At work, when someone new starts, he or she gets taken out to lunch by the manager, with maybe another member of the group invited along. Not long ago, it was my turn to be the other group member, when both managers took the two newest employees to lunch.
We went to a nice restaurant nearby, close enough to walk to, and after some general conversation, I noticed something that surprised me. Out of the five of us, I was the only one born in the US. The other four are naturalized citizens.
They're from Russia, India, Vietnam, and El Salvador.
One of the things I enjoy about working in this area is the vast number of people from all sorts of places. At work, foreign and regional accents are more the norm than not. Religions vary. Economic backgrounds vary. Ages vary. But in the end we're all people who love our families and who are working every day to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.
We talk in the breakroom about the latest reorganization and how it might affect the way we do our jobs. We talk about vacations planned or returned from. We talk about raising kids, or the inconsiderate people who don't clean up their coffee messes, or the weather. And it doesn't matter where we're from--except when the new woman in another group turns out to have attended the same New Jersey Catholic high school my ex-husband did (small world!).
I love getting to know people who aren't like me but, in some important way, they are. I carpool sometimes with a woman from India who's here on an H1b visa, and we talk about our respective countries' history.
Another woman at work, from the Philippines, said that she didn't want to live past the age of 50, when bodies and minds start to fall apart. I had to laugh. I told her that I'm this close to 50, and I'm not falling apart yet, so she might want to reconsider her maximum age. Perhaps in the hardscrabble part of the Philippines where she grew up, people really did age quickly, but that's not how it usually works here.
The Diversity police out there on college campuses like to micromanage the ethnic balance of their student base, and that puts the focus on superficial qualities, like skin color. And that conveys a message such as, "We have enough (or need more) people who look like you." That message doesn't have anything to do with capabilities or determination.
But outside the universities, in the real world of work and family and community, diversity happens more naturally. People come and go, bringing their backgrounds and baggage with them. Cranky people are avoided. Pleasant people are chatted with. And everyone learns to work smoothly enough with each other to get the job done.
I like it this way.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Eagle with Deer Head Cuts Power
The Juneau Empire reported Monday about an ambitious eagle whose plans went south.
About 10,000 Juneau residents lost power Sunday after a bald eagle lugging a deer head crashed into an Alaska Electric Light & Power transmission system in Lemon Creek.
Now, that's something you don't hear about every day.
"You have to live in Alaska to have this kind of outage scenario," said Gayle Wood, an AEL&P spokeswoman. "This is the story of the overly ambitious eagle who evidently found a deer head in the landfill."
The meal was apparently too heavy. The eagle failed to clear transmission lines as it flew from the landfill toward the Lemon Creek Operation Center, she said. When a repair crew arrived, they found the eagle carcass with the deer head nearby.
It's so sad when such a bold bald eagle meets its end because of its audacity. That sort of daring should be rewarded.
But at least he went in a burst of glory.
About 10,000 Juneau residents lost power Sunday after a bald eagle lugging a deer head crashed into an Alaska Electric Light & Power transmission system in Lemon Creek.
Now, that's something you don't hear about every day.
"You have to live in Alaska to have this kind of outage scenario," said Gayle Wood, an AEL&P spokeswoman. "This is the story of the overly ambitious eagle who evidently found a deer head in the landfill."
The meal was apparently too heavy. The eagle failed to clear transmission lines as it flew from the landfill toward the Lemon Creek Operation Center, she said. When a repair crew arrived, they found the eagle carcass with the deer head nearby.
It's so sad when such a bold bald eagle meets its end because of its audacity. That sort of daring should be rewarded.
But at least he went in a burst of glory.
New Blogger
Blogger has tracked me down and forced me to cry, "Uncle!"
I tried to do a quick post this morning, and it forced me to switch right that minute to New Blogger, but because I have over 800 posts, it tied up my blog almost the whole day.
And now on my comments, it appears Malott has been changed to "Anonymous" and Janice has lost her link. I don't know yet what other collateral damage has been done.
Am I whining? You bet I am.
I tried to do a quick post this morning, and it forced me to switch right that minute to New Blogger, but because I have over 800 posts, it tied up my blog almost the whole day.
And now on my comments, it appears Malott has been changed to "Anonymous" and Janice has lost her link. I don't know yet what other collateral damage has been done.
Am I whining? You bet I am.
Monday, January 29, 2007
I'm In!
I mentioned a while ago that I'm working on a career change, and part of that is taking the prerequisite classes to whichever medical program I get in. Anatomy & Physiology is the main prerequisite, but it was already full when it was my turn to enroll.
Class starts this week, so Thursday night I went online to check the class schedule so I'd know what time to show up to try to get in, and it said the class had one opening. But their phone registration was down until morning for their normal nightly updates.
Friday morning, when I refreshed the screen in case someone beat me to the opening, it said I'd need the secret code from the instructor. There was a link to a page that explained this policy, which said that starting the Saturday before the first week of class, you need the instructor's permission to add the class. This was Friday, so I dialed in anyway, and it let me add the class. With lab.
Unfortunately, the lecture is Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the only opening for a lab was Monday nights, so I'm stuck for this week. I'll go tonight, and then tomorrow night at the lecture, I'll see if I can get the instructor's permission to join his Thursday night lab. That way, I'd only have to drive to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I can study on the train on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
That's the plan. Lots of studying and trying to get my day job's work done all at the same time. I'm ready.
Class starts this week, so Thursday night I went online to check the class schedule so I'd know what time to show up to try to get in, and it said the class had one opening. But their phone registration was down until morning for their normal nightly updates.
Friday morning, when I refreshed the screen in case someone beat me to the opening, it said I'd need the secret code from the instructor. There was a link to a page that explained this policy, which said that starting the Saturday before the first week of class, you need the instructor's permission to add the class. This was Friday, so I dialed in anyway, and it let me add the class. With lab.
Unfortunately, the lecture is Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the only opening for a lab was Monday nights, so I'm stuck for this week. I'll go tonight, and then tomorrow night at the lecture, I'll see if I can get the instructor's permission to join his Thursday night lab. That way, I'd only have to drive to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I can study on the train on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
That's the plan. Lots of studying and trying to get my day job's work done all at the same time. I'm ready.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Woman Saves Husband From Mountain Lion
ABC News reported Thursday about a couple in Northern California.
Wildlife officials on Thursday credited a woman with saving her husband's life by clubbing a mountain lion that attacked him while the couple were hiking in a California state park.
Jim and Nell Hamm, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month, were hiking in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park when the lion pounced.
"He didn't scream. It was a different, horrible plea for help, and I turned around, and by then the cat had wrestled Jim to the ground," Nell Hamm said in an interview from the hospital where her husband was recovering from a torn scalp, puncture wounds and other injuries.
And how did the intrepid Mrs. Hamm save her husband?
Nell Hamm said she grabbed a four-inch-wide log and beat the animal with it, but it would not release its hold on her husband's head.
"Jim was talking to me all through this, and he said, 'I've got a pen in my pocket and get the pen and jab him in the eye,'" she said. "So I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn't want to go in as easy as I thought it would."
When the pen bent and became useless, Nell Hamm went back to using the log. The lion eventually let go and, with blood on its snout, stood staring at the woman. She screamed and waved the log until the animal walked away.
She couldn't leave her husband behind while she went for help, so she helped him walk out to safety.
Nell Hamm warned people never to hike in the backcountry alone. Park rangers told the couple if Jim Hamm had been alone, he probably would not have survived.
"We fought harder than we ever have to save his life, and we fought together," she said.
I love this story of a couple in their seventies fighting off a huge predator. Together. It warms the heart and leaves two lessons:
1. As Nell Hamm said, never hike in the wilderness alone.
2. You're never too old to beat the crap out of a mountain lion.
Wildlife officials on Thursday credited a woman with saving her husband's life by clubbing a mountain lion that attacked him while the couple were hiking in a California state park.
Jim and Nell Hamm, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month, were hiking in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park when the lion pounced.
"He didn't scream. It was a different, horrible plea for help, and I turned around, and by then the cat had wrestled Jim to the ground," Nell Hamm said in an interview from the hospital where her husband was recovering from a torn scalp, puncture wounds and other injuries.
And how did the intrepid Mrs. Hamm save her husband?
Nell Hamm said she grabbed a four-inch-wide log and beat the animal with it, but it would not release its hold on her husband's head.
"Jim was talking to me all through this, and he said, 'I've got a pen in my pocket and get the pen and jab him in the eye,'" she said. "So I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn't want to go in as easy as I thought it would."
When the pen bent and became useless, Nell Hamm went back to using the log. The lion eventually let go and, with blood on its snout, stood staring at the woman. She screamed and waved the log until the animal walked away.
She couldn't leave her husband behind while she went for help, so she helped him walk out to safety.
Nell Hamm warned people never to hike in the backcountry alone. Park rangers told the couple if Jim Hamm had been alone, he probably would not have survived.
"We fought harder than we ever have to save his life, and we fought together," she said.
I love this story of a couple in their seventies fighting off a huge predator. Together. It warms the heart and leaves two lessons:
1. As Nell Hamm said, never hike in the wilderness alone.
2. You're never too old to beat the crap out of a mountain lion.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Talibani Who Destroyed Buddhist Shrines Killed
The Daily Mail (UK) reported today about a killing in Kabul.
An Afghan official who ordered the destruction of two massive 1,500-year-old Buddha statues during the Taliban reign has been shot dead.
Maulavi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi was the Taliban's governor of Bamiyan province when the fifth-century statues were blown up with dynamite and artillery in March 2001.
According to police, he was killed on his way to prayers in Kabul.
Good. What the Taliban did to the Buddhist history of Afghanistan was obscene.
An Afghan official who ordered the destruction of two massive 1,500-year-old Buddha statues during the Taliban reign has been shot dead.
Maulavi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi was the Taliban's governor of Bamiyan province when the fifth-century statues were blown up with dynamite and artillery in March 2001.
According to police, he was killed on his way to prayers in Kabul.
Good. What the Taliban did to the Buddhist history of Afghanistan was obscene.
SkyePuppy in Trouble With the Feds
Our mailbox is one of dozens all grouped together for the ease of the postal carrier and not for the residents, and we're about as far away as you can get and still have your mailbox there. So it's really not very convenient to pick up the mail.
My daughter had the mailbox key, and she'd swing by most evenings on her way home and grab the mail. But then she went out of town, left the key for me somewhere, and we lost track of it. I finally found it today.
When I went to the mailbox, I was 99% sure it would be empty. Those boxes are awfully small, and the mail is loaded with grocery store flyers and insurance pitches and closet-organizer come-ons, so in about a week, the box fills up to the point that the postal carrier can't shove in one more postcard. When that happens, he pulls out all the mail and leaves us one of those little orange papers that tells us to come get our mail at the post office.
Sure enough, when I opened the door, there was one lonely piece of orange paper. But instead of simply telling us to head for the post office, it said in all caps: "BOX FULL REPEATERS."
I took the orange paper, with its damning accusation, to the post office (I had a day off today), and before I handed it to the woman behind the counter, I told her that I was an enemy of the state and a repeat offender at that. It sure felt that way.
She took the paper and read the note out loud and then laughed. Then she went back and got my two bags of mostly junk mail.
Now that I'm officially on my postal carrier's bad side, I'm going to have to be more careful. I don't know what the guy will do if I forget the mail again and he feels as though he has to escalate.
Good thing I'll be moving by summer.
My daughter had the mailbox key, and she'd swing by most evenings on her way home and grab the mail. But then she went out of town, left the key for me somewhere, and we lost track of it. I finally found it today.
When I went to the mailbox, I was 99% sure it would be empty. Those boxes are awfully small, and the mail is loaded with grocery store flyers and insurance pitches and closet-organizer come-ons, so in about a week, the box fills up to the point that the postal carrier can't shove in one more postcard. When that happens, he pulls out all the mail and leaves us one of those little orange papers that tells us to come get our mail at the post office.
Sure enough, when I opened the door, there was one lonely piece of orange paper. But instead of simply telling us to head for the post office, it said in all caps: "BOX FULL REPEATERS."
I took the orange paper, with its damning accusation, to the post office (I had a day off today), and before I handed it to the woman behind the counter, I told her that I was an enemy of the state and a repeat offender at that. It sure felt that way.
She took the paper and read the note out loud and then laughed. Then she went back and got my two bags of mostly junk mail.
Now that I'm officially on my postal carrier's bad side, I'm going to have to be more careful. I don't know what the guy will do if I forget the mail again and he feels as though he has to escalate.
Good thing I'll be moving by summer.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Michelle Malkin on the Coming Amnesty Disaster
Michelle Malkin's column in yesterday's WorldNetDaily hits President Bush's "comprehensive immigration policy" where it hurts. With the truth.
Last month, President Bush signed off on a few dog-and-pony illegal immigrant employment raids. Whoop-de-doo. Politically expedient holiday gestures over, the White House is now back to work pushing its long-planned, massive alien amnesty. The state of the borders, green card process and entrance system for visitors and tourists? Porous. Chaotic. Understaffed. And overwhelmed.
But no matter. Mouthing his same old, bogus platitudes about the need to allow "undocumented workers" to do the job Americans won't do (never mind all those Americans who immediately lined up to apply for those meatpacking jobs after the December raids), Bush wants to pile millions of new "guest worker" illegal alien applicants onto the teetering homeland security bureaucracy.
The results will be disastrous. What President Bush didn't mention in the State of the Union address is that every part of the current legal immigrant applicant machinery that would be tasked with implementing the "guest worker" illegal alien amnesty is backlogged and broken.
An example of the brokenness is:
The FBI's background check backlog for legal immigrant applicants stands at a reported 100,000 files, which have been waiting for action for a year or longer. At least they didn't shred them all (uh, as far as we know) – which is what federal contractors did at the immigration center in Laguna Niguel, Calif., over the last several years. To rid itself of a 90,000-document backlog, supervisors ordered workers to destroy passports, birth certificates, approval notices, change of address forms, diplomas and money orders. Then they reported that they had reduced the backlog to zero. Poof!
President Bush is right on the War Against the Killer Muslim Extremists, but his border security and immigration policies are as wrong as wrong can be.
His comprehensive immigration policy isn't worth the paper it's printed on, because he's not asking the key questions on the issue:
1. Will it accomplish what it's intended to do?
2. Will the unintended consequences be worse that the status quo?
3. Will the bureaucracy be able to implement it properly?
The answers (if he bothered to ask) are: 1. No, 2. Yes, 3. Heck no!
Build the fence. Enforce the laws we already have. Simplify legal immigration. Then, if we need to, we'll talk about immigration "reform."
