Sahar al-Haideri (1962 - 2007)
Now Playing: R.E.M. Everybody Hurts
Topic: free speech/thought

Sahar al-Haideri was an Iraqi journalist from her hometown of Mosul who died in the cause of saving her country from sectarian division and civil war.

Requiem for a Brave Woman

As Americans and the world give thought to the question of whether they will stick with the current situation in Iraq, one that Americans, for better and for worse, largely initiated, we should remember Iraqis like Sahar al-Haideri.

al-Haideri undoubtedly knew of the complicated nature and purposes of her country's invasion by American forces to remove a despot who had reigned over the Iraqi nation without democratic or any other recourse for more than two decades. She undoubtedly knew of both the good intentions of the American military and political leaders who had initiated the invasion and the tragic and often counterproductive consequences of that decision.

But Sahar al-Haideri also knew that a stable, democratic government and culture must sprout in its aftermath if there is to be any decent alternative to the sectarian warfare and insurgent attacks on the Iraqi government that currently plague her home country.

As Americans consider what course of action to take next in this terrible and often tragic situation, it is wise and necessary for us to remember the risks and sacrafices of Iraqis like Sahar al-Haideri for her country's democratic future.

Democracy is not just a governing arrangement for any country, including Iraq. For al-Haideri and many journalists, teachers, political representatives, law enforcement, military, businesspeople, non-profit and humanitarian workers, and many, many other Iraqi citizens and those from outside her borders offering help, democracy is a future for Iraq that might transcend the sectarian, theocratic, authoritarian, gender-discriminating, illiberal and other impulses which too often animate the bulk of the political violence and deaths of people like al-Haideri in Iraq today.

Americans and the world should take pause before rushing or abandoning the substantial security work on the ground that is needed to create the political space and sow the political imagination needed for such a future to be realized.

My wishes of peace in the hearts of the family of Ms. al-Haideri and for Sahar, may she rest in peace.

Love,
Ben

U2...
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...U2...the Rattle and Hum album...
Topic: free speech/thought
I wrote all this shit, this morning...and then lost it all...doesn't that piss you off when that happens?:):):)...

You know what's ironic about U2 selling out?...as John Waters says in this nice little article he writes about their newest album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, in The Age magazine...

U2: pop gone sour...

"...a band that for nearly two decades has been at the top and is desperate not to slip..."

You know what's ironic about that stupid move by an otherwise amazing band?

U2 never was on top...

They topped out at 66 on the all-time album sales chart, with Joshua Tree at around 10 million albums sold...Achtung Baby sold around 8 million...

Recording Industry Association of America's All-Time Top-Selling Albums (as of 5/16/05)...at Infoplease.com...

The Finger...All-Time Album Sales (as of 1/07/05)...

Though Wikipedia lists Joshua Tree at 26 million and sales of Achtung Baby at 18 million...

U2...at Wikipedia...bottom of the page...

...and I have no way of objectively calling which numbers are correct...

U2 never was one of the all-time popular bands...

And I used to really respect the fact that they didn't give a shit...

They just kept making music that mattered...whether people bought it or not...

Songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday...and New Years Day...and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...and Where the Streets Have No Name...and Silver and Gold...and Bullet the Blue Sky...and God Part II...and Pride (In the Name of Love)...and Love Rescue Me...and Angel of Harlem...and When Love Comes to Town...and Desire...and With or Without You...and 40...and Gloria...and Van Diemen's Land...I Will Follow...

Because...if people don't like a song like Sunday Bloody Sunday...about ending the violence in Northern Ireland...violence that bands like U2 and the Cranberries helped end...along with politicians like John Hume and David Trimble...

Who gives a shit what they think?...

They clearly have some fucked up priorities...

So if all folks care about it having a song that they can dance to...and not one that makes them think...and care about things other than themselves...

Why would you give a shit what they think about your music?...

They're clearly morons...who cares what they think?...

A question that John Waters poses to U2 in this nice little review of another mediocre album from this otherwise great band...

The truth is I'd still rather hear songs like Mysterious Ways and One, as clearly mediocre as they are compared to songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For...than not hear from U2 at all...as John's sub-title alludes to...

But what I'd much rather...

Is that U2 stop carring so much...about what all the morons in the world think about their music...and whether or not they buy it...

And start making good music again...

I had so much more to share this morning...

I think this is turning out to be my best Christmas ever...and it's definitely not because of money...which I have very little of this Christmas...

