know.

Hmmm.

Maybe I just oughta keep answering the questions over dinner. No pressure. Just keep the mac & cheese coming.

TLS

Woohoo!!!

3000 HITS!!!

Man, can you imagine? It only took 14 months. (Of course about 2/3 of those hits were me, but hey. So what.)

tls

Yeah, yeah, I'm back. I know I wasn't gone long, but...

An observation:

The closing item on the NBC Evening News tonite was the story of an elderly woman in Georgia who says good-bye to all the soldiers leaving for the middle east from an airbase outside Savannah. It has been estimated that she has bid adieu to around 56000 men and women as they boarded planes over the last three and a half years. She is a grand, somewhat blousy cracker of a woman. It's a great gesture on her part.

Over the last few years there have been a number of similar stories of extraordinary support of our troops and/or their families, like the various groups across the country that have provided properly insulated helmets to soldiers in need of them, that the government failed to provide.

Similar stories made the airwaves during the much briefer Gulf War in the 1990s and, of course, during the seemingly interminable Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s. It is truly great when people come to the fore to help the young men and women placed in harm's way in service to their country. We often see that, while war can and does bring out the worst in us, the best instincts of humanity also tend to surface.

As great as all that is, one is left to ponder why all this is necessary in the first place. Our military is killing and being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why? Ostensibly to stem the tide of terrorism. I won't go into all of that. We know the drill, the reasons Bush & company gave for the Iraq invasion. We also know that most of those "reasons" were not substantiated. No Al Qaida connection, no 9/11 connection, no WMDs. Let's see. What does that leave? Saddam Hussein was a murderous, eminently evil bastard, a despot of the first order, who killed thousands of his own people. Horribly true. Is there anything regretable about his fall and subsequent execution? No, nothing.

However, all of that does not meet a litmus test for our going to war. Does anyone believe that things are better in Iraq now? Iraqis are dying by the score daily. In the end does it really matter who is doing the killing? Saddam, Americans, or your neighbors? Not only is Iraq in a state of chaos, the entire region is becoming unsettled owing to the sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis. There are both Shiites and Sunnis in Iran, Syria and several other countries in the area. It is not that much of a stretch to see how the violence could spread. Additionally, terroist groups like Al Qaida and others have taken advantage of this situation by instigating violence in such a way as to cast blame on one sect or the other. If what is going on there presently does not qualify as civil war, it's the next thing to it. To argue the point is splitting hairs.

Bush's obsession with bringing down Saddam has cost us dearly. We are now mired in a conflict from which there is no graceful exit. This is reminiscent of our involvement in Vietnam which was nearly twenty times as costly in American lives, and probably dozens, perhaps hundreds of times more costly in the combined American, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and other lives than all those lost in the Iraqi conflict to date.

The 57000+ American and countless other lives lost in the Vietnam conflict absolutely died in vain. The so called "domino" still fell, and to what effect? Now, Vietnam is a country that has largely rebuilt itself with an economy that is on the upswing and is generally well respected in the world community. And all of those people died for what, again?

The same can be said for our involvement in Iraq. At some point we will withdraw most or all of our troops from Iraq perhaps quietly, perhaps ignominiously as in Vietnam. What will be left behind? A unified country with a strong democratic government as Bush hopes? Perhaps. More likely Iraq will further devolve into total chaos and all out civil war. The entire middle east could be left a virtual powder keg.

George Bush may well be left with a legacy that he never imagined when he made his triumphal "mission accomplished" appearance on the carrier, USS Lincoln, or when he uttered his loathsome "bring 'em on" challenge to the Iraqi insurgents. The whole region could be engulfed (no pun intended) in sectarian war. Terrorist groups will be having a heyday. Israel will be rendered more vulnerable to attacks from all directions. The United States will have so much egg on its face that we will be indiscernable from a western omelet.

And all of the death will have been in vain. But, hey, maybe we can get cheaper gas.

TLS

There is an end to all things

I think I may put this baby to bed. It seems to have run its course. I know this will be a disappointment to my ardent readership, but I'm sure both of you will be able to find other sources for intellectual stimulation, razor-sharp wit, and downright fun.

I've sat here several times over the last few days without any inspiration. Perhaps I've had my say. In any event, I'm just going to let this be for a while.