Last month, President Bush signed off on a few dog-and-pony illegal immigrant employment raids. Whoop-de-doo. Politically expedient holiday gestures over, the White House is now back to work pushing its long-planned, massive alien amnesty. The state of the borders, green card process and entrance system for visitors and tourists? Porous. Chaotic. Understaffed. And overwhelmed.
But no matter. Mouthing his same old, bogus platitudes about the need to allow "undocumented workers" to do the job Americans won't do (never mind all those Americans who immediately lined up to apply for those meatpacking jobs after the December raids), Bush wants to pile millions of new "guest worker" illegal alien applicants onto the teetering homeland security bureaucracy.
The results will be disastrous. What President Bush didn't mention in the State of the Union address is that every part of the current legal immigrant applicant machinery that would be tasked with implementing the "guest worker" illegal alien amnesty is backlogged and broken.
An example of the brokenness is:
The FBI's background check backlog for legal immigrant applicants stands at a reported 100,000 files, which have been waiting for action for a year or longer. At least they didn't shred them all (uh, as far as we know) – which is what federal contractors did at the immigration center in Laguna Niguel, Calif., over the last several years. To rid itself of a 90,000-document backlog, supervisors ordered workers to destroy passports, birth certificates, approval notices, change of address forms, diplomas and money orders. Then they reported that they had reduced the backlog to zero. Poof!
President Bush is right on the War Against the Killer Muslim Extremists, but his border security and immigration policies are as wrong as wrong can be.
His comprehensive immigration policy isn't worth the paper it's printed on, because he's not asking the key questions on the issue:
1. Will it accomplish what it's intended to do?
2. Will the unintended consequences be worse that the status quo?
3. Will the bureaucracy be able to implement it properly?
The answers (if he bothered to ask) are: 1. No, 2. Yes, 3. Heck no!
Build the fence. Enforce the laws we already have. Simplify legal immigration. Then, if we need to, we'll talk about immigration "reform."
Taking Away the Minivan
This is all it takes to total a minivan. Buckled hood (still latched). Bumper pushed down a little. Grill pushed up a little. Side light covers knocked from their moorings. And the license plate and its frame banged up. That's it. The repairs would exceed the value of the minivan.
I'm not really broken up about this. Our old minivan, the dark red one, gave us 248,000 miles of faithful service before she blew a gasket. Her name was Van-essa. She took us places, like the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion. She carpooled high school kids and ladies' outings at church.
The green van just couldn't compete. For starters, it's a '94, which means it has those horrible automatic seatbelts that try to choke you when you open the door and then start to get out. Van-essa was a graceful '96 model with normal seatbelts. The green van doesn't even have a name.
My daughter says she's keeping more space in front of her now, when she drives. We wouldn't want the beautiful new Honda to go the way of the minivan.
Fauxtography warning: This picture has been Photoshopped to remove an annoying object in the lower left corner and to obscure the license plate.
Stupid Illegal Worker Tricks
I heard this first on Laura Ingraham's radio show yesterday. The AP reported yesterday about 24 illegal aliens who were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
BALTIMORE — Twenty-four day laborers in the country illegally were arrested Tuesday when they asked for work from federal immigration agents who had gathered in a parking lot after an unsuccessful undercover operation, authorities said.
The agents had regrouped at a 7-Eleven parking lot after an a search for illegal immigrants who had been ordered to leave the country, said Marc Raimondi, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency spokesman.
The day laborers admitted they were in the country illegally after they asked the ICE agents whether they needed workers and the agents responded by asking them, in Spanish, where they were from, Raimondi said.
To be fair to the illegal aliens, the ICE agents were in unmarked cars.
Among those arrested were six who had criminal records in the United States; eight who had been deported or ushered to the border to leave the country voluntarily, only to return; and one who had been caught six times trying to enter the country from Mexico, according to ICE.
The story is beautiful with just this much, but it doesn't end there.
Hispanic advocates condemned the arrests, accusing ICE of targeting only day laborers who appeared to be of Latino descent. CASA of Maryland said it interviewed non-Hispanic day laborers who told the organization the ICE agents ignored them.
"They focused on people who look like me," said Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA. "We believe that is unacceptable. It is discrimination."
Unless the AP unfairly favored the ICE in its reporting--doubtful, considering the AP's usual slant to the left--Torres is mischaracterizing the events. The illegals apparently approached the ICE agents. There's no indication that the agents approached these 24 illegals, so for Torres to state that non-Hispanic workers were ignored is beside the point.
For advocates like Torres, race is more important than removing criminals from among the law-abiding populace.
BALTIMORE — Twenty-four day laborers in the country illegally were arrested Tuesday when they asked for work from federal immigration agents who had gathered in a parking lot after an unsuccessful undercover operation, authorities said.
The agents had regrouped at a 7-Eleven parking lot after an a search for illegal immigrants who had been ordered to leave the country, said Marc Raimondi, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency spokesman.
