Tagged

Well...now that I got tagged by Green Girl, I'm tagging you. I'm a newbie but if you follow the rules below all will be well...[Please feel free to disregard this tag...it's not mandatory:)]

THE RULES

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

In no particular order, My Six Things/Habits/Quirks

1. I love singing...singing/chanting/making up a tune/singing with others.

2. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is my favorite comfort food.

3. I like the saying, "there's more to life than increasing its speed."

4. I would rather be outside than inside the house.

5. My two boys and mate are my best friends--and our pup thinks she's the little sister;)

6. Eating with chopsticks is way fun.

Please visit those tagged below:

Alyson at http://asplanet.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=1

The Avast crew http://avastconspiracy.blogspot.com/2006/03/misogynists-in-my-study.html

"Chaotic Idealism" at http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com/39978.html

Matt at asay.blogspot.com/2005/03/when-will-google-do-genealogy.html

Mothersvox at autismsedges.blogspot.com/

and Dayle at www.hikehawaii.blogspot.com/

Physics! Anti-gravity?

John Hutchison has a scientific effect named for him...looks like anti-gravity to me. But then again, I majored in English lit.

Check it out http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5787522280823887082

Also, here's some grainy video footage of the effect: www.hutchisoneffect.ca/Videos/2LBottle2.swf

And more...www.hutchisoneffect.ca/Videos/BowlSpin.swf

Seems a lot like what people have written about Tesla and Einstein:

www.americanantigravity.com/einstein.shtml

www.hinduism.fsnet.co.uk/namoma/life_swamiji/life_swamiji_tesla.htm

Maybe some have it all figured out and are zooming around [see Jan. 16 post]. I'd like to know the facts!

Heath, R.I.P.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/22/movies/0122-LEDGER_index.html

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/heath_ledger/index.html

Against Bigotry

Here's a letter from Interfaith Alliance's Rabbi Moline:

Dear Friends,

Bigotry is an ugly word, beyond prejudice and stereotype. So I want to make it clear that I have chosen it purposely, knowing that some people who read this message will be insulted. To be clear again: the insult is intentional.

Religious belief has emerged as a central issue in the campaign for president, though it has been just below the surface for many years in local, state and national contests. As the chair of The Interfaith Alliance and as a congregational rabbi in Virginia, I have a particular interest in this issue. It is right and proper to understand what role deeply-held convictions will play in the decision-making of a candidate for public office. A candidate who makes a point of his or her religious life should be expected to respond to questions about the intersection of public policy and the tenets of a tradition. Virginia's current governor, a devout Catholic, addressed just such questions surrounding the state's death penalty.

Likewise, integrity and credibility ought to be central to public service. While it is not always the case, in the race for president, there is ample evidence in each candidate's record that the men and woman running for the highest office in the land have little to hide. Moreover, what little there may be to hide is almost certain to be ferreted out by responsible journalists and investigators. Recall the failed candidacy of Senator Gary Hart and the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew.

A phenomenon that violates both sensibilities while pretending to promote each one has emerged in a campaign that includes a group of candidates whose backgrounds are as diverse as America. Governor Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, Governor Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and Senator Barack Obama, who is part African and whose father and step-father were Muslim, have been subjected to wild speculations about the extreme nature of their true beliefs and accused publicly of concealing their genuine loyalties. Senator John McCain and Senator Hillary Clinton have been challenged on their "religious credentials." The kernel of accuracy in these public broadsides does not excuse the exaggerations, fabrications and manipulations of the truth within them. They constitute hate crimes and would be treated as such if leveled against you and me in our private lives.

Of greatest concern to The Interfaith Alliance is the fertile soil these attacks have found around the country. From my own vantage point within the Jewish community, I have seen my rabbinic colleagues asking about documents circulated by groups claiming to be disinterested politically that call into question the RELIGIOUS beliefs and identities of the candidates, with the overt purpose of frightening Jewish voters. The candidates, Republican and Democratic alike, have been accused of supporting proselytization from the White House, polygamy, Wahabi-sponsored terrorism, and the eventual disenfranchisement of Jews from the benefits of United States citizenship.