TLS

No Global Warming?

Jazzy & Other Doubters,

Read this if the spirit moves you: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_bi_ge/exxonmobil_global_warming

This doesn't prove anything one way or the other. But it certainly does raise questions regarding any information debunking global warming which has been disseminated over the last few years.

Hmm.

Pat Robertson: What a Guy!!!

Pat Robertson has made his predictions for 2007 after his tete-a-tete with the godster. The big guy related to good ole' Pat that a bunch of us are going to get greased this year via some type of terrorist attack on our soil. God, being the sly devil he is, wouldn't divulge anything further except to say that it will probably be later in the year. So, I guess we can relax through spring and into summer. The college crowd can still get stinko and screwed at their all important post winter rituals in Florida and the Caribbean. The rest of us should be able to get a handle on that pesky crab grass and perhaps get in a few rounds at the country club (thank god!,) But then, we'd better start raising the terrorist alert level toward the crimson end of the spectrum, and stock up on batteries, plastic sheeting, duct tape and turkey jerky. The lord of lords wouldn't even tell Patty Cake what kind of attack it will be. Nuclear? (or, uh nuculer?) Biological? Tribbles? He knows how to keep us on the edge of our proverbial seats, doesn't he?

Robertson is proud of his track record, but admits that "sometimes I miss." The fact that he's not batting a thousand tells us that either Patsy should invest in a hearing aid, or take better notes. Or perhaps the king of kings gets his jollies from messing with our heads. He feeds us a few red herrings just to keep things interesting. What a kidder.

Pat Robertson is an asshole. How he maintains an audience is beyond me. That he, in fact has a large following does not reflect well on the intelligence level of this country. He is such a mean spirited cretin. His adherents are idiots. Robertson's having a dais upon which to spew his drivel is, if anything is, a sin against humanity. He's not up there predicting the next schmuck "The Donald" will point to and say "You're fired!", or whether Brad and Angelina will break our hearts. The Rob lays claim to having one-on-one personal conversations with god, for god's sake! He predicts mass murder to bolster his ratings. The man is insane! Presumably, should his dire prediction come to pass, he will no doubt gleefully shout from the rafters "I told you so, I told you so. Nya na nya na nya!!!" I can envision Pat Man and the omniscient one giving each other "high fives," and maybe downing a couple of brewskies together in celebration.

Simply because some of the crap Robbie Baby supposedly regurgitates from the mouth of god comes to fruition does not serve as an affirmation of his predictions. It only means that if you throw enough shit against the wall, some of it will probably stick. Big wup!

Here is hoping that someone spirits the Reverend Mr. Robertson away, ties him securely to an uncomfortable chair, pins his eyes open ala A Clockwork Orange, restricts his head movement and forces him to watch Rob Schneider's entire body of work (or to the true aficionado - his oeuvre) - TV and film - in full Dolby, repeatedly for days - nay, nay -for eternity!

Pat Robertson is - well, I just have to say it - he's a poophead.

One other thing.

The supposed outrage of, among others, the Iraqi sunnis regarding the execution of Saddam and the video which is now circulating the net, is a crock. This coming from people, primarily muslims, who think nothing of stoning to death a young woman in the town square for besmirching her family's honor for say, being in the same town as some man not her father or brother, or as seen in Afghanistan under the taliban, public beheadings during period breaks in soccer games. Now that's entertainment!

Seeing Saddam being led to his death was not pleasant. I took no joy in watching it, though watch it I did. I am not a particular fan of capital punishment, but if anyone deserved to die for his actions, Saddam did. I don't mourn for the man. People who believe that Saddam Hussein was any kind of hero are at least as stupid as Robertson's admirers, maybe more so (if that's possible.)



TLS

THE TRUE MEANING OF EVERYTHING! - well some things - uh maybe, maybe not

I love most christmas music, except perhaps what one hears repeated ad nauseam at shopping malls from about the middle of October on.

I have a CD, The Glorious Sound of Christmas. It features Eugene Ormandy leading the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Temple University Concert Choir (Robert Page, Director.) Actually, I originally purchased this recording back in the mid-1960s as an LP record through the old Columbia Record Club. If you like christmas music performed with choirs in orchestral settings, you might well like this one. It is still being sold. I saw it at Borders a couple of weeks ago. I purchased my CD from Amazon.

