Debatable

There is a well-known and carefully-refined format for debate. Presidential candidates never use it.

The world would be a better place if they did, though.

Just as Congress would do a better job if they passed bills according to Robert's Rules of Order.

Osama in Iraq!

In the _Wall Street Journal_ for 29 September, 9/11 widow Debra Burlingame defends President* Bush's invasion of Iraq, declaring that Saddam Hussein did so have ties to Osama bin Laden. She offers as evidence:

"Saddam . . . was not responsive to a 1996 request by bin Laden for safe haven in Iraq".

"[I]n 1998 . . . Richard Clarke worried that bin Laden would 'boogie to Baghdad'" if driven from Sudan by Clinton's campaign against him there.

Well. Osama asked for help and Saddam ignored him. And somebody speculated that Osama might ask again. Yeah, pretty devastating evidence.

People have a hard time sorting things out because they think of Saddam and Osama as being "on the same side", apparently because they come from sort of the same culture, or race, or something (they don't really have religion in common -- Saddam is about as much a Muslim as Ronald Reagan was a Christian).

Much in the way that people often puzzle over why neo-Nazis and the Klan rarely have anything to say to one another. They fail to see that a secular racist group that wants an all-powerful national government busy conquering the world has little in common with a Christian racist group that wants a feeble national confederacy that shuts the world out.

Playing SAIF

A hot election topic in Oregon is a ballot measure calling for the dissolution of the State Accident Insurance Fund. There are all sorts of reasons given why this would be ever-so-good an idea, but the actual motivation is pretty straightforward: Liberty Northwest (an insurance company actually based in Boston) wants to eliminate its chief competitor.

There's a delightful campaign ad, showing the Liberty board talking about the best way to gain control over the market in "Ore-a-gone". They say "Ore-a-gone" a couple of times, to make sure the point gets across.

It says "A Dramatization" across the bottom of the screen in big letters, but the funniest part is that, like Dan Rather's memos, the video is a false record of a real thing.

Another amusing campaign ad ends with a candidate preparing to bungee jump, saying, "I'm David WU, and I approve this message, and I do my own stunts!"

Back to School

Class begins today in Biology 233, Anatomy & Physiology III.

This is the last prerequisite I have left for getting into the nursing program, which of course is no guarantee that I will get in. Not sure what I'll do if I don't.

But in any event, I must get back into student-ly mode now, and make ready for school.

Fall Festival

The Corvallis Fall Festival is always a pleasure: craft booths, food booths, music, political booths -- all the usual furniture of a small-town fair.

It's nothing special, but it's definitely something to look forward to.

Especially the elephant ears.

New Roof, Coming Right Up

So far my own contributions have consisted largely of housework and hauling bundles of shingles up through the house, but Kathe's son Jake and a friend of one of the younger kids have been burning through the roof at an impressive clip.

Old shingles come off, new tarpaper and shingles go on, soon it will be time for that tricky section that requires all that custom-made flashing.

I made the mistake of reading the label on one of those bundles of shingles -- they weigh *eighty pounds* each? I don't know if I can carry any more, now that I know how much they weigh.

Carrying isn't so bad, but that vertical lifting is a killer.

He Should Have Kept the Passport that said "Cat Stevens"

When the defenders of the F/a/t/h/e/r/Homeland learned that someone named "Yusuf Islam" was aboard Flight 919, they diverted the plane to Maine, one of the expendable states.

Republican Catsup

There are two different brands of catsup offering a Republican alternative to Heinz. Wow.

I'm sitting here trying to imagine "Conservative" or "Republican" catsup. Let's see . . . .

Conservative catsup uses organically-grown, pesticide-free tomatoes (just to err on the side of caution), grown on an American family farm, lightly cooked and seasoned with just two or three other ingredients.

Republican catsup is burnt to death and loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors.

Happy Anniversary, Kathe

Twenty years, as of today.

I love you, sweetie.

Stainless steel hip joints and all.

Geek Girly Speaks

Geek Girly, also known as AmberCrystal (http://www.ambercrystal.blogspot.com ), had this to say today:

Geek Girly has a serious bone to pick with the world at large, and although she will try to be articulate and eloquent about this matter, please note - she is good and thoroughly pissed.