But now I've lost it...and I'll have to write about it again some other time...

You know what I miss most about hanging out with Brandi?...

Her courage...

I haven't seen that in someone I've been close to, other than myself, in a long time...it's sad...

If Bono were to die, today...

I'd remember Rattle and Hum, 1988...because that was his best moment...fuck Time Magazine...

Because it was the moment in his life when he had the most courage...

I appreciate what he's done for efforts to alleviate AIDS and TB and malaria in developing countries all over the world...

But I'd rather have his courage...

Bono isn't trying to grow up, as John suggests in this album...

Bono got scared...to ask U2 to do something as courageous as their latter, better albums...

As John suggests of the Beattles...when the Beattles were holding John Lennon back in a similar way...after the White Album...John did the sensible thing...

He left...

And if U2 can't create the space for Bono to sing as meaningfully in his songs as he does in his political work...

Bono should probably leave too...

And start making music that means something again...

It will be sad not to hear from The Edge and Larry Mullins and Adam Clayton, again...though I'm sure we'll hear some new incarnation of these guys' very decent musical abilities...

But goddamn if I don't want to hear Bono wail about some injustice again as powerfully back as he did back in the day...

And if U2 has to disband for that to happen...

Then so-fuckin'-be-it...

And if Adam Clayton and Larry Mullins and The Edge and Bono don't want that to happen...and if they want to be something more than a has-been band...

Then they need to start making some music that's worth listening to, again...

My friends...my parents...a lot of folks...are selling out, right now...

It's so sad to watch people sell their soul for so little...

And the saddest thing...is to watch people sell to such low bidders...

Pathetic...

Sometimes I wish I had a greatest hits of my friends and family when they were at their best...to at least enjoy the memories of when they had a little courage to be themselves...and to do something worthwhile...

But like everyone else...

Either they'll have to learn the lesson on their own...

Or like Elvis...the all-time top-selling performer...die trying...

Right now...I'd just settle for a little company...someone with courage...who realizes that the alternative is just so goddamned lame...they just won't even consider it, anymore...not seriously, at least...

And when they don't want to be asking themselves that really sad question that all the folks who sell out have to be asking themselves...

"Who really gives a shit what I think, anymore?"...

By the way...if you haven't seen Capturing the Friedmans' yet...definitely recommend it...and you know what I love about this movie?...the director doesn't seem to give a shit about how much money it makes or doesn't make...and good for him...hopefully that will last...

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone...

Love,
Ben

A new chief justice, a new associate, and what the Supreme Court means to me:):)...
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: The Blower's Daughter:):)...Damien Rice:):)...
Topic: free speech/thought
The Washington Post has an excellent lead editorial on the nomination of John Roberts to the Chief Justice position on the Supreme Court that I highly recommend:):)...

A Nominee for Chief...Washington Post lead editorial...

As the Washington Post indicates...the Chief Justice position is largely administrative...Judge Rehnquist only had one vote...and so will his successor...

Power on the court is found in ideas...as Sandra Day O'Connor's vacancy demonstrates...Justice O'Connor is going to stay on the court for a while longer while President Bush has time to find a suitable successor...and, as the Post argues, the President should take the power of Justice O'Connor's swing vote seriously...and search for a similarly moderate and thoughtful justice to take her place...

In fact...as the Post points out...what I love and have always loved about the Supreme Court...

...is that it is the one place in the Federal Government...where ideas matter more than just the political moment:):)...

And Sandra's vote demonstrates more than any other vote on SCOTUS (as insiders like to refer to the Supreme Court of the United States:):):)...

Judge Rehnquist's primary legacy on the court appears to be his emphasis on federalism, a worthy and important legacy that I very much favor and commend:):):)...

But Sandra Day O'Connor's legacy:):):)...is that on many very critical decisions...she was a important vote...with powerful reasoning...

I'm terribly exhausted this morning:):):)...and too tired to go into Justice O'Connor's legacy at length:):):) (I know:):):)...I'm no use, then:):):)...

But I did want to write that...

Despite its interruption this weekend by some really major bullshit...that was very disillusioning...

Generally...these days...I've been feeling this really slowly growing sense of mature idealism:):):)...a sense of what is possible:):):)...along with a stronger understanding of realities that change very slowly:):):)...much more slowly than I ever imagined:):):)...

And...today...when I sat down to read a Washington Post article (and that's it:):):) before I head off to bed:):):)...

I felt much more real the sense of idealism from Washington D.C. that I felt when I lived there for three months during the summer of 1998:):):)...