So what?, you might say. Indeed!

The first four cuts are standards - "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Joy to the World," and "O Holy Night." All are excellent renditions. Cut number five begins a run of consecutive pieces which are, in my opinion three of the greatest christmas carol recordings I've ever heard. The first is also the best and by far the most moving. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is performed with all strings. No brass, no reeds, no percussion, no voices. It reaches into the depths of one's heart. I have listened to it, I can't guess how many times. I sometimes pull it out in May or July and play it. It still moves me to tears. It begins quietly with a meandering cello (or perhaps viola) line which then gives over to violins introducing the simple verse. Each successive verse builds in complexity gradually adding instruments in a steady crescendo to greater emotional heights culminating in a finale' which absolutely shakes the room.

At such moments I understand why people come to believe in a god. I understand why people feel the need for a higher power. At the end, we are alone. We may have family and friends. We may have access to spiritual and/or professional help if depressed or fearful. We can take pills to assuage depression and fear. But, as we move through life, friends come and go. Family members pass. Ministers, psychologists and phychiatrists can only listen, and give counsel. The effectiveness of pills wanes. Despite the love, caring and the best efforts of others, we can still feel utterly alone, suffering pain and loss, facing our own mortality. These times can be devastating.

We often then, seek solace from a god, which we come to believe has the power to direct our lives, which gives us comfort in affording us assurance that we are loved, and ultimately provides us with the hope of an eternal life in paradise. We long for perfect peace and perfect beauty. It's grand and heady stuff.

The "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" on the Glorious Sound album evokes, for me at least, that pain and yearning, but also the incredible beauty of life. As one who does not believe in any god, I am not immune to the base fears which are the stuff of living and dying. The astonishing depth and resonance of this recording bring all of those emotions to the surface. I believe that it is good for us to experience them.

The other pieces I alluded to are wonderful as well in different ways. Another instrumental, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is as rousing as "O Come" is profoundly emotional. The last of the three is a gently evocative "Ave Maria" (Schubert). It combines orchestra and wordless chorus, and leaves one with a sense of calm. More carols follow on the album, but these three are, for me, the best.

The inspiration for all of this music was, of course god, and more specifically, the birth of jesus. My wife is dubious about any notion that such music could have been written without godly inspiration. Obviously, I don't agree. Music, and pretty much all artistic achievements of man would likely be just as great, and just as inspirational without a godly muse. Granted, it all might be very different. We probably would not have spent as much time looking heavenward. But we humans are an ingenious and resourceful lot. Inspiration has and continues to come to us from sources other than god, through which we create great things. Great architecture. Great sculpture. Great painting. Great music. Great dance. Great drama. Great literature. All of it.

And!

Consider science. If you genuinely delve into biology and evolution, study chemistry or discover the wonders of physics, you will find that there is unfathomable beauty to be found there. One does not need to look outside of nature, to the meta-physical or spiritual for inspiration. It is all around us, all the time. It is nature. It is us.

TLS

GREETINGS OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON!!!!

To all of my hundreds, nay thousands of loyal readers: MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HO HO HO!

Remember that Christ, or somebody like Christ, or a number of somebodies like Christ was born on Christmas day, or sometime there abouts - it was said to be cold at any rate. Did Joseph and Mary know it was Christmas day? Did they get their shopping done? Did they make it to the Bethlehem Mall before all the stores closed? Did they encounter a lot of holiday travelers on the way to Bethlehem? Did they have any trouble getting through security? Did they get any free "donkey" miles? (Hey, I could have written "ass" miles, but I didn't.)

We know the reservations got screwed up at the inn. Did they get a coupon for a free stay at any other inns or at least free use of the day spa? They darn well should have. A mud bath would probably feel great after several hours of labor. Did the concierge find them a midwife? Did they have to pay extra for the swaddling clothes? Did the management demand to see their marriage license? How did they sign the register? Did Joseph dutifully stay in the manger getting hot water and towels, or could he have been found wiling away the hours in the inn lounge putting back a few vodka stingers?

Did they set out some milk and cookies for Santa?

Did they hang around Bethlehem to celebrate New Years? Did they give Jesus a sparkler?

All these questions, so few answers.

