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Ain’t Gonna Study War No More

Surely the police and military (any difference anymore?) need non-lethal means for subduing rioters.

But even in the category of non-lethal means, some are meaner than others. Which is worse: tear gas or feeling your skin is boiling? Do

you want your local police department to add a virtual flailer to their arsenal, next to the machine guns, tanks and helicopters? mjh

virtual skin boiling machine

ABQjournal: N.M. Home to Nonlethal Weapon Work By Andrew Webb, Of the Journal

“There’s a lot of nonlethal research out

there,” Garcia said.

The Active Denial device has been scaled down to fit atop a military Humvee, and is expected to see early

field testing next year, said Garcia, who was one of its first test subjects in Albuquerque.

“It’s

incredibly painful,” he says. “I thought I could mentally override it, but it’s as if you’ve touched a hot iron.”

QOTD

the goal of internal disarmament

A Simple Message Of Hope And Peace By

Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post Staff Writer

[The Dalai Lama] talked of love and hate, of religion and ethics, of global peace

and nuclear weapons.

He talked of malls.

“I like shopping centers,” the monk, in gold and crimson robes, confessed in his

stilted English, smiling as his audience roared. “Beautiful. When I go [to] these areas, I want this, I want that, I want that,” he said,

jabbing a finger in the air as though on a spree at Tysons Corner.

“Then, [I] ask myself, you really need that? The answer

is no.”

His main points, though, were more profound: the need for religious tolerance, the importance of carrying out

faith in daily actions and the goal of “internal disarmament” — combating one’s own hatred and anger.

Dump Duhbya

GOP Senator-for- life Ted Stevens

Right wing starts to reap

the whirlwind By JOEL CONNELLY, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

Of course, there’s Alaska’s temperamental,

vengeful GOP Senator-for-life Ted Stevens.

Stevens has just introduced a bill to roll back federal protection of Puget

Sound — clearing the way for more tankers and refineries.

The old bastard shakes down [Washington state’s] business interests

for $250,000 in donations whenever he seeks another term. And this is what we get in return.

Evil deeds backfire.

National Pork Service By Richard Cohen

after … a $223 million bridge from Ketchikan (population 8,900) to Gravina Island (population 50), was mocked as the “Bridge to

Nowhere,” Stevens properly turned the issue into one of virtual civil rights. He recalled the days when Alaska was a mere territory with

few of the usual rights of states and said that now, once again, it was being accorded second-class status: “It will not happen,” he

thundered. “It will not happen,” he bellowed.

The statue of Stevens will note that he was the first senator in American history to

take himself hostage. His threat to resign — an action of vast indifference to all of mankind with the possible exception of the 50

people on Gravina Island — would have deprived the Senate of a reverse Gold Rusher, someone who came down from Alaska to mine for gold

in Washington. His speech, in which over and over he bemoaned the pitiful nature of his state’s modest road system, made no mention of

how Alaskans pay no state income tax and are awarded a piece of the state’s oil revenue. The state is No. 1 in per capita federal aid,

which is a tribute of sorts to Stevens’s ability to game the system at the expense of us all. …

But it is his threat to resign

— “I don’t threaten people; I promise people” — that shall forever be memorialized. It is a model of insistence, of selfishness, of

seeing the government no differently than Huey, Dewey and Louie saw their uncle, the fabulously rich Scrooge McDuck.

ID

This isn’t news

No one can

be surprised that the Pope believes in Intelligent Design. He believes he is god’s emissary on earth, for Christ’s sake.

However, his assault on atheists requires a response. Either he doesn’t understand those he disagrees with or, taking a page from the

Radical Right, he deliberately distorts the opposition’s views.

For what it is worth, this atheist — this anti-theist —

believes there is order to the Universe, as well as a lot of chance. There are laws governing it all. Those rules, however, need no god-

in-man’s-image. Why is that so hard to accept?

But, beyond me arguing with the Pope, note that ID supporters agree with him.

Again, no surprise. But it does take some of the edge off of one’s claims to supporting the scientific validity of ID if you offer as

support a papal aside. Or disingenuously hiding this Christian movement behind claims that the “designer” or “creator” could be

any faith’s. Yeah, right. Though this is one area where evangelical Christians and Muslims are arm-in-arm — god is great.

I

wonder how Catholics feel about Herr Schoenborn dismissing the casual remarks of the previous pope while they are told to hold the casual

remarks of the current one in high esteem. mjh

Pope: Universe created by ‘intelligent project’ By NICOLE

WINFIELD, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has waded into the evolution debate in the United States, saying the

universe was made by an “intelligent project” and criticizing those who in the name of science say its creation was without direction or

order. …

Benedict focused his reflections for the audience on scriptural readings that said God’s love was seen in the “marvels

of creation.”

He quoted St. Basil the Great, a fourth century saint, as saying some people, “fooled by the atheism that

they carry inside of them, imagine a universe free of direction and order, as if at the mercy of chance.”

“How

many of these people are there today? These people, fooled by atheism, believe and try to demonstrate that it’s

scientific to think that everything is free of direction and order,” he said. …

His comments were immediately

hailed by advocates of intelligent design, who hold that the universe is so complex it must have been created by a higher power.

Proponents of the theory are seeking to get public schools in the United States to teach it as part of the science curriculum. …

Questions about the Vatican’s position on evolution were raised in July by Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn.

In a New

York Times op-ed piece, Schoenborn seemed to back intelligent design and dismissed a 1996 statement by Pope John Paul II that

evolution was “more than just a hypothesis.” Schoenborn said the late pope’s statement was “rather vague and

unimportant.”