Generally written in breathless style and peppered with quotations from people of renown taken out of context, these attacks are as objectionable to people of conscience as the notorious "Sturmer" of pre-WWII Germany, which caricatured the Jews and "proved" their untrustworthiness and corrosive influence on society.

If you write such material, you are a criminal. If you distribute such material, you are an accomplice. And if you believe such obvious tripe, you are a bigot.

Support the candidate of your choice. Vote as if your life depended on it. Donate

And now that I have insulted some of you, allow me to insult the rest of you: broadsides like these are being distributed because of the presumption that they will have resonance. Too many in this country have been thoroughly effective at communicating our distrust of Mormons, or Islam or atheists or evangelical Christians, the list goes on. The result is that political operatives sense fertile ground for exploiting our prejudices to their advantage. I ask that if you see similar materials distributed in your communities, let The Interfaith Alliance know so that we are prepared to respond when necessary.

We have some deep self-reflection to undertake. And we have some changes in behavior to consider. As I think about the history of the Jewish community, I recall that we felt secure only when reassured by the first president of the United States that America offers "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance." Every faith community needs that reassurance. But the standard must be private as well as public.

Sincerely,
Rabbi Jack Moline
Board Chair, The Interfaith Alliance time, money and advocacy to the causes you endorse. But the life of the body politic is a dirty enough business as it is. Do not sully it further with sin of bearing false witness.

UFO Sighting on CNN/NBC/NPR etc.

Is it just me or is there an inordinate amount of mainstream coverage about an alleged UFO sighting over Stephenville, Texas yesterday (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo-dx35bCv)?

CNN, NBC, ABC, and NPR all had stories in the past 24 hours on the subject. Several eye-witnesses, including a local pilot and the town constable, saw the flying UFO. Also reported were two fast jets chasing it but one witness said it--the UFO--traveled so quickly that no jet could keep up.

This reminds me of a sighting I had in broad daylight on the Upper Westside of Manhattan in the mid '90s. As I was standing on a Columbus Avenue corner during my lunch break, I looked north toward Harlem and saw a strange, cigar-shaped ship about two miles away hovering at low altitude just above the buildings' skyline. It lingered for a minute or two. Then it simultaneously zoomed horizontally and vanished in the same milli-second. I mean, there was no way a jet or rocket or blimp or balloon or helicopter or ANYTHING could have sped away like that. But it did. I turned to the middle-aged man and a younger guy standing next to me and asked, "did you see that?" They confirmed that they, too, had seen it. Amazing.

I'm glad that there's more attention being paid by the media.

Here's a supposed sighting in Mexico:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRvWRrf__XA&NR=1

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A Better Future for All...He, She, It, They

Bob Herbert really hit it today in "Politics and Misogyny" (New York Times).

"Sexism in its myriad destructive forms permeates nearly every aspect of American life. For many men, it’s the true national pastime, much bigger than baseball or football. Little attention is being paid to the toll that misogyny takes on society in general, and women and girls in particular."

That's the crux; there seems to be two societies in the United States (and globally, perhaps). One respects both/all genders and acknowledges their rights as individuals to contribute to the whole. The other is hierarchical--one winner, many losers.

In many Native American tribes chiefs were chosen by the elder women; a man could lead only if he treated women and children with respect--not violence. In this paradigm all are winners.

We have a conscious choice to make--to stand up for our sons and daughters. We must teach our sons to respect their sisters and all people and teach our daughters to respect their brothers and all people. And first, to respect themselves. Sadly, those who dehumanize other people are themselves dehumanized.

It's the whole of society that suffers when violence and inequity are tolerated. Starting at the personal level--I and I/thou--what do we want the future to look like? In the end we will have lived good lives by celebrating and protecting one another instead of exploiting the other.

Herbert, perhaps thinking of his female family members, doesn't see it as an us versus them issue. We can all move forward together by doing what is right, using our voices and our votes. In the end that path is a sacred one, chanting

"Justice! Justice, you shall pursue!"

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