The day laborers admitted they were in the country illegally after they asked the ICE agents whether they needed workers and the agents responded by asking them, in Spanish, where they were from, Raimondi said.
To be fair to the illegal aliens, the ICE agents were in unmarked cars.
Among those arrested were six who had criminal records in the United States; eight who had been deported or ushered to the border to leave the country voluntarily, only to return; and one who had been caught six times trying to enter the country from Mexico, according to ICE.
The story is beautiful with just this much, but it doesn't end there.
Hispanic advocates condemned the arrests, accusing ICE of targeting only day laborers who appeared to be of Latino descent. CASA of Maryland said it interviewed non-Hispanic day laborers who told the organization the ICE agents ignored them.
"They focused on people who look like me," said Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA. "We believe that is unacceptable. It is discrimination."
Unless the AP unfairly favored the ICE in its reporting--doubtful, considering the AP's usual slant to the left--Torres is mischaracterizing the events. The illegals apparently approached the ICE agents. There's no indication that the agents approached these 24 illegals, so for Torres to state that non-Hispanic workers were ignored is beside the point.
For advocates like Torres, race is more important than removing criminals from among the law-abiding populace.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The Times, They Are A-Changing
When I got to my car after work today, I spotted something small and shiny in the empty parking space next to mine, and I picked it up. It was a metallic red bead, about 3/8 inch in diameter, with a tiny gold loop coming out from it. It probably fell off someone's bangly bracelet.
Since it wasn't worth keeping I tossed it away, but as it was leaving my hand, I thought, "What if it explodes?" I didn't take the question seriously, but still... For the moment the bead sailed through the air, I held my breath. And then it landed harmlessly. I got in my car and drove home.
It's a different world now than it used to be. A world with questions like this one that come from nowhere and from we-know-where at the same time. A world where people, like me, who are open and like to talk to strangers that don't look scary, are finding more people to be cautious about.
Maybe I'm slow in catching up to the real world, but this is America. We like foreign people. We like listening to their accents and hearing about where they came from and how much they like it here. I like these things.
What I don't like is suddenly wondering about the danger from extremists. I only mention it now, because this is the first time in a few years that I've considered the chance of being blown up. The last time was the first or second Thanksgiving after 9/11, when they warned about plots to bomb malls on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But I didn't worry, because I make it a practice not to shop on days when I'd need full body armor to protect me from the other shoppers.
I'm not looking for answers or explanations or words of comfort. All I'm saying is that I found a bead on the ground today and I wondered if it would explode, and I hate what that says about where events are taking us and what that could mean to our lives.
Since it wasn't worth keeping I tossed it away, but as it was leaving my hand, I thought, "What if it explodes?" I didn't take the question seriously, but still... For the moment the bead sailed through the air, I held my breath. And then it landed harmlessly. I got in my car and drove home.
It's a different world now than it used to be. A world with questions like this one that come from nowhere and from we-know-where at the same time. A world where people, like me, who are open and like to talk to strangers that don't look scary, are finding more people to be cautious about.
Maybe I'm slow in catching up to the real world, but this is America. We like foreign people. We like listening to their accents and hearing about where they came from and how much they like it here. I like these things.
What I don't like is suddenly wondering about the danger from extremists. I only mention it now, because this is the first time in a few years that I've considered the chance of being blown up. The last time was the first or second Thanksgiving after 9/11, when they warned about plots to bomb malls on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But I didn't worry, because I make it a practice not to shop on days when I'd need full body armor to protect me from the other shoppers.
I'm not looking for answers or explanations or words of comfort. All I'm saying is that I found a bead on the ground today and I wondered if it would explode, and I hate what that says about where events are taking us and what that could mean to our lives.
I've Got A Bad Feeling About This
Photo credit: Reuters/StringerI found this photo in the Reuters slideshow of the past 24 hours. The caption reads:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) greets Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in Tehran January 23, 2007.
Here's a very brief article about the meeting in yesterday's Ynet News (Israel). Syria's Foreign Minister delivered a letter from Syria's President Bashir Assad.
Whatever it said, when Iran and Syria are happy together, that doesn't bode well for the rest of us.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Castro's Medical System
Joseph Farah's column in today's WorldNetDaily oozes schadenfreude, but that's OK with me, because I feel the same way.
What is the definition of irony?
It may come any day now when Fidel Castro dies – the victim of his highly touted system of socialized medicine in the worker's paradise of Cuba.
Even though Castro imported a doctor from Spain to treat his diverticulitis – an infection in the large intestine that rarely proves fatal in capitalist countries – the Communist dictator is said to be in grave condition following three failed surgeries.
It's not only irony, it's poetic justice.
Socialists in this country have been holding up Cuba as a model for medical care. How many times have you heard this lie? Yet, the real proof is that the best of Cuba's medical establishment couldn't successfully treat Castro for a routine ailment after six months.
Keep in mind, this is happening to the Comandante – not some sugar-cane harvesting peasant. It shows you just how bad socialized medicine gets. It atrophies to the point where it is incapable of healing, even when doctors' lives may depend upon it.