As I watch the terribly disappointing local leadership in New Orleans in the face of this catastrophe...and the really admirable federal leadership, I think:):):)...

I appreciate better what really powerful leadership in the face of tragic circumstances looks like:):)...

And I remember why I loved D.C. so much when I was there...

A feeling that I haven't felt quite as clearly since I was there...more than 7 years ago:):)...

What I love about Sandra Day O'Connor's legacy...and the uniqueness of the Supreme Court among the Federal branches of government:):)...and about the Administration's leadership in the face of the catastrophe of Katrina...especially the brilliant leadership, I think of Michael Chertoff...head of the Department of Homeland Security, under which the Federal Emergency Management Agency is housed:):)...

Is the power of ideas...and leadership...that they all embody:):):)...

When D.C. is great:):)...it's really great:):):)...

And right now...I'm feeling inspired again:):)...after a long time of not feeling inspired by my nation's capital:):):)...

I'll have to post about it later:):)...I'm exhausted this morning:):):)...but it's a nice feeling:):):)...

Have a great day, everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben

Jacques Derrida on 9/11...
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Damien Rice...The Blower's Daughter...
Topic: free speech/thought
I ran across this today:):):)...

9/11 and Global Terrorism: a dialogue with Jacques Derrida

Why again do so many people (including myself at one point) take this fool so seriously?:):):):):):):)...

Apparently Jacques never learned the distinction between being clever and being smart:):):):):):):)...

What a moron:):):)...

Having said that...especially as I am reminded of it after reading Kenny's blog, today:):):)...

I totally respect Jacques Derrida's efforts to understand language and politics and world as best he could:):)...

And don't wish to disrespect someone who has passed from us...who taught me a lot...even if it was learning, often, about how to avoid intellectual obtuseness:):):)...

And, as Kenny points out on his blog...is a real human being...with friends and family...and a life beyond just being an intellectual:):):)...

Thanks for being with us, Jacques:):):)...

Love,
Ben

What the fuck?...
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: Clutch...Cowboy Beebop...Whiskey and Rye...Careful with that Microphone...
Topic: free speech/thought
I had this brilliant little post on why I embrace and yet qualify thinking of myself as a liberal, these days...much as I embrace but qualify my identification as white trash, these days...

And then I lost much of it...I'm working on recreating it...

In the meantime...

NCAA Bans Native American Mascots in Postseason...

What the fuck?...

I hope the Florida State President fights this and wins this in court...

This is insulting to Florida State and all such teams in the extreme...

That certain Native American groups think that they can/do speak for all Native Americans...and that a school that has worked with Florida Seminole tribes around this issue...

For all of that to be nullified...and for them to be tarred as racists because they use a term that racist Native Americans don't like is...well...

RACIST...

And it's bullshit...

Interestingly, enough...

A professor that I worked with on race issues when I conducted race dialogues on campus as a part of my grad school experience, Cornell Pewewardy, presented the historical analysis that led the committee to make its decision...

Response of The Honor the Chief Society webpage at the University of Illinois to the NCAA ruling on team mascots...

I worked with Cornell in race dialogues...and I have to admit that I was struck, too, that Cornell's perspectives on race were biased against whites and in favor of the idea that the relationship between whites and Natives was consistently one of oppression...which is not the case...

The Honor the Chief Society, by the way, is the University of Illinois' effort to preempt such criticisms and to put their own Chief Illiniwek mascot in historical perspective...

The Honor the Chief Society at the University of Illinois...

As the Honor the Chief Society points out...it's not just Chief Illiniwek who is a part of Illinois heritage...it is the name of their state, Illinois, itself, which is named after the loose confederation of Native tribes in the region -- the Cahokia, Tamaroa, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, and Peoria -- through 1818, when Illinois became the nation's 21st state IN HONOR of the Native tribes that inhabited this region...

Why would a group of people name their state after a group that they are supposed to disdain?...they wouldn't...Whites and Americans did much to treat Natives badly over the course of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries...but they did much to honor and treat them well, as well...and naming their state and their team mascots after their tribes was one of those ways of honoring those same tribes...

If these folks were mocking Natives...that would be one thing...

But they're not...

They're celebrating them...

And they have the right to celebrate the Seminole Indians if they want...

All forces of political correctness to the contrary...

The NCAA is WAY OUT OF LINE to demand anything different...

As Dennis Dodd writes brilliantly on the CBS College Sports website...

NCAA takes a stand that isn't much of one...

Teams like Illinois and Kansas, where Dr. Pewewardy works, are in big trouble if we start banning all Native references in team names...because both of their states', universities', and teams' names are based on names of Native tribes...

And what about roughneck Texans who might be offended by the Texas A&M Aggies?...or people of Irish descent who might be offended by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish?...or Cajuns who might be offended by the Ragin' Cajuns of Louisiana Layfayette?...

And then the NCAA decides it's going to step up penalties for schools with student-athletes with low grades...

I have a modest proposal...

How about death for all students who don't get above a C...

That sounds about right to me...

All those lazy, stupid athletes will surely be motivated by the threat of death to get better grades, don't you think?...

Have we all just gone COMPLETELY FUCKING INSANE...

Grades aren't designed, as they are currently given, for everyone to get A's...I want athletes to do better work...but this is about the most back-asswards, foolish, dumbass way to get there that I have ever seen...

And do you know what is so COMPLETELY IRONIC about this proposal?...

What IN THE FUCK would members of some NCAA grades commmittee know about getting good grades?...

You think these morons get on the rules committee by making good grades?...

Fat chance...

Because the folks who make the best grades and do the best work go on to be people like professors and teachers and those who make the most outstanding contributions to their field...

And...more importantly...

The people who do THE BEST in school DON'T necessarily get the best grades...

Many of them...like Joseph Campbell...the greatest cultural theorist of the twentieth century...or Roald Dahl...the eminent writer of works like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach...drop out of school...

Still others...like Albert Einstein...get told that their work is "irrelevant and insignificant"...the same work that went on the revolutionize the world of physics...

I made pretty good grades in both undergrad and grad school...and I imagine I am far smarter than many of those folks on the NCAA grades committee in matters that count...

And I know for damned sure that this is about the most goddamned foolish way that I've ever heard of supporting students to make better grades...

The sad part is that many student athletes do try to make better grades...and are often very discouraged that their efforts are not recognized...because they are often just not as smart as other students...at least not at the same intellectual level, at the moment...and so they are behind the curve of smarter students and trying to catch up...having everyone expect that they both catch up AND win national championships, never satisfied with athletes, when they don't do either...or, in the case of many of the stronger teams on the NCAA list, when they only do one of the two...

Do people really expect that all athletes can both get the best grades and all win national championships?...a few, like Bill Bradley, do (not in college, where his Princeton Tigers were 3rd at the NCAA tournament in 1965, his senior year, rather than champions...but he did win two championships in the NBA with the New York Knicks...a rarity for a person who is a Rhodes' scholar to be sure)...

...and yet everyone and their momma incessantly moan and bitch when ALL college atheletes don't do what Bill Bradley was only able to do twice in his college and professional entire career, but never in college...fans and others constantly bitch and moan and bitch and moan when they athletes don't do either...win championships...or get the best grades and do the best intellectual work...and when they don't comply with every other arbitrary bitch and moan that they have about college athletics...

Like what kind of mascot they have...

This is power run amok...all of it...

Love,
Ben

James Carville is such an asshole...and this whole situation is bullshit...
Mood:  down
Now Playing: Dixie Chicks...Top of the World...Five Blind Boys of Alabama...Wade in the Water...
Topic: free speech/thought
CNN Suspends Robert Novak After 'Inexcusable' Outburst...

You know what I think about Robert Novak saying that the line delivered by James Carville on CNN's Inside Edition, yesterday...

"He's got to show these right wingers that he's got a backbone, you know. It's why the Wall Street Journal editorial page is watching you. Show 'em that you're tough."

It was bullshit...

And it was right on for Robert Novak to say so...

James Carville is a slinking, slithering, nasty, hateful, vengeful polluting force in American politics...

And Robert Novak called him on that, yesterday...

And James TOTALLY DESERVED IT...

And good for Robert...

And you know what I'm most disappointed about in the whole deal...

That Robert apologized...for something he had nothing to apologize for...

This game of political recrimination that liberals and Democrats have been playing with the President, the Administration, Karl Rove, and now Robert Novak...is...as Robert so famously put it, now...

BULLSHIT...

And good for Robert to say so...

I finally finished all three stories that Time Magazine did in its cover story of the Karl Rove/Valerie Plame drama...including a disclosure by Time reporter, Matt Cooper, about his interview with Karl Rove and his grand jury testimony...

