A 40-Year Memory - The Catonsville Nine

--The Catonsville Nine File

May 17, 1968 - The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with homemade napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.

They were: Father Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest; his brother Father Philip Berrigan, a former Josephite priest; Bro. David Darst; John Hogan; Tom Lewis, an artist; Marjorie Bradford Melville; her husband, Thomas Melville, a former Maryknoll priest; George Mische; and Mary Moylan, a former nun.

Fr. Philip Berrigan and Tom Lewis had previously poured blood on draft records as part of the "Baltimore Four", and were out on bail when they burned the records at Catonsville.

The Catonsville Nine were tried in federal court October 5-9, 1968. The lead defense attorney was William Kunstler.

They were found guilty of destruction of U.S. property, destruction of Selective Service files, and interference with the Selective Service Act of 1967.
--Wikipedia

The Berrigan Brothers, Phil and Dan, were the poster children for the religious anti-war movement. They became almost like icons for those who, with deep religious convictions, opposed the war in Vietnam. Dan, who is now 87, is still a Jesuit priest, lives in New York and teaches at Fordham where he is poet in residence. His younger brother Phil, who died in 2003 at age 79, left the priesthood and was married.

Uncalled for Violence

This was in yesterday's New York Times

Zimbabwe’s Rulers Unleash Police on Anglicans
By CELIA W. DUGGER
Published in NYT: May 16, 2008

The parishioners were lined up for Holy Communion on Sunday when the riot police stormed the stately St. Francis Anglican Church in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital. Helmeted, black-booted officers banged on the pews with their batons as terrified members of the congregation stampeded for the doors, witnesses said.

Nothing short of scary. According to the article the ruling party has targeted groups that they have not been able to control. This includes "the Anglican diocese of Harare, as well as charitable and civic organizations, trade unions, teachers, independent election monitors and the political opposition."

It seems that there is a renegade Anglican bishop who is an ally of the President, Robert Mugabe. Somehow or another Mugabe's ruling party says that only followers of that Bishop are allowed to worship. The Times says,

Over the past three Sundays, the police have interrogated Anglican priests and lay leaders, arrested and beaten parishioners and locked thousands of worshipers out of dozens of churches.

Many American Christians (usually of the right-wing persuasion, feel that Christians in the United States are being persecuted. This story is about persecution. I am grateful that here in America we don't face those things. I pray we will never have to.

But that forces me to pray even more fervently for those who are persecuted for their religious beliefs. I don't care what the religion is, freedom of worship should be a basic human right. There is persecution of many different religions in many different places. It is not, I believe, God's will. No, don't quote the Old Testament to justify it or to counter the thought that freedom of religion is essential. It is not for us to say who can and can't worship. If one is forbidden, any can be forbidden.

Pray that such can be stopped and avoided. I can only believe that this would be God's will.

Please Mr. Bush, Don't Get Involved

Standing in Israel whose existence can be traced, at least in part, to the aftermath of the Nazi's horrific "Final Solution" we now call the Holocaust, Mr. Bush appeared to liken Obama's willingness to talk with Iran to the appeasement policies of Great Britain prior to World War II. It is easy to paste a really negative label on someone in historic terms. Just say they would have been easy on the Nazis.

There is a fine line, of course, between appeasement, which is a giving in to an enemy and expecting them to behave, and talking to your enemies. Bush's statement would have precluded all the behind-the-scenes talks, for example, between Nixon's people and what we then called Red China. They were the big enemy. But then, without warning, Nixon announces a change. We were talking and about to enter into trade with them.

How about detente, the attempt from the late 60s to the early 80s to relax tensions with the Soviet Union? That, too, would be wrong.

Obama has gotten into trouble, not for saying he would talk with Iran, but for getting in the way of continuing to have An Enemy that is bigger than all the rest. We have forgotten Osama bin Laden as he probably roams the caves of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda is still real. Are they being sponsored by Iran? Who knows. But the only way to learn what your enemy wants is to talk to him.

Will that prevent a war? Perhaps. Perhaps not. History is not very positive about the possibilities. That is not appeasement. It is good international relations. Is Iran as bad as the Nazis? Who knows. We kept talking to Stalin even as he was as horrific a leader as Hitler. We even had him on our side for a while.

No politics and foreign policy are not as simple as Mr. Bush tries to make them. I congratulate him on going to the Knesset and celebrating Israel's 60th birthday. But it was not a place for such politically charged rhetoric.

The Way to Go

From Yahoo! News, an item that challenges all of us in this time of high gas prices:

Wis. man won't buy gas for 31 days, maybe longer

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. - Brian LaFave couldn't care less how high gasoline prices climb these days — he's parked his pickup truck and is refusing to buy gas for a month, possibly longer.

"The goal is to not use one drop of gas for 31 days," LaFave said, calling it his personal stand against the oil companies.

Now LaFave, 31, is riding his bicycle or walking everywhere he goes. He won't even let friends pick him up unless they already planned on being in the neighborhood.

I do plan on buying a bike to go to and from work. I already don't drive my car very much since my apartment has a shuttle to my work. I am down to an average of less that 400 miles a month, which is also good since my car is at 108,000+ miles.

Anyway, Mr. LaFave, thanks for the challenge.

Iron Man: Serious Fun

I just went to the movie for a good time and popcorn. I got that and more with the first big blockbuster of the summer, Iron Man. It gives Robert Downey, Jr., Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard,and Gwyneth Paltrow afun story, geek-friendly CGI, action, and even a message. Downey is back in top form which is great to see and Jeff Bridges makes a great villain. Paltrow underplays her role just right as the female assistant to Downey's Tony Stark.

But the message makes this movie darker and more serious than I expected. Tony Stark becomes Iron Man as the result of a terrorist attack on his trip to Afghanistan to sell a new, powerful weapon of destruction. But it raises the question of companies making such powerful weapons and becoming either heroes or "merchants of death." The international arms trade and black market is raised up for concern as well.

But under it all, as always in any comic book/graphic novel super hero, it is the story of good and evil in black and white with good winning, but only for the moment. The divide of good and evil is found within humans and you never know which ones. Which may be the only gray area in these stories.

My wife really liked this movie. She thought it was fun and a good way to spend a movie afternoon. I really liked the movie. It was fun and yet it raised questions to pnder. Obviously many others agree with this (it is 93% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer and it was a big #1 for two weeks.) But don't let the serious part scare you off from a fun movie. Enjoy.

And oh, yes. They had a trailer for Indiana Jones the next fun movie of the summer. Well, I'm reserving judgment on Prince Caspian. Although I'm looking forward to it, it is, by definition a more serious movie.

Looking to the Future

People are really working hard on ways around the fuel costs (other than the "official" idea of digging more wells and building more refineries). Here are two videos of inventors with some good-looking prototypes who will still use gas but one of the most abundant around- air. (A Hat Tip to Dwight.)

Overheard

It's been a long time since I have posted anything from Overheard in New York. It has actually been because they got into a rut of a lot of off-color stuff that didn't particularly interest me.

[Note: When I just tried to go to the site from here at my favorite Caribou, it wouldn't let me go there. I guess it may have gotten too off-color for the server.]

Anyway, here are some from today and a couple from the past months that made me chuckle:

Teen boy, with a sigh: Sometimes the world just isn't as shiny as you want it to be.
--42nd St

Eight-year-old to uncle: Please don't move to Connecticut... It's too hard to spell!
--38th & 2nd Ave


Girl on cell: You live in Staten Island, that's too close to the wilderness, near the border. I am not emotionally ready to meet you in Staten Island.
--LIRR


Teen girl: Of course there were credit cards in the '50s. How else would they have gotten their money from the ATMs?
--Starbucks


Conductor: To the person who lost a roll of cash held together with a rubber band, come see me. I found the rubber band.
--A train, 59th St

Two Naps in One Day

Yes, what a joy. I have taken three vacation days this week. I woke up late (8:30 or so) then went back and took a nap at 11:30. I got up at 1:45 because I should have been answering the phone from my wife and a form we had to sign on the sale of our house. After reading for a while I kind of fell into an "unplanned" nap about 4:15 which lasted until 5:15.

Aaaah.

I know, I know- "You won't sleep tonight." But I don't have to get up at 5:45 tomorrow, either, so I can watch The Daily Show an some of Steven Colbert and Letterman and then read some more.

Aaaah.


What's so significant about this? Absolutely nothing. I'm just trying to make all of you who had to work today jealous.

A Symbolic Win

So tonight Hillary had a big win in a state that she was expected to have a big win in and in which Obama never really contested her. They are calling it a "symbolic victory" whatever that is. It was a win. Period. Irrelevant? Probably. Useless? Could be. But symbolic? No.

Or perhaps it was symbolic of something-

• an inability to say "It's over."
• an attempt to gain some "bargaining power" at the convention.
• a campaign to undermine Obama's chances to win in November.
• give a voice to (I hate to say it) racism by pointing out the still divided American racial scene.

I don't know. I just don't know. Why do the voters want the race to continue to the end? What is beneath it all? The pundits have been trying to answer these question over and over. I don't know either.

Hillary has to know that she can't win. The people voting for her have to know this, too. Only time will tell what the results will be. Only come November will the final figures be tallied and someone new will be president. Who it is may be as much a reflection of these last weeks of the Democratic as on the final two candidates. I am tired of the ups and downs and questions and never-ending answers.

At this point all I know is that we have three weeks to go in this now interminable primary season. It was exciting and interesting for a while. It has become an odd and even dark-tinged race.

Lightning and Ash

Reuters

After looking at this picture of the volcanic eruption in Chile, I'm going to stop whining about our weather! Now they say the cloud has partially collapsed with fears of smothering the land and the villages.

Who says nature is always benevolent? The past few weeks have undermined that from the tornadoes in the US to the Cyclone in Myanmar and the earthquake in China. Never underestimate the power of the natural world. Never!

Twelve Weeks To Go

This is what the bridge shown in my masthead above looks like when heading downstream on the Pine Creek Rail to Trail. When I was a kid and we would drive up The Creek for some reason or another this bridge (and one closer to town) always intrigued me. There was alsways something about them that made me want to get out in the middle of the bridge and just look up and down The Creek.

I was always too much of a wimpy, scaredy-cat to walk out on the rails that were there then. I know others probably did. I don't think many people ever jumped off the bridges- the water level is not all that deep and a permanent spinal cord injury was sure to follow. But I never did that myself. I would just look longingly.

Actually, in those years me and wilderness would not have been two things that easily came together. It wasn't necessarily because I liked the comfort of a nice bed with a roof over my head. It was fear. Fear of bears and animals in general. Fear of snakes, especially the dreaded rattlesnakes that were - and are - prevelant in the area. One of the white missionaries from the 1700s even commented on that in one of his reports in his diary. In some ways I am surprised Tiadaghton (the Indian name for the creek) didn't mean Rattlesnake Waters.