ID

christ’s canker

American Chronicle: Pat Robertson Curses Pennsylvania

Town By Del Williams

Pat Robertson, the televangelist from Virginia Beach has warned (cursed) the town of Dover, PA on his

show, “The 700 Club”. He said,

“I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn

to God, you just rejected Him from your city,” He went on to say, “And don’t wonder why He hasn’t helped you when

problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your

city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for His help because he might not be there.”

As a Christian I am offended that

this man is bent on presenting God as a hater and destroyer. …

I am not hearing the love in this

man, but animosity and anger. If you don’t vote the way he wants then your town is doomed. What nerve. This is one for senility

not God. I guess he overlooks the Scriptures that speak powerfully against wishing harm on another, because it will come to you instead.

…

Let me make this clear. Robertson is nothing more than a loud angry man who needs to go home and enjoy his

money. … Maybe God will do us all a favor and let him receive back the same kindness that he gave to the people of Dover, PA.

If it’s good enough for them, then it is good enough for him.

ID, loco

ABQjournal: Intelligent Design Has Support

Note, in particular, how many people in this survey knew nothing about ID before the survey. If you actually know what’s going on, you’re less likely to support ID.

With 60% of Republicans in NM supporting ID, it’s no surprise you don’t hear much talk lately about them being the party of “deep

thinkers” (as they called themselves just a few years ago). mjh

NM ID poll

ABQjournal: Intelligent Design Has Support BY JOHN FLECK, Journal

Staff Writer
But poll suggests many don’t know much about issue
Copyright © 2005 Albuquerque Journal

The idea of teaching

“intelligent design” in New Mexico public school science classes has more support than opposition among the state’s registered voters,

according to a Journal poll.

But the support falls just short of a majority, and the poll also suggests that a lot of New

Mexicans don’t know much about the issue one way or another. …

53 percent said they had heard or read about intelligent design,

compared with 43 percent who said they had not. (The remainder didn’t know or wouldn’t say.) …

Intelligent

design opponent Marshall Berman, education director of the New Mexico Academy of Science, said he believes the willingness to allow

teaching of intelligent design alongside evolution was likely a result of “the American concept of fairness.” [mjh: what

a sweet and gracious thought.]

He said those people did not understand that intelligent design is not scientific and that, in

his view, belief in intelligent design tends to be equated with belief in a creator in contemporary society.

Pollster Brian

Sanderoff, whose Research and Polling Inc. conducted the survey, noted that support for teaching intelligent design in school was

lower among those who had already heard or read about the subject.

Among those who were already aware of the

issue, 48 percent opposed teaching it in school, compared with 46 percent in support.

Sanderoff also noted that the

more educated people were, the less likely they were to support teaching intelligent design in school. Among political parties, Democrats

were evenly split on the issue, with 44 percent supporting teaching intelligent design in school and 45 percent opposed.

Republicans strongly supported teaching intelligent design in schools, 60 percent to 32 percent.

loco

The Party of Excuse-Making

Leave a comment

I encourage you to read Don Harris’s column in today’s Albuquerque

Journal. Regardless of your political views, see what Harris has to say for himself. Draw your own conclusions. Then come back here and

let me share mine with you (use comments to respond).

A few years ago, Don Harris ran for a judgeship. His platform was “Take Back

the Courts,” a part of that nasty Republican argument that the courts are full of failure, corrupt, lax — full of problems only

Republicans can fix. Harris ran as a hanging judge, ignoring the fact that it was family court, for which he has no particular

qualifications.

Now it seems, at the same time he was the law and order candidate, he was having a surprising number of encounters

with the law. He readily admits to being stopped for 6 moving violations in 12 years. How many times were you stopped in the last 12

years? I’m no saint, but I haven’t been stopped once in nearly 20 years. Am I a better person than Don Harris? Well, who cares. I’m

not running for office.

You have to wonder if someone has been caught so many times, just how many times they actually got away

with something. Admitting to 6 violations carries with it an implication of dozens more. But, let’s not go that way, let’s stay with

what Harris admits to and how he handles his admissions.

You have to read his whole piece to really appreciate this guy;

note the segue from traffic violations to his failure to file finance reports. My take is he is selfish and self-centered. Like most

speeders and traffic law violators, he’s not a hard criminal bad guy, but he probably regards everything on the road as an impediment to

his own progress. He surely mutters “get out of my way” countless times a day. Just the kind of guy who will have no trouble whatsoever

getting along with the rest of the council, the mayor, the staff, the citizenry. A cool-headed, thoughtful, cautious and pleasant fellow,

I’m sure.

Oh, but I’m reading too much into this, aren’t I? What about the fact that he readily admits he was stopped without

his license or proof of insurance more than once? I never drive without both — do you? How difficult is it to carry your driver’s

license around? After all, Harris’s ilk says that very thing about voting — why not about driving?

At the heart of this, I’m

seriously pissed off by the posturing of Republicans as the party of “personal responsibility,” one of innumerable public virtues they

have hijacked and copyrighted as being only theirs. Here’s a guy at the far, far Right. Let Don Harris show some personal

responsibility, some contrition, some slight embarrassment. He won’t. The entire city should be embarrassed he’s close to winning a

public office. mjh

ABQjournal: City Council Candidate Wonders How 7 Stops Add Up to 19 Charges By Don Harris, City Council Candidate

I was stopped for moving violations six times in 12 years….

I was charged with not having a driving license in my possession

and speeding. …

The police officer thought I drove carelessly, and Metropolitan Court Judge Frank Gentry agreed. I did not have

my insurance card with me ….

I also had two parking tickets in Metropolitan Court. I am not proud of those … [mjh: unlike all

the other charges?] …

I believe I only failed to file one [campaign finance] report, although I was fined for two such

failures and for the tardy Oct. 21 filing. I may appeal the fine for the Oct. 3 filing. The statement that I missed three in the article

was inaccurate. I am currently in full compliance with the law. …

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams