"From a religious point of view we did the right thing."
--Daniel Corogeanu, abbot of the Holy Trinity monastery, Tanacu, Romania, after an apparently possessed 23-year old nun died after being crucified during an exorcism.
Die Zeit 23.06.05, p. 2
"If we let people see that kind of thing, there would never again be any war. "
- Pentagon official,
on why US military censored graphic footage from the Gulf War.
"Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoset"
Pope Innocent III responding to soldiers he had unleashed in the crusade against the Cathars when asked how they were to tell the heretics from the good Catholics in the city of Beziers in 1210. Translated it means, "Kill them all, God can recognize the believers." The marines have since adopted something similar, "Kill them all, let God sort it out," a particularly heinous motto if there ever was one.
"It became necessary to destroy the town to save it."
An unnamed major in the U.S. Army said this about the decision to bomb and shell the town of Bentre, according to an Associated Press dispatch.
—The New York Times, February 8, 1968
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Should we all be learning Chinese?
"Twelfth graders [in the United States] rank in the 10th percentile in math globally [for the mathematically challenged that means 90% are better than us,] but first in their opinion of their own math skills." I continue to marvel at our capacity for self-delusion.
That, suggests Clyde Prestowitz in his recent book, Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East, is symptomatic of problems endemic to the United States. The United States will survive as a world leader only if it can replace job that are being lost by equivalent or better ones. Innovation and creativity will be the only ways to improve. Education is critical to betterment and it is becoming clear that education in India, China, Japan and Europe is increasingly better than in the United States where the main emphasis seems to be on whether the football team can beat the crap out of the neighboring community's team.
Some of his other suggestions:
Increase teacher salaries, offer portable wage and health insurance, reduce oil consumption, reduce the trade-deficit, and tax spending, not saving. Hardly provocative.
Note that if John B. Anderson had been elected years ago and had been able to implement his 50 cent per gallon gas tax we would be in much better shape from an energy standpoint.
Pet peeve of the week:
I recently attended some meetings in Springfield, Illinois, the state capitol. They should be ashamed of their inability to spell the word correctly. There is a Capital Street; I attended meetings at the Capital City Center (run by a community college, tsk, tsk) and saw numerous other instances of the word that I suspect were mispelled [pun intended] out of ignorance, not cleverness.
That, suggests Clyde Prestowitz in his recent book, Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East, is symptomatic of problems endemic to the United States. The United States will survive as a world leader only if it can replace job that are being lost by equivalent or better ones. Innovation and creativity will be the only ways to improve. Education is critical to betterment and it is becoming clear that education in India, China, Japan and Europe is increasingly better than in the United States where the main emphasis seems to be on whether the football team can beat the crap out of the neighboring community's team.
Some of his other suggestions:
Increase teacher salaries, offer portable wage and health insurance, reduce oil consumption, reduce the trade-deficit, and tax spending, not saving. Hardly provocative.
Note that if John B. Anderson had been elected years ago and had been able to implement his 50 cent per gallon gas tax we would be in much better shape from an energy standpoint.
Pet peeve of the week:
I recently attended some meetings in Springfield, Illinois, the state capitol. They should be ashamed of their inability to spell the word correctly. There is a Capital Street; I attended meetings at the Capital City Center (run by a community college, tsk, tsk) and saw numerous other instances of the word that I suspect were mispelled [pun intended] out of ignorance, not cleverness.
And you thought Social Security was in trouble.
The increasingly large numbers of injured veterans returning from Iraq (an average of 472 are injured, wounded or become sick during each month according to the Christian Science Monitor) is beginning to place a huge strain on a Veterans Administration that did not have enough money to provide care for 7.5 million vets already in the system, and has a $1,000,000,000 shortfall this year. (Interesting factoid: 33% of the homeless men in this country are vets.)
Unlike earlier wars, more soldiers injured in combat are surviving. Because transportation to hospitals is faster and more reliable, soldiers now survive but with debilitating injuries. It's the VA's responsibility to provide health care for these injured. Another concern is the use of depleted uranium in shells. There is rising suspicion that this material is causing illnesses among the troops.