The other thing was that when you grow up in a place like the Pine Creek/Susquehanna Valley you don't know what you have. The mountains, the waters, the trees are all psrt of the expected scenery. It is only when you leave that you realize what you had. Which is what has happened to me over the years. I think it also made me more open and aware of the need for wilderness of some kind in my life.

I use the word wilderness quite broadly to actually mean nature in general. Nature and "tame" wilderness can be found in parks in the middle of cities as well as in one's backyard where a stream comes up out of the ground. It can be in the trees and life from a park that your backyard abuts to. Such contact with the "nature" world was so in-bred into me as I was growing up that I didn't even notice it.

But then I found myself looking for the parks and quiet places. I became aware of being a "river rat" who looked for water to connect with. I began to sense those "Thin Places" as the Celts called them where the separation between heaven and earth was for some reason "thinner" than others. As I looked backward then I realized that Pine Creek and the Susquehanna River were two important places in making me who I am and turning my spirituality into reality for me.

So in August we will be back there. Twelve weeks from today is my 60th birthday and I will complete the last few miles of the 60 Miles for 60 Years bike trip. We plan on staying in the valley near the Creek for the whole week, though, and just letting the wildnerness surround and carry us.

I hope to post something each week on the journey and its roots. It is all part of the Rolling Toward (and Through) Sixty for me. I will try my best to bring you along.

Israel is 60, Too

May 14, 1948 - Israel was born. They have been celebrating over there for this past week which is because of the date on the Jewish Calendar. It was the 5th day of Iyar on that calendar. That would have been last Saturday (May 10) so the official celebration was moved up two days to Thursday May 9.

I have been to Israel twice in my life. First my wife and I spent a month there in 1973, barely leaving two months before the Yom Kippur War. It was quite an experience. In 1980 I hosted a 10-day tour that was powerful and moving as two of the personal highlights were leaving a prayer for then unborn "baby Lehman" between the stones of the Western Wall and planting a tree in her honor.

A year later the seemingly endless procession of uprisings and terrorism and war started up. I have not been back since. I am sure I would not recognize many places for better and worse.

I get deeply conflicted by the situation in Israel and the Middle East. But this is not the post to do that in. I wish Israel a Happy 60th. It has not been an easy life due both to things they have done as well as things beyond their control.

As the Psalms remind me, though, I do pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Doves and Wind and Tongues of Fire

Mexican Pentecost Icon

Come Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of your faithful,
and kindle in us the fire of Your Divine Love.
Send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created,
and You shall renew the face of the earth.
Oh God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructed the hearts of the faithful,
Grant, that by the same Spirit we may be truly wise
and ever rejoice in His consolation.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

But Not In My Backyard

We pray for a Spirit to empower us;
But if such a Spirit truly did
What was done that first Pentecost
Would we run the other way?
Would we argue that this
Is not the way we have always done it?

Would we cling to our pews as
The Wind, the Holy Pneuma
The Sacred Ruach
Tried to fly us away to new heights
Of life with God?

Yes, I probably would while
Holding on for dear life.

So Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief
My fears
My control
And let me be carried away
In true living.

Don'ty Try This at Home

I wouldn't do this in person, but it is an interesting video. Climb the Camino del Rey. Oh, if you are afraid of heights, even on a computer screen, ignore this.



A HT to Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish. As Andrew said-- stunning!

National Train Day

On May 10, 1869, in Promontory Summit, Utah, the “golden spike” was driven into the final tie that joined 1,776 miles of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways, ceremonially creating the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. And America was transformed.
--National Train Day website

Yes, in many ways it is a shameless promotion from Amtrak. But if it works to get more people on trains, I'm all for it!

So thank a train today. Even if it's old and just used for a bunch of tourists.

pmPilgrim photo

Triage Decisions

The word "triage" entered more common usage thanks to the TV show M*A*S*H of course. It is the difficult decision making process of deciding in a medical setting who to treat first. In that decision making can be a whole range of problems and issues. It may not be generally known that the medical and other communities are in the process of making all kinds of plans for what could happen should we have a MAJOR flu pandemic. Earlier this last week was an article on Yahoo! News that brought the issue to a painful awareness:

CHICAGO - Doctors know some patients needing lifesaving care won't get it in a flu pandemic or other disaster. The gut-wrenching dilemma will be deciding who to let die.

Now, an influential group of physicians has drafted a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients wouldn't be treated. They include the very elderly, seriously hurt trauma victims, severely burned patients and those with severe dementia.

These groups making these plans include Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services. They hope that the guidelines they develop will be a blueprint for hospitals so that they can all be on the same page if or more likely when some major health disaster hits.

The idea is to try to make sure that scarce resources — including ventilators, medicine and doctors and nurses — are used in a uniform, objective way, task force members said.

Their recommendations appear in a report appearing Monday in the May edition of Chest, the medical journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

"If a mass casualty critical care event were to occur tomorrow, many people with clinical conditions that are survivable under usual health care system conditions may have to forgo life-sustaining interventions owing to deficiencies in supply or staffing," the report states.

Local hospitals are sto set up a triage team that will have almost godlike powers to decide who may or may not be given care that could save their life. Of course those least likely to get care are those who have a much higher risk of death or a slim-chance of long term survival.

But the recommendations get much more specific, and include:

_People older than 85.

_Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.

_Severely burned patients older than 60.

_Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.

_Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.

Yes, you are right. This could turn into a nightmarish situation, which it will be regardless of these guidelines. But these add to the situation some serious legal not to mention ethical concerns.

Public health law expert Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University called the report an important initiative but also "a political minefield and a legal minefield."

The recommendations would probably violate federal laws against age discrimination and disability discrimination, said Gostin, who was not on the task force.

If followed to a tee, such rules could exclude care for the poorest, most disadvantaged citizens who suffer disproportionately from chronic disease and disability, he said. While health care rationing will be necessary in a mass disaster, "there are some real ethical concerns here."

Well, it is not surprising to see this, as disturbing as it may be. Is it a doomsday scenario? Is it another Y2K-type of apocalyptic view? Who knows? Your guess is as good as mine. We have often found out that the disaster we plan for is not the one that happens. Such is the nature of chance. Only the survivors will like the decisions being made. I hope that I am not in the position to make those kind of decisions or to help make them.

Here is the abstract for an article about this, part of a series in a professional magazine.

In the twentieth century, rarely have mass casualty events yielded hundreds or thousands of critically ill patients requiring definitive critical care. However, future catastrophic natural disasters, epidemics or pandemics, nuclear device detonations, or large chemical exposures may change usual disaster epidemiology and require a large critical care response. This article reviews the existing state of emergency preparedness for mass critical illness and presents an analysis of limitations to support the suggestions of the Task Force on Mass Casualty Critical Care, which are presented in subsequent articles. Baseline shortages of specialized resources such as critical care staff, medical supplies, and treatment spaces are likely to limit the number of critically ill victims who can receive life-sustaining interventions. The deficiency in critical care surge capacity is exacerbated by lack of a sufficient framework to integrate critical care within the overall institutional response and coordination of critical care across local institutions and broader geographic areas.

(CHEST 2008; 133:8S–17S) Definitive Care for the Critically Ill During A Disaster.

Technological Miracles

An amazing headline today:

Data from Columbia disk drives survived the shuttle accident

The headline is only partly true. In reality the drive was sent to a company called Kroll Ontrack in the western Minneapolis suburbs. The engineer there, Jon Edwards, managed to work his miracle on some of the data. Much of the data on other drives was lost due to the incredible heat that not only melted parts but also demagnetized them.

This news doesn't entirely surprise me, especially with Kroll Ontrack. Last fall I put my CD of pictures from our 2002 trip to Spain in the drive- and got an error message. Something somewhere on the CD was messed up and all those great and wonderful once-in-a-lifetime pictures seemed lost forever.

Then I found a business card on a bulletin board at a local coffee shop. It was for a sales person for Kroll Ontrack. To make the story short I called, took the CD in, paid a pretty good fee and Voila! there were my pictures again. All of them. It isn't cheap. These kind of guys get paid well for their magic. But I'm not sure how important the data from Columbia is, but my pictures were, to me, priceless.

In the News - or Not

What else happens in the world while primaries continue? Here is a small sample I found earlier this week. It makes for a good contrast.

First, a sad bit of news. Times change, even when those times represent almost 150 years ago.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - For decades, visitors willing to shell out a few extra dollars at Gettysburg National Military Park could be entertained — or bored — by an electric light display showing troop movements in that pivotal Civil War battle.

With the opening of a new museum and visitor center that offers a bigger "wow" factor for the park's nearly 2 million visitors each year, the National Park Service has decided that its 1960s-era electric battlefield map is obsolete.

I remember that battlefield map from when we went there when I was a kid. I don't know how old I was but it was intriguing to watch. Remember this was in the Dark Ages.

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Now for something even older- and far more mysterious. It isn't as obvious an answer if you are asked who's buried in Schiller's Tomb?

BERLIN - Who is buried in Friedrich Schiller's tomb? Several people, apparently, but none of them the famous poet and playwright, according to new research.

After two years of painstaking DNA research, experts have determined that none of the remains billed as those of Schiller belong to the German writer, who died in Weimar in 1805, Germany's MDR television reported.

My question (without taking the time to look it up) is who wondered in the first place that Schiller wasn't there and why did they even care?

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Still over there in Germany, something that sounds like an old camp idea from our sr high camp.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The head of Germany's Social Democrats, who has ambitions to be his country's next leader, is thinking about donating his beard to charity, but is not quite sure.

Kurt Beck, who as party leader has a strong claim to lead the SPD into next year's national election, said in a panel discussion in Mainz that he might shave off his beard to raise 1 million euros ($1.5 million) for charity, the newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported.
"It must be serious and not turn into a spectacle," he told the paper. "The event would have to help the really needy."

This, to me, is neither new or news. I did this exactly 10 years ago at our Sr. High Camp. If the camp raised over $3,000 for that year's mission project I would shave my beard. They did it. I did. Then when I got home I find out that my wife never liked it. I had only had it for 18 years!

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Road rage, in reverse.

COPIAGUE, N.Y. (AP) A Long Island man who flipped his finger at a police cruiser and then popped a wheelie on his motorcycle is recovering from injuries after crashing. When the motorcycle turned into a parking lot it crashed into a police car that had joined the chase.

Let's hope it knocked some sense into the cyclist's head.

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This isn't really news, but it shows that what we think is new and different news is just a recycling of the past. Found this quoted in The Daily Dish:

American flag lapel pins had been distributed to members before the president spoke to Congress on April 2, 1917, requesting a declaration of war. It took a certain obdurate courage to refuse to wear the colors; Senator La Follette was among the refusers, as was the Mississippi senator Vardaman.

Good old fighting Bob La Follette. Ninety years later we still fight the same battles.