I'm a nasty SOB. But Merry Christmas anyhow.

TLS

Free Will and the Survival of Humanity (Some heavy shit!)

The following appears as a comment on a recent post on Gregg100's Open Campus blog site http://1opencampus.blogspot.com/. "Dan" is another commenter who apparently has a keen interest in whether man has any free will. As you may see, I drone on for some time, so gird your loins, or whatever it is you are comfortable "girding," and enjoy.

I'm not sure I follow Dan's interest in "free will." Is it his notion that there is some biological imperative which predisposes us to certain patterns of behaviour and consequently any and all decisions we make?

I suppose our heredity and instinct for survival direct a great deal of our decision making processes. However, I feel that one of the distinct qualities of our species is that we do have a certain amount of free will which is often demonstrated by the number of truly bad decisions we make which often run counter to our survival and well being. A slug would not "decide" to do a lot of the truly stupid things humans so often do.

Some evolutionary scientists claim that man has ceased to evolve owing to our unprecedented departure from nature. We have, from an evolutionary perspective, taken ourselves out of the equation - at least to a greater degree than other earthly life forms. We do not survive purely on instinct and hereditary predisposition. We cogitate and consider - often over little, if any relevant evidence - and at times come to spurious conclusions about what course of action to take, or whether to take any action at all regarding any given matter. Bengal tigers spend little time hemming an hawing. They attack and eat.

As to whether the survival of humanity is a worthy goal, what else is there for us? I have suggested that humanity is, in fact the closest thing to god we know of. While we certainly don't have many of the qualities usually reserved for our typical concept of what it is to be "godly," we seem to possess more such qualities, or abilities than any other life form with which we are familiar.

In this regard, the spiritual realm doesn't count for much. In my humble opinion, most of what people regard as "spiritual" is based on dreams, fantasy and hallucinations, or just wishful thinking.

The pursuit of our long term survival calls upon many of the qualities we do possess which take us beyond the realm of individual survival, including cooperative efforts with other humans, care and concern for the life and well being of others, creativity and innovation, etc., as you (Gregg) have rightly indicated.

The question can be put: Of what importance is the long term survival of humanity? To what end? If there is no god, no afterlife, no spot in heaven to pursue, nor permanent residence in hell to avoid, then what purpose can it all have?

Perhaps that is our challenge. Perhaps that is the point which will call upon our highest abilities. It falls to us to find the subtext of our daily lives, if you will, to define what it is we must do beyond basic, personal survival to further the survival of humanity, and why it is worthy of our efforts.

TLS

A Short Trip

My wife and I flew to Orlando, Florida last Friday afternoon. My son picked us up and drove us north to his domicile in Gainesville where we spent Friday evening and all day Saturday. The highlight of our stay there was sitting on a wood deck overlooking Lake Alice on the UF campus. It was quiet and lovely. It's hard to believe that it lay more or less at the center of a huge university campus. Didn't spy any 'gaters, though.

Sunday afternoon we hit the road and drove to Savannah, Georgia. We spent the night and much of the next day there. What a beautiful city! We also took a trip out to Tybee Island where we walked the beach, and my son climbed the 150+ steps to the top of the lighthouse.

We returned to Savannah and, of course, took in the Mercer House and later ate lunch at the Gryffin (sp?) Tea Room which is owned and operated by SCAD - the Savannah College of Art and Design. That's good eatin'.

We hit the road around two in the afternoon and headed out toward Atlanta. I took the wheel just north of Macon as darkness fell. About 2 miles or so further north I looked ahead to see that the traffic in front of me was stopping short, and some cars were scattering out into the median. I slammed on the brakes, but quickly realized I could not stop before hitting the car ahead of me. I veered to the right into the center of the 3 lanes of the interstate. It appeared to be clear. I remember seeing a truck in my peripheral vision with the cab protruding into the far right lane at a right angle to traffic as we moved through the maze of cars. I thought, or at least hoped that we were clear. I saw some debris in the roadway running over it without damage, but a dark something else loomed ahead which I couldn't avoid. I hit whatever it was accompanied by two hard "bangs." I knew that was not a good thing. I kept control of the car and pulled off the roadway as quickly as I could.