Critics point to waste problems, including an Inspector General report that there were $800 million in overpayments per year. When presented as a percentage of the total annual budget (slightly more than 1%,) it seems to me they are remarkably careful. I doubt if there is a company around that could have a better record than that.
Unlike earlier wars, more soldiers injured in combat are surviving. Because transportation to hospitals is faster and more reliable, soldiers now survive but with debilitating injuries. It's the VA's responsibility to provide health care for these injured. Another concern is the use of depleted uranium in shells. There is rising suspicion that this material is causing illnesses among the troops.
Critics point to waste problems, including an Inspector General report that there were $800 million in overpayments per year. When presented as a percentage of the total annual budget (slightly more than 1%,) it seems to me they are remarkably careful. I doubt if there is a company around that could have a better record than that.
New Meaning Behind "No Child Left Behind"
There is a new debate brewing regarding language written in to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. Apparently, a clause requires high schools to deliver students' names and address and phone numbers to military recruiters if the schools wish to receive any federal aid.
Aside from the fact that this often conflicts with other privacy rights laws, several school districts have decided this is an inappropriate way for recruiters to access school records.
Link for additional information.
Aside from the fact that this often conflicts with other privacy rights laws, several school districts have decided this is an inappropriate way for recruiters to access school records.
Link for additional information.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Patriots
Barnes and Noble produces an excellent series of lectures similar to The Teaching Company. One, entitled The Patriots, (Joseph Ellis) is an examination of those extraordinary individuals who were responsible for the revolution. It's part hagiography, part myth buster.
We use the term "insurgents" in such a pejorative manner when speaking of the rebels in Iraq, yet that's precisely what the Founding Fathers were. The Sons of Liberty, supported by such icons as Paul Revere and Samuel and John Adams, in their antipathy to the Stamp Act of 1765, decided that recalcitrant citizens who were not eager enough in their support of the anti-monarch movement needed violent persuasion. Although they avoided personal violence, they were not averse to destroying the property of those who opposed them.
John Adams played an unusual role in that he feared mob action, no matter how democratic. In fact, he went out of his way to defend the British officers who had been accused of malfeasance during the so-called Boston Massacre (so named by Samuel Adams who used it as propaganda.) Thomas Preston, the officer in charge, commanded the soldiers not to fire, but they did, five people died, and Adams persuaded the jury that the soldiers had responded with justifiable force given the threats from the crowd.
Interesting sidenote that "Massacre Day," which Adams remarked to be the beginning of the American Revolution, was celebrated for many years until it was replaced by July 4th. Paul Revere's illustration of the event was notable mostly for the errors it contained: it was not during the day and Crispus Attacus, the first American to be killed in the Revolution, was black not white.
We use the term "insurgents" in such a pejorative manner when speaking of the rebels in Iraq, yet that's precisely what the Founding Fathers were. The Sons of Liberty, supported by such icons as Paul Revere and Samuel and John Adams, in their antipathy to the Stamp Act of 1765, decided that recalcitrant citizens who were not eager enough in their support of the anti-monarch movement needed violent persuasion. Although they avoided personal violence, they were not averse to destroying the property of those who opposed them.
John Adams played an unusual role in that he feared mob action, no matter how democratic. In fact, he went out of his way to defend the British officers who had been accused of malfeasance during the so-called Boston Massacre (so named by Samuel Adams who used it as propaganda.) Thomas Preston, the officer in charge, commanded the soldiers not to fire, but they did, five people died, and Adams persuaded the jury that the soldiers had responded with justifiable force given the threats from the crowd.
Interesting sidenote that "Massacre Day," which Adams remarked to be the beginning of the American Revolution, was celebrated for many years until it was replaced by July 4th. Paul Revere's illustration of the event was notable mostly for the errors it contained: it was not during the day and Crispus Attacus, the first American to be killed in the Revolution, was black not white.
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