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And finally, speaking of Wisconsin (Bob La Follette was from there) where only the truly crazy of us go to root for the one and only team in the NFL:

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- David Witthoft finally shunned his Brett Favre jersey for a red shirt for the first time in 1,581 days. The 12-year-old Ridgefield, Conn. boy wore the No. 4 jersey every day since receiving it as a gift for Christmas in 2003.

Actually the story isn't from Wisconsin, only the team is. There are true Green and Gold fans everywhere. Don't tell us there's any other team that's America's Team. We were there first.

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Which reminds me of a joke I heard this week. It's a variation on an oldie but goodie.

Brett Favre has decided that in his retirement he wanted to be far away from professional football.

So he moved to Minneapolis.

By the way that is so old I remember it being told about the Green Bay Packers back in the 80s.

House- Love This Part

One of the great moments of a great TV show was the air piano of Hugh Laurie as House, M.D. Well, surfing around rock and roll (after yesterday's post on the Hard Rock Theme Park) I found, on You Tube of course, a wonderful Fanvid of House using The Who's Baba O'Reilly. No profound statement. No deep insight. Just a great song with scenes from a great show.

Still at Square One - or Not?

Another Wednesday. Now what?

It looks like it ain't over till it's over. Obama's big win in North Carolina came as expected. Clinton's bare bones win in Indiana says she's not going to have an easy road in spite of her optimism. Obama was the clear winner yesterday even though Clinton will probably not agree. (Interesting note- Obama congratulated Clinton for an Indiana win even before anyone but CBS News had projected a winner. After that her lead dropped to the bare bones win it became.)

Yes it was close. With 84% reporting only 38,000 votes (4%) separated the two in Indiana. No one was calling it at that point (except CBS, I believe.) That says a great deal about how close it really was. They didn't know much. At that point Obama had to win 57% in Lake Co. Indiana to move the results. Mathematically it was still possible since he had already won 62% in Indianapolis. It was still undecided when our editions of the Twin Cities papers went to bed last night. Quite a race.

So where then are we? One projection I saw said that when all is said and done in June Obama will be about 100 delegates shy of the nomination, 150 ahead of Clinton.

Which means that after last night, barring something big and magnanimous from Clinton the decision will head to the back rooms and board rooms of the Democratic National Committee. Can enough Super Delegates be convinced by Obama to assure him the nomination? Will Clinton manage to convince enough of those same Super Delegates that she has proven that Obama can't win in the fall because, look, he can't even beat Hillary? My guess is that there will be a few more Super delegates move to him this week. His major movement in Indiana will go a long way. But will it be enough to give DNC chair Howard Dean the leverage he needs to move this race away from that Square One it seems to be on?

Confusion reigns although perhaps less than on Monday.

But then again remember, it is the Democratic Party.

A Rockin' New Theme Park

A new tourist trap theme park has opened:

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C (AP). - The Led Zeppelin classic "Whole Lotta Love" throbs from the 1,200-watt sound system as the slick silver and white roller coaster nears the top of its serpentine track.

Lead singer Robert Plant shrieks, "Woman. You need. Loooooooove..." And as he does, riders scream as the car falls from a height of 155 feet, reaching speeds of 65 mph.

Welcome to Hard Rock Park, America's newest theme park and the first one built in the nation in a decade. Here the theme is not movies or fairy tales or water shows. It's that American invention, rock 'n' roll.

But can I ride "The Stairway to Heaven?" Or fly the "Free Bird?" Maybe they should be cautious, because we all know it's hard to get "Satisfaction." At least near the ocean so the workers can live in a "Yellow Submarine" and set up rides "Under the Boardwalk."

According to the article you can eat at "Alice's Restaurant" (exceptin' Alice) and take the "Nights in White Satin Trip." But be careful on the roads going there because many of the patrons "Can't Drive 55." But you can drive your Chevy to the levee but it will be dry, then take a walk across the "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" and finally just relax while "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay."

Okay- I'll stop. (But Imagine the limitless potential for Respect.)

Maintaining Innocence- and Truth

Sunday night 60 Minutes ran a story about people being released from prison after many years because they have finally been proven innocent. It was a story from Texas and an iconic prosecutor in Dallas named Henry Wade. It has been found that evidence was withheld from the defense, for example, which would have probably proven the defendant's innocence.

One of the people they mentioned and interviewed was released after 27 years in prison- from age 28 - 55. All those lost years and lost opportunities. It boggles the imagination. Throughout that entire time he maintained that he was absolutely not guilty.

What amazed me was that he was up for parole a number of times in that 27 years and he was always refused. Why? Because, they said, he obviously had not come to terms with what he had done. He always maintained his innocence, even when finally saying he was guilty would have gotten him parole.

He was asked why he maintained innocence when he could have been free. He answered, "I didn't do it. A man has to stand up for something."

Yes, and truth is worth standing up for.

Motivation

Back in December The List Universe posted the 12 Hilarious Motivational Posters. The one above was one of them. Here's a link to the post. I posted this for no apparently good reason other than to make myself laugh.

Cinco de Mayo

No, today is not a Latino holiday. It is a Mexican holiday, sort of. It is actually becoming more of a holiday in the United States like St. Patrick's Day, Oktoberfest, or Chinese New Year. It is a celebration of our diversity as a nation. It is not Mexican Independence Day, either. Here, from Wikipedia:

[Cinco de Mayo] is primarily a regional and not an obligatory federal holiday in Mexico. The holiday commemorates an initial victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. The date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

A common misconception in the United States is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's Independence Day; Mexico's Independence Day is actually September 16, which is the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico.

Two years ago on Boston.com spoke to the historically low priority of the holiday in Mexico:

It may surprise some to learn that Cinco de Mayo is not even a federal holiday in México. Banks and government offices are open. Restaurant menus remain the same. And companies don't splurge on ad campaigns named ''Cinco to Drinko" featuring talking piñatas.

He of course went on to say that the American-style Cinco de Mayo isn't for her:

[A]las, beer companies and big advertising spending recognized the day's marketing potential. I know we Mexicans aren't alone bemoaning hijacked holidays: an Irish friend of mine says the same thing happened here to St. Patrick's Day.

However,...I feel the urge to set the record straight: there is much more to Cinco de Mayo --and my home country-- than Dos Equis and sombreros one day of the year.

Which is why I'll spend [Cinco de Mayo] just like any other day of the week: cooking with my two Mexican roommates in Brighton, watching the Univisión newscast, and talking on the phone with my mother and sisters about my week.

Into the 20th Century

There is something new going on in Cuba. This past Friday computers went on sale in the newest move by Raul Castro to bring the country into the modern age. The computers were big, clunky things and most people can't have access to the Internet, but it is start. Amazing how quickly it's happening. Here from the Yahoo! News item:

Raul Castro promised to eliminate many ... prohibitions when he assumed the presidency on Feb. 24, after his ailing 81-year-old brother Fidel resigned. Besides selling consumer goods, he has ended bans that kept most Cubans from having cell phones, staying in luxury hotels or renting cars.

An internal government memo had indicated that PCs, DVD players, motorbikes and plug-in pressure cookers would be sold for the first time in April. Everything but the computers made it to the shelves last month.

And now in May the computers. Interesting note- the computers use Intel Celeron processors and Microsoft XP which is a violation of the US embargo against Cube. But since we do not have any dimplomatic relations nothing can be done. Perhaps now that business is involved the embargo and lack of relations can also begin to thaw.

The Week In-Between

The text for the week between:

Acts 1: 10 - 11: They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

What I have always seen here is the challenge, as the old saying goes, to not get so lost in the heavenly that one is no earthly good. To stand around and wait for Jesus to come back is not what he wanted. We can say that over and over yet we are all tempted to a life that looks to feel better, be touched by God, to revel in the wonderful relationship that we are called into.

Instead we need to be doing the work that Jesus did. We talked about this a few weeks ago when considering Jesus' words that we would do even greater works than he did. All that is clear, at least to me. What isn't as clear, though, is how this fits together with the reminder that Jesus would return in the same way he was seen leaving. If he is to return the same way, why not look up in the sky?

Perhaps it is the suddenness of his departure; maybe it was the fact that clouds hid him; maybe it's just more than I can ever begin to understand on my own. Which brings me back to remember that this is the Sunday In-Between: after the Ascension and before Pentecost. It is a reminder of how little I truly know and understand. It is a reminder of the powerlessness that exists in the Christian life without the Holy Spirit.

This is not a deep or profound idea. It is not something that takes a panel of theologians to figure out. It is not about having the incredible human wisdom to have all the answers or even to act like I have all the answers. The Bible- and faith- is filled with mystery and questions that have no answers in our human wisdom. In these ten days in-between Jesus is gone and the Spirit has not yet come. How empty is the life without either.

Literally Living the Laws

A surprisingly good book is The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs. When I first heard about Jacobs' attempt to literally follow all the commands of the Bible, I was not impressed. It seemed like a gimmick. Then the book came out and got some decent reviews. Finally someone who is not really connected with any faith said they read it and found it interesting.

So I gave in and read it. First, it is generally categorized as "humor." I'm not sure it deserves that genre. It is funny, and Jacobs' witticisms are good. But it is much deeper than humor. It is a book that truly in its own way is a challenge to literalism in any of its forms, while, at the same time, coming to a positive appreciation of what a degree of literalism can do.

It starts fairly simply, as one would expect, as Jacobs begins to explore the world of faith, his own life has been that of a secular Jew. He seeks out a committee to help him consisting of all types of people with different points of view. He even has a "pastor out to pasture" which I kind of liked identifying with.

But you know that Jacobs is being serious about his quest. He is attempting to be as honest to the texts and laws as he could. Whether it's his former uncle on Israel or snake-handling Christians in the American south, he tries just about anything to find out what this thing called faith is all about.

In many ways the result is kind of like the old AA statement- "Bring the body, the mind will follow." No, he doesn't become a bearded, fringed Hasid at the end of the book. But he has found more about faith - and his own faith - than he would have guessed.

It is a good book. A year of following the Bible literally proves that it's harder than you think. It also proves that literalism is never completely literal. We all choose, we all interpret and guess. But Jacobs proves there's more to faith than following laws- but there's also more to faith than ignoring laws as well.

May 22 - The Adventure Continues

First it was Rocky reborn at 60.

Now it's Indy at 65.

Can you tell the Boomers are aging?

But I don't care- the trailers that I've seen make this a must-see.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull site for trailers 1 and 2.

Now For Something Not of Any Value

Unless a laugh or two is valuable (which I think it is.) In their "Morning Cup O'Links" yesterday, Mental Floss inked to one of their old posts, Laughable Warning Labels. So, in honor of absolutely nothing but Saturday, here are my favorites from the list:

*“Warning: This costume does not enable flight or super strength.”
Product: Frankel’s Costume Superman costumes

*“Do not iron clothes on body.”
Product: Rowenta’s irons

*“This product moves when used.”
Product: Razor scooter

*“Ask a doctor before use if you have difficulty urinating due to an enlarged prostate.”
Product: Midol Menstrual Complete

Yom Ha'Shoah- A Day of Remembrance

Last month Elie Wiesel wrote an essay for the NPR/All Things Considered series, This I Believe. (Link.)It began:

I remember, May 1944: I was 15-and-a-half, and I was thrown into a haunted universe where the story of the human adventure seemed to swing irrevocably between horror and malediction.