People on the far left, like the Castro-hugging Hollywood crowd, love to push for socialized health care in the US. It's fair, they say. It equalizes the playing field, so the poor have a chance for good medical care, just as the rich do.
But "fair and equal" has a way of becoming mediocre, and then lousy. Socialism rewards laziness.
The only people who believe Cuban medical care is equal to or superior to what we have in the United States are those who teach at universities, attend them or pay to see Michael Moore movies.
Don't let CastroCare (or HillaryCare) come to our country. It'll send us all to an early grave.
What is the definition of irony?
It may come any day now when Fidel Castro dies – the victim of his highly touted system of socialized medicine in the worker's paradise of Cuba.
Even though Castro imported a doctor from Spain to treat his diverticulitis – an infection in the large intestine that rarely proves fatal in capitalist countries – the Communist dictator is said to be in grave condition following three failed surgeries.
It's not only irony, it's poetic justice.
Socialists in this country have been holding up Cuba as a model for medical care. How many times have you heard this lie? Yet, the real proof is that the best of Cuba's medical establishment couldn't successfully treat Castro for a routine ailment after six months.
Keep in mind, this is happening to the Comandante – not some sugar-cane harvesting peasant. It shows you just how bad socialized medicine gets. It atrophies to the point where it is incapable of healing, even when doctors' lives may depend upon it.
People on the far left, like the Castro-hugging Hollywood crowd, love to push for socialized health care in the US. It's fair, they say. It equalizes the playing field, so the poor have a chance for good medical care, just as the rich do.
But "fair and equal" has a way of becoming mediocre, and then lousy. Socialism rewards laziness.
The only people who believe Cuban medical care is equal to or superior to what we have in the United States are those who teach at universities, attend them or pay to see Michael Moore movies.
Don't let CastroCare (or HillaryCare) come to our country. It'll send us all to an early grave.
Troop Surge Results
Dennis Prager, on his radio show, mentioned Jack Kelley's column today in Real Clear Politics, "Is the Surge Already Producing Results?" Kelley's answer is, yes.
Three interesting things have happened since President Bush announced plans to "surge" U.S. troops.
First, al Qaida appears to be retreating from Baghdad.
He explains the documentation showing this is the case, then continues:
Mr. al Masri's [head of al Qaida in Iraq] evacuation order said that remaining in Baghdad is a no-win situation for al Qaida, because the Fallujah campaign demonstrating the Americans have learned how to prevail in house to house fighting, Mr. Miniter said.
"In more than 10 years of reading al Qaida intercepts, I've never seen (pessimistic) language like this," he quoted his intelligence officer source as saying.
Much conservative commentary has made a point of the similarity of language between the American Left and our enemies in Iraq. This looks like one more case. The Democrats, in response to the President's announcement of a troop surge in Iraq started Chicken Little-ing with, "We can't win over there!" And now al Qaeda is saying the same thing.
Second, the radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr, whose Iranian-subsidized militia, the Mahdi army, is responsible for most of the assaults on Sunni civilians in Iraq, is cooling his rhetoric and lowering his profile.
"Mahdi army militia members have stopped wearing their black uniforms, hidden their weapons and abandoned their checkpoints in an apparent effort to lower their profile in Baghdad in advance of the arrival of U.S. reinforcements," wrote Leila Fadel and Zaineb Obeid of the McClatchy Newspapers Jan. 13.
Third, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is putting more distance between himself and al Sadr, upon whose bloc of votes in parliament he had relied for political support.
All of these are excellent news.
For those on the Left, who have foreseen only calamity as a result of the announced troop surge, take heart. We haven't even surged yet, and we're reaping the positive results.
Send the troops. Take the gloves off. And let them do their jobs.
Three interesting things have happened since President Bush announced plans to "surge" U.S. troops.
First, al Qaida appears to be retreating from Baghdad.
He explains the documentation showing this is the case, then continues:
Mr. al Masri's [head of al Qaida in Iraq] evacuation order said that remaining in Baghdad is a no-win situation for al Qaida, because the Fallujah campaign demonstrating the Americans have learned how to prevail in house to house fighting, Mr. Miniter said.
"In more than 10 years of reading al Qaida intercepts, I've never seen (pessimistic) language like this," he quoted his intelligence officer source as saying.
Much conservative commentary has made a point of the similarity of language between the American Left and our enemies in Iraq. This looks like one more case. The Democrats, in response to the President's announcement of a troop surge in Iraq started Chicken Little-ing with, "We can't win over there!" And now al Qaeda is saying the same thing.
Second, the radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr, whose Iranian-subsidized militia, the Mahdi army, is responsible for most of the assaults on Sunni civilians in Iraq, is cooling his rhetoric and lowering his profile.
"Mahdi army militia members have stopped wearing their black uniforms, hidden their weapons and abandoned their checkpoints in an apparent effort to lower their profile in Baghdad in advance of the arrival of U.S. reinforcements," wrote Leila Fadel and Zaineb Obeid of the McClatchy Newspapers Jan. 13.