I've gone into this whole thing with a presumption of innocence for Karl Rove...and have grown increasingly concerned, after discussing this issue with several liberals, that this was becoming a smear campaign to get back at Karl Rove and the Administration for what they are really upset about...

Maneuvering a 2000 election win, declaring a war in Iraq that they disagreed with, and winning a second time in 2004...all of which were perfectly legal...

The first was a travesty of democracy, I think...though legal and reasonable...and far in the past...the second was a serious political miscalculation on the President's part, with noble intentions to free the people of Iraq, I think...and the third was a perfectly reasonable way for an American electorate to decide who leads them politically, even as I voted for the other guy...

And those Time Magazine articles and everything I've seen on this drama, thusfar...

Say nothing new...

And the trend which has increasingly concerned me...

Is the tone of liberal articles that seem to be less concerned, now, with the truth of these claims...

Than with getting Karl Rove...and the President...and now James Carville encouraging others, in yesterday's remarks, to get Robert Novak...

And the whole thing is EVERYTHING THAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICAN POLITICS...

It is the Clinton Impeachment trial re-lived all over again...

It is ugly...it is partisan...

And as Robert Novak angrily opined yesterday on Inside Edition...

It is bullshit...

And good for Robert Novak for calling James Carville on his bullshit...

James has long been a corrosive force in American politics...

And thought Robert Novak is a cynical son-of-a-bitch, much of the time...he's an honest and independent reporter...a conservative journalist who was critical of the war in Iraq very early on...and who wrote his story out of that same even-handed skepticism that characterizes much of his journalism...and this most recent effort to smear a conservative over this whole drama is...

Bullshit...

James Carville should be ashamed of himself...

And liberals should too...

If they're various particular realities, which cannot possibly be understood by anyone else but themselves, allow them to feel bad about any of their behavior...

If they might be able to acknowledge that maybe it is wrong to do some things...like trying to smear conservatives you don't like because you don't like them...because you disagree with them...because one helped a President you don't like win an election...and because another is just a conservative, even if he is an independent and critically-minded one...

And if they can even possibly acknowledge that they aren't even close to living up to the decent, compassionate, and innocence-presuming ideals that characterize so much about what is great about being liberal...as someone who has been a life-long liberal...

Liberals, it seems, can put themselves in anyone else's shoes...

Except conservatives...

And this particular episode in the drama that is the on-going cycles of political recrimination in Washington, D.C., and in the most overbearing halls of power...

Is bullshit...

And good for Robert Novak to call someone on it...especially James Carville...who has deserved to have his particular brand of political discourse bullshit for quite some time, now...

I used to be charmed by James Carville...after he had just finished helping Harold Wofford succeed in upsetting Dick Thornburgh in the 1991 special election for his Pennsylvania Senate seat...and helped President Bill Clinton (the Governor of Arkansas who I voted against in the 1992 election, my first election that I could legally vote in...one of the biggest mistakes of my voting career:):):)...win election to the American Presidency...

James has/had a Louisiana backyard barbeque charm about him, that I appreciated and still appreciate...he had a way of taking complex political issues and making them very simple for average folks...average folks willing to read his arguments, that is:):):)...

Too simple, I think...

So simple...that the world becomes a battle between the good guys and the bad guys...

He's one of the good guys...

And Robert Novak is one of the bad guys...

And anytime that someone splits up the world into those who are "with us or against us"...

It's a sure sign that they've stopped thinking enough...

And it's bullshit...

No matter who it comes from...

No apologies, necessary, Robert...

You're right on the money, on this one, I think, thusfar, Robert...

It's bullshit...

Love,
Ben

Yet one more reason to be endeared to Laura Bush:):):)...
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Dar Williams...the Christians and the Pagans:):):):):):):)...
Topic: free speech/thought
Laura Bush visited Rwanda this week to pay tribute to the 800,000 Rwandans killed in the 1994 massacre by Hutu extremists of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus...

Laura Bush, Cherie Blair in Rwanda remember victims of violence...

Laura Bush Pays Tribute to Slain Rwandans...

Bush daughters bring goodwill, gifts to Africa...

I love this woman:):):)...she, like her husband:):)...seems like a simple woman:):)...but a woman with an essentially good heart:):):)...that I really appreciate:):):)...and her words reported in this story are very moving for a First Lady to recognize the terrible and unspeakable tragedy of genocide inflicted on Rwandans in 1994...

What a sweet woman:):):):):)...very impressed with Laura Bush:):):)...as well with her husband, in different ways:):):)...