All three of us got out of the car and looked to discover that both left tires were flat. We then looked back to where the chaos had ensued to see the box truck I had caught site of before and a semi-truck with a large open flat bed trailer on its side - the cab thrust up into the woods about 20 or 30 feet off of the roadway. It had begun to burn. There were a couple of people standing up on the cab of the semi assisting its driver out. Just as they cleared the wreck, the gas tank blew and the entire rig including its cargo - 3 or 4 large rolls of newsprint - went up with flames shooting high into the black night sky. Talk about your dramatic scenes.

Over the next several minutes state troopers, ambulances and fire apparatus began arriving. All north bound traffic was stopped. It took some time for the fire to be extinguished. Wreckers came to haul away the box truck and the remains of the now charred semi and trailer.

In the mean time, my son called AAA for a tow. We had no idea when a wrecker might arrive. If it was coming from the south, it could take hours. I found a trooper and told him of our situation. We were collateral damage. He wasn't particularly interested in our plight. He had bigger fish to fry, as it were. I did not want all of the emergency vehicles to pull out, leaving us disabled out in the country at the side of the interstate, in the dark. A fireman advised us that, if we were still there when the highway opened up, that we should get as far away from our car as possible. He said we should get back into the woods, because when the traffic started to move, it was likely to be chaotic. Our car might well get creamed.

Fortunately, the wrecker arrived, but was in the southbound lane. He told us that he could not cross the median as it was against the law, and he could be fined up to $700 for doing so. His only option was to head south and get at the rear of the halted traffic. That was crazy talk.

I took the wrecker driver, in tow and found a fireman to explain the situation. We ultimately got permission for the wrecker driver to cross the median. He did so and pulled our car up onto his rig. The three of us crammed into the cab of the wrecker along with the driver who took us some 20 miles northwest to the bustling metropolis of Barnsville, GA where his repair shop is located. There was no chance of getting tires that late, then well after 9:00PM. Fortunately, there was a motel, a Country Hearth Inn in Barnsville where we stayed the night. We had two meals at the Huddle House adjacent to the motel that night and on Tuesday morning. The uh - cuisine at the Huddle House was a bit high on the greasy side, but it was better than not eating at all.

Around noon my cell phone rang with the news that our car was repaired. Two tires and the tow came to just over $300. We got back on the road around 12:30 and made it back to Indy around eleven Tuesday night without incident.

Why am I recounting this little tale here? Well, there is this. Another driver who had been ahead of us on the roadway found himself directly next to the semi as it hit the cab of the box truck. This fellow had the presence of mind to hit the gas which managed to get him just ahead of the carnage. He was walking around talking at a near babble. He was really shook up. He claimed that he caught site of the semi driver's eyes as the truck was going over onto its side. He said that the guy had a look of absolute terror. He couldn't get that image out of his mind. As I indicated, the semi driver did make it out of the cab and was more or less unhurt. There were two people with the box truck, but they had gotten out and were standing well behind when the semi rammed into it. (They had gotten caught in mud off the road side and were stuck with the truck cab protruding out into the traffic lane. Pretty smart.) Somehow, no one got hurt.

The babbling fellow was busily praising god for his and everyone else's deliverance. He thanked jesus for getting the semi driver out of the truck safely. I know he was really shook up, but I hear this kind of thing so often. It wasn't god or jesus who delivered us from harm. First, it was luck. Just dumb luck. Second, the semi driver was saved by a couple of guys who braved the fire. Had they hesitated even for another minute, it is very likely that the driver would have died in that truck. The babbling driver saved himself by flooring his accelerator. If someone ahead of me had veered in front of us, or had the semi slid to the left rather than off into the woods, we would not have made it through with consequences unknown.

I find it disingenuous when people thank god for saving the day, when it was actually other people who rose to the occasion, and/or the luck of the draw that just happened to favor survivors of accidents or whatever unfortunate events people find themselves involved in. What about those who didn't come out alive or unscathed? They drew the loosing cards. It's just chance. Contrary to what a lot of people say, things do not happen for a reason.

Give credit where credit is due. God is no hero. It is, a fireman, your neighbor, or perhaps a stranger who saves the day. And, in the end, we are all subject to caprice - to chance, for good or ill.

TLS

Continuing Conversation

Jazzy,

Yeah, I did switch to Beta. I don't see much difference, but they indicate that, ultimately everybody on Blogspot will have to make the change or disappear into the internet ether.