A haunted universe. Haunted by one of the most incredibly horrible events in human history. No, I don't think I exaggerate.

The Holocaust- the systematic annihilation of 12 million people, first and foremost among them the 6 million Jews as Hitler dreamed of a Final Solution. Based in hatred and downright evil it set the lowest standard which sadly others have since tried to reach. Whether we speak of Stalin or Idi Amin or the genocides in various places of the world, The Holocaust stands as the ultimate reminder that not even western civilized thought and action makes us immune to such evil.

All that can be prayed- and worked for is the 63 year old cry, prayer and call to action: Never again.

With that we close with another quote from the man of peace and speech, Elie Wiesel:

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Note: In honor of Yom Ha'Shoah this is today's only post. There is nothing else to say.

Bits and Pieces

Let's see what I've found to share:

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos and the world's gay women.

Three islanders from Lesbos - home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women - have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian in its name.

That, by the way, is a question in Trivial Pursuit- what are residents of the island of Lesbos called? Or at least I remember it as one.

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Then with my 1968 history stuff going on this year, it was a coincidence to read the following just this week:

GENEVA (AP) -- Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery inspired - and arguably corrupted - millions in the 1960s hippie generation, has died. He was 102.

As Greg pointed out, if it weren't for Hoffman the 60s might have been a lot saner. But I doubt it. On Wikipedia they have this to say about Hoffman and his work with LSD:

Hofmann called LSD "medicine for the soul" and was frustrated by the worldwide prohibition that has pushed it underground. "It was used very successfully for 10 years in psychoanalysis," he said, adding that the drug was hijacked by the youth movement of the 1960s and then unfairly demonized by the establishment that the movement opposed. He conceded that LSD can be dangerous in the wrong hands.

This one may get argued for years to come.

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Then for some gentle relaxation without the aid of acid, Trees Bloom in Brooklyn- A Neat Time Lapse of blooming cherry trees at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden:



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Now, from Mental Floss Blog back in November:

* 1 in every 4 Americans has appeared someway or another on television.
* 1 in every 4 Americans has a higher than normal blood sugar level.
* Almost 1 in every 4 Americans has a tattoo, according to a 2006 study conducted by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
* The Census Bureau predicts that 1 in every 4 Americans will be Hispanic by 2050,

Numbers 1 and 3 apply to me.

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But I wondered what I would find with a Google search like that, so here are some of the trivia I found:

*One in every four New Yorkers' blood high in mercury
*About one in four adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year
*One in four Americans get an annual check-up (Scary)
*1 in 4 American Adults Read No Books in 2006 (Even scarier)

Then one that has since proven to be a false belief...

*1 in 4 Americans Believe Jesus Will Return in 2007

My guess would be that the 1 in 4 now believe it will happen in 2008. I wonder if they are the one who don't read books?

A 40 Year Memory - A Merry Month

May - "May of 68" is a symbol of the resistance of that generation. Agitations and strikes in Paris lead many youth to believe that a revolution is starting. Student and worker strikes, sometimes referred to as the French May, nearly bring down the French government.
--Wikipedia

Grandiosity and Vengeance?

Well, no one will ever claim that this year's primaries have been dull. Actually, at this point I would like a little dull, especially after last weekend's press feeding frenzy instigated by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Bottom line is I can't believe it has been happening. On one level it makes me wonder if he wants Hillary to be the nominee- or worse- he wants Obama to lose so he can point to the terrible, terrible way that racism has affected this campaign. Barack loses or is denied the nomination and someone like Wright can point to that as one more excellent example of what he has been saying.

I was struck by the grandiosity of Rev. Wright and the self-centeredness. He reminded me of Jerry Falwell in that absoluteness of certainty that he seemed to exude as he spoke. That and a sense of vengeance. I can understand that he felt as if Barack may have repudiated him and he wants to strike back. Well, strike back he did.

Over at Beliefnet, author Diana Butler Bass had some good and nice things to say about Rev. Wright's talks. But she is coming at it from an academic/theological point of view. Such nuances and niceties are not possible in a political battle like we are facing. Rev. Wright knew exactly what he was doing and what impact it would have. It was political undermining plain and simple.

Unfortunately Obama is being microscopically scrutinized. That's what politics does. As he has become the "front-runner" the attacks get greater. In the end, though, it may not be Clinton or McCain who tolls the bell for the Obama campaign. It will be a former friend who may have simply not liked being dismissed and turned back on Obama.

If so, that may be the greatest tragedy of the election. Let's hope that the voters will not use this as an issue when they go to the polls next week.

Trying Something New

Some of you may have noticed that there were more posts in the past 30 days. That was a conscious decision on my part at the end of March. I have been doing one post a day minimum for quite a while now. It has been my discipline and a way to keep me writing. Well, as I realized I was posting more than that recently so I decided to try a two-post/day minimum. I missed one day but made up for it with a three-post day in the following week.

Why? Good question. I guess just because it was there. I will probably keep going with it- unless I run out of things to say.

Actually, I was surprised at how serious I got from time to time over a series of posts. That could be dangerous so I'll try to keep track of those much too serious posts and make sure that I balance them with enough fun and games.