Some background: GG has a friend who has a 20something daughter who lives with her and her second husband. The Daughter is married, pregnant, and does not work. (GG points this out because all three descriptions and situations were the Daughter's choice.) GG's friend, a rather passionate, somewhat dramatically emotional redhead, feels guilty that she was a teenaged, unwed mother from one of the states where inbreeding is considered a legitimate lifestyle choice, so allows the Daughter too much freedom for her situation. The Daughter, who only moved in with GG's friend on the stipulation that her then-boyfriend/occasional lover be allowed to move in with her, recently became pregnant. At her wedding, oblivious to the financial difficulties of her mother and stepfather, the Daughter actually had the nerve to whine, because her belly showed through the A-line gown she had been purchased and, because... Mommmm!!! I wanted tulips, not lilieeeessss.... (To say that the Daughter is a disappointing reminder to GG that life is NOT as lovely as it is in her head, and that people are NOT always the kind, wondrous creatures she tends to view them as is... well, a given.)

On to the soapbox moment....

This past weekend, GG and a group of her (very cool, amazingly generous) co-workers traveled not so great distances into Downtown, to help serve at a local soup kitchen. It was an amazing experience! The people were kind, the service warmly received, and GG and two or three new friends have already made plans to return on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

According to a volunteer at the shelter, they will serve over 1500 people on Thanksgiving Day alone... Seeing the impressive, tangible need, GG was deeply, passionately touched... Knowing that there was only enough food for the day to feed roughly 70 people and 100 showed up seems fundamentally wrong. The fact that it's avoidable and could be changed if those with more would give more, or learn to live with less, infuriates this Geek past the point of articulation. So... there is GG and intrepid team, getting so much more back than they had given, and grateful for the opportunity to do so.

Meanwhile.... across Town....there is a baby shower going on, welcoming this new life growing inside the Daughter. Gifts upon gifts upon gifts are being opened... food is splayed, drinks flowing like lies from a politician's tongue.... there is much joy and merriment, and it was, GG is sure, a lovely little get-together... except that there are so many gifts.... and they keep coming.... for 15 minutes... then 30... an hour... then 2.... and more... All have to be opened and adored..... proper homage to be paid before the next is received, cooed over... presented....

What lessens the merriment of this experience for GG is.... this joy is not for the child - it is for things made of dust and earth, not lasting as long as a thought. They will used, yes, of course, but will they be truly appreciated? What will the child gain from this overabundance? Will she understand that things are just... things, but that souls, people are divine? Will she get that there is more to life than the newest, latest, greatest? Or will this materialistic existance jade her eyes, numb her soul, so that she thinks happiness is ownership, and those who have not... are worth naught?

This... this is why GG prays.

GG would humbly request that you donate food, time, clothing, anything you can spare as often as possible to the most worthy causes listed below. It doesn't matter who you are or where you live, you can be of benefit to someone, somewhere... and perhaps someday... we can all live free.

www.salvationarmy.org
www.habitat.org
www.worldvision.org
www.shoesfororphansouls.com
www.redcross.org
www.amnesty.org

To which I replied:

This is always a difficult thing for me: How do you criticize someone who receives your charity? But how can you not?

It's not really charity if it comes with strings attached, is it? You're not really asking the person you're giving to to simper and grovel, are you?

But if you set no conditions, and no limits, those who benefit from your generosity will abuse it, or become obnoxious on account of feeling guilty for "owing" you so much.

I saw a little of that this summer, when my teenaged son's friends were hanging out at our place for days on end. They were delighted to have a place they could sit around and talk, make out and get silly, and not have to fear being rousted by the management or the police. But when it got so we never had the place to ourselves, and so few of our guests made any effort to clean up the mess they created, the novelty of all that company faded.

And then came the night one of them asked me to cook him something to eat. Oy.

It's made more difficult for me, because I don't take the conventional Christian approach, that charity is entirely an "extra", which you may feel free to withhold for no reason and incur no penalty. I incline more to the Jewish doctrine that charity is an obligation that cannot lightly be shirked.

So yes, GG's friend's daughter is a boor and a parasite, but I really don't know what, if anything, GG can honorably do, or even say, about the subject.

Jake's Here

Kathe's son Jake, one of what I tend to call "the first crop" (the four biological children she had with her first husband, later followed by four adopted and one "informally adopted"), has come to stay with us. It's good to have him here.

Originally, he was coming to help with reshingling the roof (a daunting task with a roof as steep as ours). With Kathe still settling in with her new hip, it's even better to have him here.

It's Simple Economics

If you don't supply people with something they are demanding (say, records of what you did or didn't do during most of 1972-3), then someone else will.

Kathe has a New Hip (Again)

She fell and fractured her remaining natural hip, and had to have emergency surgery. It seems to have gone well, with her new joint functioning adequately. If all goes well, she'll be coming home today.

My Wife is In Surgery

I'lle let you know more when I know more.

Memos: Fake Contents: ?

If the memos are fraudulent, then why was the Bush campaign silent on the matter for so long? Can it be because Bush wasn't sure if they were fake or not?

The secretary of the alleged author of the memos says that they reflect what he was saying around the office (probably with language a good deal more colorful) about the spoiled rich boys in the Champagne Squadron generally and young George specifically.

The idea of fake documents with geniune contents is a bit head-spinning, but hey.

Meanwhile, the more important question of whether the little weasel deserves your vote remains open. At least, for some people it's still open.

In It For the Long Haul

The Sunday Corvallis Gazette-Times says that the daily 5:00 PM peace vigil in front of hte Benton County Courthouse is the longest-running in the country, dating back to October 7th, 2001 (the dfay the U.S. invaded Afghanistan).

I have only been present for the event a few times. Usually, I rub people's shoulders as they stand there, rather than hold up a sign myself.

But in any event, I wouldn't have been there back in 2001, because I didn't agree with them about Afghanistan.

Remember, please, it was a whole different war from Iraq. That was a government that really was collaborating closely with al Qaeda. And it didn't help matters that it was a government that made Saddam Hussein's regime look like a bastion of human rights.

Invading Afghanistan was the closest thing we'd had to a just cause for war since Pearl Harbor. I didn't go running around in a "Nuke Kabul" T-shirt, but I also didn't protest the invasion. I stood silent and prayed it would be over quickly.

The first part was blessedly quick. And the rest of the story (ending the small-scale fighting around the country, rebuilding what had been destroyed and building what they had never gotten around to) should have been quick and successful.

Unfortunately, the Administration had other priorities.

Afghanistan was unfinished business, and I might well have supported the overthrow of the Taliban some time in the 1990s (Bill Clinton might have done it, if he hadn't been busy with attacks on him from another corner).

Saddam Hussein, supported and sustained in power for many years by Ronald Reagan and Bush the Elected, was also unfinished business, and I might even have supported some well-constructed scheme to overthrow him and assist the people of Iraq in quickly rebuilding their country. But by 2002, we had other matters that should have been attended to first: rebuilding Afghanistan (you broke it, you bought it), capturing Osama bin Laden, shutting down al Qaeda cells around the world. Instead, Bush sent the military and the CIA haring off into Iraq, and we all know how well that worked out.

I was among those who opposed Mr. Bush's adventure in Iraq, and history has proven us correct. I continue to hope that the consequences of this immense blunder can be dealt with, that a Kerry Administration can clean up the mess Bush is leaving behind, and that some good can be salvaged from it.

Andrea Came By

My friend Andrea was in town the other day. I'm so glad.

She was a massage client for years, and became a good friend. It was a bummer when she moved to New Jersey. And then she moved to Germany, and got married . . . !

But recently, her husband came into a small inheritance, and they made a trip to the U.S. She got to see family and friends in various places around the country, she got to show off her husband and baby to everybody, and her husband got to see places he hadn't been before.

We met for lunch, Andrea and Bjorn and little Dominick and John and Kathe. Nearly Normal's is a swell organix restaurant, loaded with hippie charm. Definitely one of the best restaurants in Corvallis.

Afterward, Andrea got a massage. She told me that in Germany she couldn't find the kind of massage common over here, a full hour from head to toe. A physicla therapist will give you fifteen minutes on your legs while working on a particular problem, but that wasn't what she wanted. Well, at least she got one more treatment from me.

And maybe we can set up another one in another three or four years. Who knows . . . .

A Day to Remember

The day I want to remember is September 11th, 1994, the day that Tesfaye, Asnakech and Mestowet Desta got off that plane at Portland International Airport, to join their new family. By a happy coincidence, September 11th was also the Ethiopian New Year.

Less happy coincidence eventually followed, of course.

Three years ago, I called the girls, Asnakech and Mestowet, at their apartment in Portland and told them that they should not let anybody take away *their* day.

And I still say, we should of course observe the anniversary in appropriate fashion, but we should keep it in perspective in both directions:

1) Don't let the bastards take even one day of the year away from us, to be used solely to remember what they did -- they'd like that too much.

2) Don't leave remembrance and thoughtful action for just one day -- continue to be vigilant against all the wreckers (the terrorists, and the people who would use the fear of terror as an excuse to implement the terrorists' own agenda).

//The Magic Eight-Ball says, "Love is stronger than hate."\\

Fair and Balanced

The terribly liberal media have given five times as much coverage (4199 stories vs. 808) to the Swift Boat Republicans as they have to the controversy over Bush's military records.

This in spite of the fact that the boat boys were debunked almost immediately, while serious questions about Bush's activities are still going unanswered.

Yep, that liberal media bias is just terrible.

I Heard Al Franken on the Radio This Morning

He wasn't being funny.

He said bluntly, "This administration has blood on its hands."

Basically, what I've been saying all along: that no matter how richly Saddam Hussein deserved to be deposed, invading Iraq while Afghanistan was still in chaos was criminally negligent.

Criminally negligent homicide.

If you are a U.S. citizen, please register to vote and vote for John Kerry.

BECAUSE HE ISN'T BUSH.

Infertility Bites

I have just discovered a blog, In the Barren Season ( http://www.inthebarrenseason.blogspot.com ), in which a Jewish woman using the name Persephone records her thoughts about her ongoing treatment for infertility. I find its content very interesting.

I have always found the operations of the human reproductive system fascinating, both at the biological end and also the human end. At the end of this month, I embark on the third of three anatomy and physiology courses which are prerequisites to an application to nursing school, and it will be part 3 which will include the reproductive system. I'm looking forward to it.

My wife and I did ourselves endure infertility, which has now responded to treatment, once by PA and three times by TN/TRA (private adoption and transnational/transracial adoption).

Adoption is not 100% effective, and the failures can be every bit as painful as miscarriage or abortion, but it has a better success rate than any other treatment I know of, fewer side effects and (usually) lower costs.

www.us-election.org

I had a swell time voting at www.us-election.org, probably more than I'm going to have in the real election.

us-election.org allows people who are not US citizens to vote in the next American Presidential election and is filled with information about all of the candidates -- and they really do mean ALL the candidates, not just those two Republicrats.

I was going to vote for the one woman running for President, but her platform was just too creepy, a right-wing nightmare. Same for the black guy, who's an orthodox Stalinist. I thought about voting for the Hispanic guy (Socialist Workers Party), but in the end voted for one of the Anglo dudes (Personal Choice Party) out of a nostalgic fondness for his running mate, Marilyn Chambers Taylor.

I know that you may wonder why you should vote in the US election, since your vote will not affect the results. That is true, but it may nevertheless be useful for Americans to understand how we feel about their choices. The choices Americans make affect us all, so even if we have no legal right to participate in their election, they should know how we feel.

The results can be viewed immediately on the site and right up to the election day of November 2. They can be viewed country-by-country as well as region-by-region. All you have to do is go to

http://www.us-election.org

and register your vote. It's easy.

Then, once you have voted, pass the word on to as many of your friends as might be interested. Really, voting with a full slate of candidates is fun, and will make you wish that all of these goofballs were on your ballot, even if that would make the ballot look like a voter's pamphlet, and the voters' pamphlet look like a phone book.

Dear Governor Bush

Governor Jeb Bush
PL 05 The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

Governor:

Even here in Oregon, we have heard about how your Department of Law Enforcement is trying to intimidate elderly black voters.

See? The whole world really is watching.

John M. Burt
960 SW Jefferson Avenue
Corvallis, Oregon 97333