Third, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is putting more distance between himself and al Sadr, upon whose bloc of votes in parliament he had relied for political support.
All of these are excellent news.
For those on the Left, who have foreseen only calamity as a result of the announced troop surge, take heart. We haven't even surged yet, and we're reaping the positive results.
Send the troops. Take the gloves off. And let them do their jobs.
Harbin Ice Festival
Global Warming hasn't hit Harbin, in northern China, just yet. This year they are continuing their annual tradition of the Harbin Ice Festival.
I got an email from a friend, with a dozen or more photos attached, showing some of the ice and snow sculptures from the festival, though the email didn't say what year those sculptures were on display. Here are just a few:
I got an email from a friend, with a dozen or more photos attached, showing some of the ice and snow sculptures from the festival, though the email didn't say what year those sculptures were on display. Here are just a few:
Photo credits unknown
The dragon picture gives the best look at the way the ice sculptures are done. Ice blocks are made and attached and then carved. It's incredible what they do with solid water.
The park in Harbin where the Festival is held becomes a city of ice, with buildings to walk through and statues to look at, and it's all lit up at night. Each year gets more elaborate than the past. More photos can be found through these links:
R. Todd King's photos of the 2003 show
R. Todd King's photos of the 2005 show
China Daily's slideshow of the 2007 show, including some construction scenes
Monday, January 22, 2007
A Time to Mourn
This is an unborn baby at 24 weeks gestation. In today's America, his life would be at risk if his mother decided a baby was inconvenient for her.
Legally, he's not a "person." I'm not sure what the courts think is sucking his thumb--a puppy, a kitten, a turtle? Certainly not a person.
Well over 40 million babies like this one, and younger, have died since the Roe v. Wade decision was handed down on this date in 1973. Four times as many as Hitler killed in the Holocaust. It is beyond a tragedy what our country has done.
This is a day for mourning. And prayer.
Desmond Tutu Doesn't Mind Gay Clergy
IOL (South Africa) reported Friday on recent remarks by retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Friday urged the African Anglican church to concentrate on the the continent's grim problems rather than on the row over gay clergy, and said persecuting gays was akin to racism.
The debate over the role of homosexuals in the church threatens to split the world's 77-million Anglicans, pitting traditionalists in developing countries against liberals in the west.
African Anglican bishops have threatened to refuse to sit at the same table as Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who heads the US Episcopal Church and supports gay clergy, at a global meeting in Tanzania in February.
Homosexuality is taboo in most African societies, and most of the African church says ordaining gay clergy goes against the Bible.
I'll start by saying I'm not a member of the Anglican/Episcopal church, but my interest in this stems from being a member of the Christian church at large--the body of all believers. Here is what Tutu had to say:
"I am deeply disturbed that in the face of some of the most horrendous problems facing Africa, we concentrate on 'what do I do in bed with whom'," the South African Nobel Laureate Tutu told a news conference in Nairobi.
"For one to penalise someone for their sexual orientation is the same as penalising someone for something they can do nothing about, like ethnicity or race. I cannot imagine persecuting a minority group which is already being persecuted."
"The God I worship would not consider that (gay clergy) to be a priority concern," Tutu said, adding that churches should instead be thinking about poverty, HIV and Aids and conflict resolution.
I don't know what God Tutu worships, but the God of the Bible gives "priority concern" to the leadership of the church. He says (through the Apostle Paul) that church leaders will be held to a higher standard than regular church members. Leaders who are involved in unrepentant sin are to be removed from their leadership positions.
The question is not about orientation, but what the person does with it. If a heterosexual leader has an orientation toward philandering but is able to keep from acting out on that tendency, he is allowed to remain in leadership. But if he gives in to his tendencies, violating God's laws about sexual morality, then he is to be removed from his position.
Obedience is more important to God than all the rest.
For Archbishop Tutu not to understand this and to place more emphasis on fighting poverty is wrong. God will not bless work done in His name when the workers condone sin. Especially when a church places unrepentant sinners in positions of authority.
The other African churches who oppose the ordination and promotion of gay clergy should stand firm to their principles. Then God will bless their work as they fight poverty, HIV/AIDS, and work toward confilct resolution.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Friday urged the African Anglican church to concentrate on the the continent's grim problems rather than on the row over gay clergy, and said persecuting gays was akin to racism.
The debate over the role of homosexuals in the church threatens to split the world's 77-million Anglicans, pitting traditionalists in developing countries against liberals in the west.
African Anglican bishops have threatened to refuse to sit at the same table as Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who heads the US Episcopal Church and supports gay clergy, at a global meeting in Tanzania in February.
Homosexuality is taboo in most African societies, and most of the African church says ordaining gay clergy goes against the Bible.