So- on to May.

A 40 Year Memory - Aquarius Dawning

We continue the 1968 memory road with this tidbit of trivia from 40 years ago today:

April 29 - The musical Hair officially opens on Broadway.

The first Rock Musical. Counter-culture, hippie culture, anti-war culture opening on the establishment's Great White Way. I did get to see it on Broadway about a year later.

But there was a lot of controversy. The end of the first act was when they all were naked. That really shook people up, but it was so relatively minor an event that wasn't all that well-lit (for obvious reasons.) But it was the start of the new world of musicals.

An Eagle - Outside My Balcony Door

A couple weeks ago I headed down to the Mississippi to get some good Bald Eagle (and river) pictures. Which I did. Here's the Eagle I saw along Lake Pepin "hiding" in the trees on the bank:


Well, a week ago yesterday I walked over to the balcony door which overlooks one of those man-made lakes and there he (or she) was circling with something in his talons.


I wonder if this is the eagle I saw last November when I came to make moving plans, the one that "welcomed" me to my new home? Back then I wrote:

I am looking forward to living across the lake from the Eagle. I will, of course, try to get pictures of him because that's one of the things I do to hold the memory. I don't try to capture it on film, I try to take an image- an icon, if you will- that can be a reminder and a window to greater awareness and peace.

Well, I have a picture now. More may come. What a wonder this world can be.

Pine Creek- Tiadaghton - 14 Weeks to Go

Pine Creek Gorge Panorama, taken from West Rim Trail in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, USA. View is of the "Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania" looking south, Pine Creek and the rail-trail are visible.(from Wikipedia)

Just some information about Pine Creek. Fourteen Weeks to go until my 60 miles for my 60th.

According to Wikipedia:

• Pine Creek is named for the many pine trees that lined (and now again line) much of its banks. The Iroquois called Pine Creek “Tiadaghton”, which according to Steve Owlett in Seasons Along The Tiadaghton: An Environmental History of the Pine Creek Gorge, either meant “The River of Pines” or “The Lost or Bewildered River.”
  


• Pine Creek is the largest “creek” in the United States.Pine Creek's watershed covers 979 sq. mi, the largest watershed of all tributaries of the West Branch Susquehanna River.
  

Also, in another article on Wikipedia:

• The Pine Creek Rail Trail is approximately 65 miles from end to end, and it generally follows a north-south orientation. The trail is located wholly within Tioga and Lycoming Counties.

• The trail's northern terminus is near the intersection of U.S. Route 6 and Pennsylvania Route 287, about 3 miles north of Wellsboro. The trail parallels Route 6 in a southwesterly direction for about 6 miles until it reaches the village of Ansonia. From there the trail parallels Pine Creek as it goes south along the floor of the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. It passes through Leonard Harrison State Park and the Tioga State Forest. Approximately 17 miles south of Ansonia, the trail passes through the village of Blackwell. The section between Ansonia and Blackwell is very remote, and much of the trail is inaccessible by road.

• South of Blackwell, the trail enters Lycoming County and the Tiadaghton State Forest. It parallels Pennsylvania Route 414 for about 25 miles. Pennsylvania Route 414 ends in the unincorporated village of Waterville. South of Waterville, the trail parallels Pennsylvania Route 44 for approximately 17 miles until the trail reaches its southern terminus in Jersey Shore. Between Blackwell and Jersey Shore, the trail crosses the highway and Pine Creek several times, and it is almost always within sight of both the road and the creek.

• The earliest industry in the region was logging. In the years between 1820 and 1883, trees were floated down the creek to sawmills in Jersey Shore and Williamsport. In 1883, the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway opened. Sawmills were constructed in several communities along the creek, and finished products were carried out by train. Coal mining was another important industry, and coal was also shipped along the railroad.

• After a series of reorganizations, the railroad along Pine Creek became a part of the New York Central Railroad and eventually Conrail. Freight and passenger service continued for many years. In 1988, Conrail ended rail service. The tracks were removed, and the first section of the Pine Creek Rail Trail opened in 1996. The trail opened in stages with the most recent section (from Ansonia to just north of Wellsboro) being completed in 2007. The trail is operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

• In 2001, an article in the USA Today newspaper named the Pine Creek Rail Trail one of "10 great places to take a bike tour" in the world. It was one of only five places in the continental United States on the list, which was compiled by Patricia Vance, author of bicycle touring guides. The article cited the "Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania" as "idyllic in fall" and mentioned the "gorge with views of the cliffs and mixed hardwood forest".

Closing an Icon

Came across this in the news yesterday..

An initiative to save Berlin's Tempelhof airport from closure failed to win enough support as voters, primarily in the city's former communist east, opted not to turn up at polling stations in a city-wide referendum.

Tempelhof, the main site of the post-World War II Berlin Airlift, has become the focal point of a movement that sought to preserve the historic building.

A limestone edifice that was molded in the 1930s by the Nazis into one of the world's largest buildings, Tempelhof was one of the main landing points for allied supply planes in the 11-month Soviet blockade in 1948-49. Architect Norman Foster has called it ``the mother of all airports.''
--from Bloomberg.com

When I was in Berlin in 1970 I went to the airport just to see it. I didn't have a flight or anything, I just wanted to be in a historic spot. The Berlin Airlift was still in a lot of people's minds at the end of the first decade of the Berlin Wall. I will have to dig out some of my old slides of that trip and scan them in.

In any case, an old airport isn't like some Roman Ruin or anything. I guess time has to move on.