I must admit I have never felt that the global warming issue was, in the main political. No doubt some people with differing agendas have grabbed onto environmental issues to gain political and/or financial advantage. However, I don't believe that most scientists studying climatic changes, who accept global warming as a reality, are politically motivated. The science is telling them what is happening. Certainly, some of it is speculative, and predictions tend to be all over the place, but consider just how complex it all is. I just read this article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061214/sc_nm/climate_oceans_dc) online which makes dire predictions, indeed. Is it accurate? I don't know.

What if the nay sayers are wrong? What happens should we ignore the warnings? The price could be dear.

I am a liberal in most respects. I don't hate "the capitalistic free enterprise system." Some do, I suppose. I would suggest that some ultra right wingers are not particularly fond of it either. Some would love to bring about a totalitarian system which would deny us our basic freedoms - social, political and economic.

I do believe that there are inequities in our system, that unbridled greed has allowed a very small number of people to wield a huge amount of power and live in a manner unprecedented at anytime in history, made on the backs of millions of people who live beneath any standards of what it means to be poor - a situation not unlike that prevailing in much of the world hundreds of years ago with the great majority of the world's citizenry living under the thumbs of feudal lords.

The theory of our system states that anyone can succeed. The reality is something different. The deck is stacked heavily against the great majority of people to achieve even a modicum of success or financial security. How well do you suppose you could live on $5.15 per hour?

I am not an apoligist for socialism, but nor do I consider the present system to be a sacred cow.
The choice of economic systems is not simply black and white. What with social security and other assistance programs, we have, since at least the 1930s lived in a quasi-socialist system. There are those who would do away with all of it, social security, medicare, welfare, public education, etc., either in the belief that the private sector would pick up the slack, or skinflint Scrooges who believe that all who can't carry their own weight should be left to whatever evils might befall them. The former scenario would not likely be an adequate or equitable alternative, the latter is unthinkable.

I don't believe that most liberals "hate" capitalism. Such accusations are the stuff of propaganda. But, as I suggest above, many are aware of our system's inequities, and seek relevant change.

I would ask, that you, too should keep an open mind. Consider the possiblity that conservatives who preach against the likelihood of global warming may have their own, and often conflicting agendas as well.

TLS

Response to Gregg100 and JazzyCat

Gregg,

It's great to see you back at it. I have read your recent posts and have some comments that I will try to get to soon. We went out of town for a few days, and I've been away from all this during that time.

Jazzy,

I agree with Gregg on this (big surprise.) It is, in the end a question of probabilities. At this juncture of human existence, the question you pose, one which we have discussed in the past, is unanswerable. But the probability of there being a "super intelligent [and super-powerful]" god or some such, given what we DO know and understand about this universe we call home, is extremely low.

Regardless, what you and billions of others throughout the world have done is accept the fall back position of a god being the designer of it all.

To once again quote Richard Dawkins from THE GOD DELUSION I site the following which Dawkins states as "the central argument of [his] book:

""1. One of the greatest challenges to the human intellect, over the centuries, has been to explain how the complex, improbable appearance of design in the universe arises.

"2. The natural temptation is to attribute the appearance of design to actual design itself. In the case of a man-made artifact such as a watch, the designer really was an intelligent engineer. It is tempting to apply the same logic to an eye or a wing, a spider or a person.

"3. The temptation is a false one, because the designer hypothesis immediately raises the larger problem of who designed the designer. The whole problem we started out with was the problem of explaining statistical improbability. It is obviously no solution to postulate something even more improbable..."

Dawkins goes on to site evolution as the strongest evidence against intelligent design saying "that the illusion of design in living creatures is just that - an illusion."

Now I know the heart and soul of ID is rejection of evolution. Ann Coulter, among others poses an extensive argument against evolution primarily in siting apparent gaps in the fossil record. Creationists tend to declare that "If there are no fossils to document a postulated evolutionary transition, the default assumption is that there was no evolutionary transition, therefore God must have intervened. It is utterly illogical to demand complete documentation of every step of any narrative... Only a tiny fraction of corpses fossilize, and we are lucky to have as many intermediate fossils as we do. Evolution makes the strong prediction that if a SINGLE fossil turned up in the WRONG geological stratum, the theory would be blown out of the water... No such anachronistic fossils have ever been authentically found...