And what about those girls?:):):):):)...man, they've grown up, haven't they?:):):):):)...Jenna is working as a teacher in an inner city charter school:):):)...and Barbara is working as a volunteer with AIDS orphans:):):)...these kids are REALLY impressing me:):):)...their parents did a great job, it looks like to me:):):)...

And as President Bush sinks lower and lower in the polling numbers:):):)...

He, too, becomes all that more endearing to me:):):)...

Can you imagine what this family has been through?:):):)...do you know what I would do if my dad was being charged unfairly and publicly with being a war criminal and a being called stupid all the fuckin' time from a bunch of smarmy liberals like me?:):):):):)...

I'd stick right the fuck by him...and be inspired that he could stick through all that shit, ever-imperfectly, as any of us would do, to do the best he knew how to make this world a better place:):):)...

The truth is that I love people when they are losing:):):)...I don't say that facetiously:):):)...I mean it:):):):):)...I love people when they are humbled:):):)...and God knows that this President has needed this kind of humbling:):):):):)...

And I would bet that George Bush, like Jimmy Carter, will make a decent President:):):)...as he has:):):)...

But an even better post-President:):):):):)...using his understanding and concern for the world and name-recognition to celebrate all kinds of efforts to improve the lives of people all over the world:):):)...

That's my bet:):):):):)...and I think -- knowing, basically, what kinds of people the Bushes...Laura and George, both...really are:):):):):) -- that is exactly what we will find from these two simple but essentially very decent and very good people:):):):):)...

Thank you, Laura:):):)...for gracing us with your esteemed and warm and inviting tenure as first lady:):):):):)...and for raising two such wonderful young daughters:):):)...

And thank you, George:):):)...for your Presidency:):):)...despite many mistakes:):):)...you are essentially a very good and decent and intelligent man, I think:):):):):)...doing your best to navigate an ever-complicated world:):):):):)...

And to try your best to make it better for your presence in it:):):):):)...

Love,
Ben

American patriotism at it's finest:):):)...
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: This I Believe:)...Andrew's audio recording of this moving dedication to America:):)...
Topic: free speech/thought
I definitely recommend that people should listen to Andrew read this essay aloud at NPR.org:):)...

Andrew Sullivan...This I Believe...Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...on National Public Radio:):):)...

A moving dedication to America from one of its finest British immigrants:):)...

"I believe in life. I believe in treasuring it as a mystery that will never be fully understood, as a sanctity that should never be destroyed, as an invitation to experience now what can only be remembered tomorrow. I believe in its indivisibility, in the intimate connection between the newest bud of spring and the flicker in the eye of a patient near death, between the athlete in his prime and the quadriplegic vet, between the fetus in the womb and the mother who bears another life in her own body.

I believe in liberty. I believe that within every soul lies the capacity to reach for its own good, that within every physical body there endures an unalienable right to be free from coercion. I believe in a system of government that places that liberty at the center of its concerns, that enforces the law solely to protect that freedom, that sides with the individual against the claims of family and tribe and church and nation, that sees innocence before guilt and dignity before stigma. I believe in the right to own property, to maintain it against the benign suffocation of a government that would tax more and more of it away. I believe in freedom of speech and of contract, the right to offend and blaspheme, as well as the right to convert and bear witness. I believe that these freedoms are connected -- the freedom of the fundamentalist and the atheist, the female and the male, the black and the Asian, the gay and the straight.

I believe in the pursuit of happiness. Not its attainment, nor its final definition, but its pursuit. I believe in the journey, not the arrival; in conversation, not monologues; in multiple questions rather than any single answer. I believe in the struggle to remake ourselves and challenge each other in the spirit of eternal forgiveness, in the awareness that none of us knows for sure what happiness truly is, but each of us knows the imperative to keep searching. I believe in the possibility of surprising joy, of serenity through pain, of homecoming through exile.

And I believe in a country that enshrines each of these three things, a country that promises nothing but the promise of being more fully human, and never guarantees its success. In that constant failure to arrive -- implied at the very beginning -- lies the possibility of a permanently fresh start, an old newness, a way of revitalizing ourselves and our civilization in ways few foresaw and one day many will forget. But the point is now. And the place is America."

A place that is more humane, more decent, and with a better promise for all of us of being more fully human for your presence in it, Andrew:):):)...thank you:):):)...