I'll start by saying I'm not a member of the Anglican/Episcopal church, but my interest in this stems from being a member of the Christian church at large--the body of all believers. Here is what Tutu had to say:
"I am deeply disturbed that in the face of some of the most horrendous problems facing Africa, we concentrate on 'what do I do in bed with whom'," the South African Nobel Laureate Tutu told a news conference in Nairobi.
"For one to penalise someone for their sexual orientation is the same as penalising someone for something they can do nothing about, like ethnicity or race. I cannot imagine persecuting a minority group which is already being persecuted."
"The God I worship would not consider that (gay clergy) to be a priority concern," Tutu said, adding that churches should instead be thinking about poverty, HIV and Aids and conflict resolution.
I don't know what God Tutu worships, but the God of the Bible gives "priority concern" to the leadership of the church. He says (through the Apostle Paul) that church leaders will be held to a higher standard than regular church members. Leaders who are involved in unrepentant sin are to be removed from their leadership positions.
The question is not about orientation, but what the person does with it. If a heterosexual leader has an orientation toward philandering but is able to keep from acting out on that tendency, he is allowed to remain in leadership. But if he gives in to his tendencies, violating God's laws about sexual morality, then he is to be removed from his position.
Obedience is more important to God than all the rest.
For Archbishop Tutu not to understand this and to place more emphasis on fighting poverty is wrong. God will not bless work done in His name when the workers condone sin. Especially when a church places unrepentant sinners in positions of authority.
The other African churches who oppose the ordination and promotion of gay clergy should stand firm to their principles. Then God will bless their work as they fight poverty, HIV/AIDS, and work toward confilct resolution.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Modern Pagans Honor Zeus
The AP reported today about a pagan ceremony in Greece.
A clutch of modern pagans honored Zeus at a 1,800-year-old temple in the heart of Athens on Sunday.
Now, our new puppy, Zeus (replacement for the terror-dog, Hollywood), sure is cute, but I didn't imagine his fame would reach all the way to Athens. He isn't even housebroken yet.
Dressed in ancient costumes, worshippers standing near the temple's imposing Corinthian columns recited hymns calling on the Olympian Zeus, "King of the gods and the mover of things," to bring peace to the world.
We'll see if we can get Zeus to pee on his Wee-Wee Pads first, before we try to get him to bring us world peace.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Quote of the Week
"This is the joy of life: the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."
- George Bernard Shaw
Woman Found After 18 Years in Jungle
Reuters reported yesterday that a Vietnamese woman has been found.
A woman has been returned to her home in Vietnam's Central Highlands 18 years after she went missing as an eight-year old girl tending cows near the Cambodian border, her father told a newspaper on Thursday.
I love the British term, "went missing," as though the eight-year old girl decided to disappear. Canadians say that too. But the little girl didn't go missing. She probably just got lost. By accident and not on purpose.
Policeman Ksor Lu long believed that his daughter had been eaten by a wild animal until last Saturday when he was told that loggers had found "a forestman" at a village in Cambodia's province of Ratanakiri.
Lu arrived and "recognized his daughter from the first sighting" even though her body was blackened and she had long hair down to her legs and could not speak, according to the account in the Vietnam Rural Today newspaper.
It's amazing to think of an eight-year old girl being able to survive alone in a jungle full of wild animals. Where did she stay, and how did she find enough food to keep herself alive that long?
But maybe the time she had spent caring for her family's cattle taught her what plants to eat and how to avoid the dangers of the jungle.
Lu said that at first it was difficult bringing her back to normal life because she resisted showering, wearing clothes or using chopsticks, fending him off and shouting and crying.
Four days later she started cooperating, Lu said.
"It is not easy indeed but life is waiting ahead for her."
This little girl, now 26, has a family to love her and teach her again how to make her way among people. However difficult, life is still good.
A woman has been returned to her home in Vietnam's Central Highlands 18 years after she went missing as an eight-year old girl tending cows near the Cambodian border, her father told a newspaper on Thursday.
I love the British term, "went missing," as though the eight-year old girl decided to disappear. Canadians say that too. But the little girl didn't go missing. She probably just got lost. By accident and not on purpose.
Policeman Ksor Lu long believed that his daughter had been eaten by a wild animal until last Saturday when he was told that loggers had found "a forestman" at a village in Cambodia's province of Ratanakiri.
Lu arrived and "recognized his daughter from the first sighting" even though her body was blackened and she had long hair down to her legs and could not speak, according to the account in the Vietnam Rural Today newspaper.
It's amazing to think of an eight-year old girl being able to survive alone in a jungle full of wild animals. Where did she stay, and how did she find enough food to keep herself alive that long?
But maybe the time she had spent caring for her family's cattle taught her what plants to eat and how to avoid the dangers of the jungle.
Lu said that at first it was difficult bringing her back to normal life because she resisted showering, wearing clothes or using chopsticks, fending him off and shouting and crying.
Four days later she started cooperating, Lu said.
"It is not easy indeed but life is waiting ahead for her."
This little girl, now 26, has a family to love her and teach her again how to make her way among people. However difficult, life is still good.
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