Gaps, by default in the mind of the creationist, are filled by God."

By the way Jazzy, the global warming is doing fine up here. The temperatures today and for the coming week are predicted to be in the mid to upper 50s - some 20+ degrees ABOVE normal.We flew to Florida last Friday. We left Indiana in a deep freeze with the temperature around 10 degrees. That night in Gainsville, the temperature went down to around 28. It was damn cold.

Go figure.

As to "brilliant scientists" believing in god. I don't dispute what you say, but I do see it as an awkward disconnect for them. Unlike Stephen J. Gould's assertion, I do not ascribe to the notion that religion and science can comfortably co-exist. I cannot accept the notion that science should not, nor cannot delve into areas of morality and the existence of god. It is, rather, imperative that it does so.

TLS

P.S. By the way, this is my 100th post. Woo Hoo! That's a lot of meaningless drivel I've pump out over the last year or so. But, honestly, don't you all feel better for the experience?

P.P.S. The above also appears as a comment on my previous post (with some slight alterations.) But, I thought this would make it much more accessible. I'm one thoughtful SOB.

Writer's Block

I've been stewing around for a few days with nothing much to say. Not here anyway. I've spent the last several posts either authoring silliness or taking trips down memory lane.

Since I haven't been able to come up with any of my own thoughts, I decided to delve into other people's ideas. Stealing material is good.

I have been slowly making my way through Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion. It's not a particularly long book. I'm just a very slow reader. It's just full of goodies to quote. Let's see.

Actually, Dawkins quotes a lot of people, too.

Here's a couple for you:

"It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan

Yes!!!

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under god." - George H.W. Bush

Note that George Sr. is just as stupid as his son. Jr. came by it honestly.

Here is a lengthy quote actually written by Dawkins:

"Christianity, just as much as Islam, teaches children that unquestioned faith is a virtue. You don't have to make the case for what you believe. If somebody announces that it is part of his faith the rest of society, whether of the same faith, or another, or of none, is obliged, by ingrained custom, to 'respect' it without question; respect it until the day it manifests itself in a horrible massacre like the destruction of the World Trade Center, or the London or Madrid bombings. Then there is a great chorus of disownings, as clerics and 'community leaders' . . . line up to explain that this extremism is a perversion of the 'true' faith. But how can there be a perversion of faith, if faith, lacking objective justification, doesn't have any demonstrable standard to pervert?" (The italics and quotation marks above are Dawkins'.)

Dawkins takes a jab at even the "moderately" faithful in that they provide, in effect, a stepping stone to radicalism. Think of all the children in muslim schools learning the way of islam, that all not of their faith are infidels and, therefore, their enemies. These kids are the bulk seed of future muslim radicals, the fodder for suicide bombings. Think of American youth being brainwashed in fundamentalist christian schools. Think of the movie Jesus Camp. Those kids represent the next generation of "christian soldiers" marching onward.

Susan Jacoby, in her book Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism cites results of a poll of Americans by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, that "the secularist minority is much larger than any non-Christian religious group" in the USA. Jacoby further notes that up to around 16% of the US population is "predominantly secular." Around 14% "have no formal ties to religion."

That given, Jacoby notes that while jews, muslims, hindus and buddhists among others are routinely encouraged to participate in public forums around the nation, secularists, humanists, agnostics and atheists are rarely invited to share the dais. Jacoby states "The message is clear: we may be a multicultural people, but we're all respectable [only] as long as we worship God in some way."

Of course, this last ties together with the Bush quote above. Doubters and non-believers have little cache' in this country. As I've stated, and as I believe, while gays remain a hated target of christians, the godless are generally tolerated even less. We are hated and feared because we question the very basis of believers' raison d'etre. As it happens, most American gays are religious, consider themselves christians, and believe in god. Non-believers represent the true threat to god's people.

It is true. Dawkins claims that "religion" is the problem. It is religion and, consequently, belief in any god, or some other "higher power" on which we non-believers must take aim. The godsters are gonna get us all killed.

TLS

1968 - Redux

My son read my most recent post and felt that a line near the end of it: "It couldn't be much worse" is a bit of an over-statement, or as he put it "too heavy handed."