Love,
Ben

Independence Day in America...why America and I need this Fourth of July:):):)...
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: La Mala Educacio'n...Bad Education...a really interesting Spanish film by Pedro Aldo'movar:):):)...
Topic: free speech/thought
It's funny that I'd be writing this while watching a really great Spanish film:):)...La Mala Educacio'n:):):):)...but maybe because it's so all-American to do so, too:):):)...

Gael Garcia' Bernal -- from Y Tu Mama Tambien -- is BRILLIANT in this movie:):):)...definitely recommend it:):):)...very impressive:):):)...

This weekend...I'm going to hang out with some old friends...if they're going to be around:):):)...it's a busy weekend:):)...but a four-day vacation from work that I plan on enjoying to the hilt:):):)...

Because...this year:):):)...

America needs the Fourth of July:):):)...America needs to celebrate it's independence:):):)...

Because God knows that noone else is going to do it for us:):):)...

I spend a lot of time engaging folks from abroad on matters of American culture and policy:):)...
And get to listen to all kinds of hateful and nasty things said about America:):):)...it's a pleasure, let me tell ya:):):)...

I read, this morning, as one friend rationalized the kidnapping and threats of death and harm to both the Americans kidnapped and their families Iranian students in 1979...could hardly believe it, really...

And I've read/listened to a lot of pretty ugly things said about America, lately...

A LOT of disgust with President Bush's international policy in international circles, these days...something more Americans should care about quite a bit more, I believe...

So...this Independence Day:):):)...

I'm looking forward to celebrating freedom in America:):):)...the most worthy thing to celebrate in America, now, I think:):):)...because it is so fundamental to everything else that matters in America and in the world, right now:):):)...and for as long as our often tragic, and more often heroic and decent little species inhabits this small planet, third from the Sun, in this little corner of our vast univere:):):)...

This will likely be THE BEST FOURTH OF JULY I've ever celebrated in America:):):)...I kinda wish I would have taken Harvey up on the offer to go to the Royals game this weekend:):):)...

Just so I could stand proudly...with my ball camp in hand and over my heart:):):)...and STARE AT THAT BEAUTIFUL FUCKIN' FLAG DEAD ON:):):)...

And sing AS PROUDLY I FUCKIN' AS COULD, this year:):):)...

"...O SAY THAT STAR SPANGLED BANNER YET WAVE...
O'ER THE LAND OF THE FREE...AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE"...

And then what would be more American than to hear the end of that song:):):)...and then to hear an announcer say, "Play ball":):):)...yeah...maybe I'll have to give ol' Harvey a call:):):)...

I love this fuckin' country:):):)...flaws and warts and failings and blunders and all:):):)...

I love this fuckin' country:):):)...

And...truth be told:):):)...

For all its faults:)...

It's homophobia...it's irrational drug and gun policies...it's fucked up and repressive attitudes towards sexuality and all kinds of stuff, really:):):)...it's bullshit schizophrenia about what it really wants...freedom or repression...democracy or dominance...humanity or brutality...

For all of America's BULLSHIT...of which there is MUCH:):):)...

I FUCKIN' LOVE THIS COUNTRY:):):):):)...I love this country through thick and fuckin' thin:):):)...through sickness and health:):):)...till death do us part:):):)...

I've thought, occassionally, about what it might be like to live somewhere else:):):)...

Like Britain:):)...or Italy:):)...or Canada:):)...or Germany:):)...or France:):)...or the Netherlands -- particularly Amsterdam:):):):):)...or Japan:):)...or Spain:):)...or Mexico:):):)...or a MILLION OTHER PLACES:):):)...

But the truth is:):):)...

That I fuckin' love the United States of America:):):)...I love this fuckin' country:):):)...

I love its freedom:):):)...I love that I can say whatever the fuck I want to say in this country:):):)...I love that -- within limits that are always expanding:):):) -- that I can do whatever the fuck I want in this country as a responsible and decent human being:):):)...and I love that this country is my one and only home:):):)...where I will spend the rest of my natural born life:):):)...

I want that freedom for the whole fuckin' world:):):)...and all the freedoms in places like Canada and Italy and Spain and Great Britain and Australia and France and Germany and Japan and the Netherlands and Mexico and Greece and Portugal and Sweden and Norway and Finland and Ireland and Austria and Switzerland and Costa Rica and Belize and and the Dominican Republic and Jamaica and American and Western Samoa and Fiji and Greenland and Iceland...