He's right of course. Things could be a lot worse. I should rein in my penchant for hyperbole. I'll give a 110% effort to curb my enthusiasm in the future.

We Americans are still living pretty comfortably as compared to say, the Iraqis. We do have the on-going threat of terrorist violence, but Americans are not being blown into a pink mist on a daily basis (excepting those of us who are in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan.) People are not taking bets on whether someone will survive the drive to the local airport, or if a trip to the market might be our last. Most of us are not starving or homeless. Most of us have food on the table in homes made possible by the jobs that most of us have. All in all, things remain pretty good on our native soil.

When I came of age in the mid 1960s, America's future seemed to me, boundless. We were still the good guys, the knights on the white horses. True, the book The Ugly American had been published to some acclaim which dealt with our budding and meddlesome involvement in Southeast Asia. The seeds of doubt had been sown, but few of us paid any heed.

The White House was in the hands of Jack & Jackie, the golden age of Camelot on the Potomac.
But then, Jack was gone. Camelot disappeared with the squeeze of a trigger in Dallas. I heard about it while sitting in study hall during my junior year of high school. Kids began to cry. Mostly, the girls at first, but that kind of thing is infectious. Many of us were sniveling before the period ended, myself included. We hadn't even heard whether he was dead. We just knew he had been shot. It was surreal. This kind of thing didn't happen in Camelot. Did it? Could it?

Well, yes, it could, and it did.

As I stated in the previous post, Americans effectively got bitch slapped over and over again during the next few years. The war in Vietnam became pervasive with no end in sight. The concomitant anti-war movement was in full swing by the late '60s. The Civil Rights movement was steaming along, and the feminist movement was also gaining traction. It was a crazy time. It was either hellish or exciting depending upon one's perspective - say whether you were smoking dope and throwing frisbees in the Sheep Meadow of Manhattan's Central Park, or smoking dope and dodging bullets in a rice paddy in Vietnam.

We have endured Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, more Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Clinton again, and whoa!, another damn Bush (or who Molly Ivins refers to as "Shrub") since those days. (It would be only just if we could manage to inflict the world with another Clinton in 2008.)

What prompted me to make my admitted overstatement? It was my looking back to where we once were, or at least where we thought we were before it all began going down the tubes, and measuring that against where we are now.

By comparison, the years of the Cold War were relatively stable. It was basically one super power against another, each knowing a single misstep could render the world uninhabitable. The powers that be on both sides actually seemed to care about our earthly future.

Now we are faced with a significant number of religious radicals of every stripe who believe that what happens on this world is of little consequence. These people would be more than happy to blow everyone to smithereens, themselves included, all for the glory of their god. Reason has left the building.

Osama and company must have been overjoyed when Bush and his boys (and girl) chose to invade Iraq. How fortuitous? We squandered what good karma we might have gained post 9/11 as much of the rest of the world watched in dismay at our arrogance and stupidity. We played right into Al Qaida's hands. Within days we were no longer victims, but instead, aggressors. We were attacking a sovereign muslim nation, despoiling muslim land, killing muslims. Nevermind that Saddam was hated in the muslim world about as much as they hated us. Saddam's government was wholly secular and horribly oppressive. That didn't matter. We were the infidel invading holy ground.

The whole situation in Iraq has deteriorated to what, by almost any reasonable measure (except Bush's, of course,) is a civil war. It is chaos. Hundreds of Iraqis are dying every week, sometimes every day. The Iraqi government has virtually no control anywhere in the country that matters. The various police organizations are rife with corruption and insurgant infiltration. Recruits are routinely killed by suicide bombers. The Iraqi army remains largely a joke with little ability to oversee the nation's security without US troops at their backs. We have effectively painted ourselves into a corner. There is no graceful means of extracting ourselves from this mess. For Bush to do anything but "stay the course" would make us even more despised and render us a laughing stock. But, "staying the course" has its own serious problems - generally involving additional and significant losses of American lives.

Bush's expectation, or perhaps now only his hope, that the situation will change for the better in Iraq is unrealistic at best. Meanwhile, terrorists are having a heyday both recruiting and shedding new blood as they continue to work quietly toward further and more spectacular attacks against the west, especially the US.

"Things" could certainly get worse. Let's hope that they don't.

TLS