...and places like Israel and India and Hong Kong and South Korea and Brazil and Venezuela and Chile and Paraguay and Peru and Argentina and Guatemala and South Africa and Liberia and Kuwait and Turkey and Poland and Hungary and Bulgaria and Lithuania and Latvia and Estonia and Romania and the Czech Republic and Slovakia and Slovenia and the Phillipines...

...and like Russia and Georgia and Kyrgistan and Belarus and Lebanon and Taiwan and Singapore and Lesotho and Swaziland...and even places like Thailand and Pakistan and Bali and Nigeria and Egypt and Haiti and Kenya and Somalia and Myanmar and Armenia...

...and even freedoms in China and Vietnam and Cuba and Mozambique and North Korea and Syria and Iran and Lybia and Algeria...and Bosnia and Rwanda and Sudan and the Congo...

...and, of course, Iraq:)...where -- for all of the bungling of that little effort -- freedom is being celebrated more today than ever in that country's history...

This Fourth of July needs to be a LONG OVERDUE celebration of the virtues of freedom...in an America...and in a world...that has too often, lately, been celebrating its darker, more repressive bullshit and vices...

I LOVE THIS COUNTRY:):):)...and it's freedom:):):)...and freedom and democracy all over the world:):):)...

Happy Birthday, America:):):)...

Have a great Independence Day, everyone:):):)...

Play ball:):):)...

Love,
Ben

I thought this was kind of funny:):):)...
Mood:  energetic
Topic: free speech/thought
I took this quiz that the international debate board I frequent, EZBoard's International Debate board:):):)..., recommended:):):)...

You also might check out the graphs used in the British Parties thread where I found the link to this quiz:):):)...

Who should I vote for? v2

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

Labour -20
	Conservative 12
	Liberal Democrat 22
	UKIP 4
	Green 28

You should vote: Green

The Green Party, which is of course strong on environmental issues, takes a strong position on welfare issues, but was firmly against the war in Iraq. Other key concerns are cannabis, where the party takes a liberal line, and foxhunting, which unsurprisingly the Greens are firmly against. The Greens are also anti-Europe.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

I thought this was kind of funny given that 1) I don't believe, ideally, in regulating the economy for environmental purposes:):):)...the ONE environmental question they provide asks if I think we ought to cut emissions by a certain amount by a certain date, which I think, in general having goals for emissions reductions are VERY IMPORTANT:):):)...I just don't think that government regulation will get us there quickest:):):)...and think voluntary and collaborative industry, environmental scientist and activist, and political efforts are more likely to get us there:):):)...and 2) my more classical liberal/conservative position on the rest of the issues and on the other graphs provided in the thread -- the continuums were left/communist to right/neo-liberal, and authoritarian/fascist to libertarian/anarchist:):):)...a left-skewed graph if I've ever seen one:):):)...and a graph that I am PROUDLY neo-liberal on:):):)...

And how WHOLLY DISINTERESTED I would be voting for the Green Party, rather than say, the Labour or Tory parties, who I would probably vote for since I am DEFINITELY more concerned with realpolitik as much as I am with idealism:):):)...and since I don't see parties as just an expression of ideas (though I wish they were, more:):):)...but also an expression of who you want to have power and lead a country:):):)...which is ALMOST NEVER a non-establishment candidate for me:):):)...despite my throw-away vote for Ralph Nader in the 2000 elections in a state that Gore couldn't win if his life depended on it:):):)...

And I have to say that the 2004 election gave me QUITE the education on just what left-wing nonsense gets entertained when major parties aren't appreciated for the relative leadership they have to offer on important issues:):):)...though the level of thought of candidates like Howard Dean, John Kerry, and George Bush REALLY DISAPPOINTS me, I must say, after the level of thought I had grown accustomed in a political leader, when Bill Clinton was President:):):):):):)...

Oh, Bill:):):)...how we all feel like such UTTER FOOLS for doubting you:):):):):):)...

Well...at least those of us HONEST ENOUGH about how BAD THINGS HAVE GOTTEN under this Administration as well as in the Democratic Party, these days, do:):):):):):)...

These are the days that remind me what I HATE about politics:):):):)...

The ugliness...the vitriol...the cynicism...the impulse for revenge...power overwhelming intellect...the bullying...the TOTAL BULLSHIT that overwhelms EVERYTHING MEANINGFUL in politics:):):)...

It's so sad...

We could use quite a bit more of "a place called Hope," as the greatest President of the twentieth century, William Jefferson Clinton, used to say:):):):):):)...

But for now, we'll have to settle for less:):):)...

Love,
Ben