Keeping up with the children

I was talking with a friend when he mentioned a conversation he with his granddaughter a few months ago. During his conversation he asked what was important about the date of February 20th.

The little girl told him it was "President's Day"

Thinking he would get an answer concerning Washington or Lincoln he asked "What does President's Day mean?"

The answer she gave him was " That's the day President Obama steps out of the White House and if he sees his shadow we have one more year of unemployment"

If the story is true I can only say that's a wise (and cynical) child.

Where reason is not understood

Yesterday in the "progressive" country of Dubai a court entered a guilty sentence against a Norwegian national that serves as nothing more than an illustration of how badly the religion of Mohammad can distort reality.

It all started when a 24 year old lady from Norway went to Dubai on business. Since Dubai is, by Muslim standards a very liberal country with a record for allowing its citizens great latitude she didn't anticipate any problems during her business trip. Unfortunately she went out one evening and  ended her day by being raped by a local. When she reported the crime to the police they not only arrested the rapist they also arrested her. He was charged with having a carnal relationship outside marriage and for the consumption of alcohol and was sentence to 13 months in jail. She was charge with the same crimes and has been sentenced to 16 months in jail.

Under Sharia law the lady is guilty of being female and was treated more harshly than the low life that made her a victim. And yet our political bosses say we need to treat the followers of the "religion of peace" with dignity when those very "peaceful" people are unwilling to act as responsible adults and to show respect for people.

It is an extreme statement...but I think I learned all I need to know about Islam on 9/11

Words Matter

One way political opponents denigrate those they dislike is to point out issues with those they consider the enemy and then pontificate about the subject.

Since actively social politicians do not like the military they are having a field day with sexual issues that have come to light within the military. I don’t think that any rational adult is accepting of sexual assault, but it does happen and society has a responsibility towards the victim, the perpetrator and society in general and to the adult mind the perpetrator should be caught and punished severely.

The President was certainly not using an adult mind when he recently spoke out on the subject and is quoted as saying at a press conference:

“The bottom line is: I have no tolerance for this,” Obama said, according to an NBC News story, he expanded on his comment by saying ‘I expect consequences,” Obama added. “So I don’t just want more speeches or awareness programs or training, but ultimately folks look the other way. If we find out somebody’s engaging in this, they’ve got to be held accountable -- prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged. Period.”

These words came back to haunt the President when a Navy judge at  the court martial of two accused military members was asked by defense lawyers if his comments were prejudicial to the defendants. The judge agreed and ruled that the statement constituted ‘Unlawful Command Influence’. Even if the defendants are found guilty they can not be separated from the service because that Mr. Obama had in effect ordered the military to do something that only a court-martial can decide. Under the rule of law that is unacceptable!

There went the trial and it also opened the door for future defendants in military sexual assault trials to raise the same defense. One thing politicians are not good at is foresight and the impact words can have. It does point out that words can matter, a concept that seems to have evaded the thinking of many present day political creatures.

Citizen or Subject

With the exception of the major media outlets that seem to want to downplay the event there is lots of commentary concerning a homicide that occurred yesterday in England. A member of the British military was run down by a car on the sidewalk near an Army installation in Woolwich and then literally butchered by the perpetrators.

The killers remained on scene and were recorded by multiple phone cameras as they taunted bystanders and offered their “reason” for committing such a public killing. The film clips clearly show the killers and their victim and more importantly the large number of people who were observing the incident or who walked through the crime scene without breaking step. Despite the many witnesses no one appeared to want to intervene, either to stop the attack or detain the killers.

A few years ago an equally reprehensible group of perpetrators hijacked and crashed airplanes in an American day of tragedy. One man on one of the planes responded during the attack and tried to take back the plane. Despite the passengers efforts the plane crashed in an open field and all were killed.

What needs to be celebrated is that as citizens of this country the passengers recognized that they had both a right and an obligation to fight terrorism. The contrast with the actions of people who were present at yesterday’s incident is clear…we are citizens and a responsible few of us know that direct action is preferable to standing around and doing nothing.

Worms

A couple of weeks ago I had some stents put in after several cardiac veins started to fill up with unwanted plaque. Post procedure one of my goals is to try walking every day in order to exercise my body. The walking also gives me time to think, plot and plan my day and mentally to write such things as this blog. Walking through our neighborhood gives me lots of opportunity to observe and this morning I noted that at some time in the past the weather had called out lots of earth worms that then got caught on the sidewalk by the summer sun. The walk was littered with the desiccated remains of venturesome worms that had paid the penalty for extending themselves. For some reason I felt sorry for the each of those worm and with lots of walking and thinking time I contemplated the great mystery of life: Do worms have a soul?

Those thoughts conflated into the bigger question concerning what is it that drives some people to deny the existence in any other species other than themselves. It is characteristic of humans to realize that they have a soul and that it is the presence of that soul that sets us apart from all others. It’s that belief that because we can think, and reason, that we are special.

But other species have demonstrated the ability to think, and even to reason and there are uncountable examples of animals living and responding in ways that are similar to our ability to think, live and reason. So perhaps it is human kind’s ability to occasionally suspend reason that sets us apart?

Nearing the end of my walk I finally concluded that what we call soul is really awareness that we are aware of our awareness and of our existence. All creatures’ great and small have to be aware that they exist just to able to survive and reproduce so my stream of thought concluded that all who are aware of self must also (by our definition) have a soul.

I suspect that many who read these words will strongly object to my conclusion but that’s what makes us the multifaceted species we are. It also allowed me to escort the small insect I found while I enjoyed a morning cup of tea to the great outdoors so he/she/it could enjoy its existence.

People of the Book

The actions of the media reporting the resistance the people of Massachusetts to the burial of Tamarian Tsarnaev in their fair state demonstrates the ability of societies to demonize individuals and social groups.  It’s a human characteristic to view others as “different” and to be viewed with suspicion. And oddly enough Islamic religion spends a lot of its writings in the Koran demonizing others. A short walk through the books of the Koran can easily find comments calling others “animals”, “demons”, “living in filth” are just a few of the nicer things this religious tome says.

But there is one thought in the Koran that is repeated several time and is based on the simple fact that Islam acknowledges that much of its teachings are based of the philosophy of both Judaism and Christianity and in fact links all three religions as “people of the book”.

In my work as a mediator I have had the opportunity to mediate disputes between Sunni and Shia. Two branches of the religions that dislikes each other intensely and are often at odds with each other over minor issues. Each time I try to mediate these cases I have to listen to each party try to influence me while at the same time insisting that as a non Muslim I couldn’t possibly understand their predicament.

When I use the Arabic phrase Ahl el-Kitab in response to their diatribe they are startled, start wondering how a Westerner knows the Koran and Arabic they usually calm down, listen to me and start to discuss their issues. In truth I know almost no Arabic and couldn’t care less about the contents of the Koran, but I do know that people who believe the writings of their religion always respond positively to the thoughts found in their book.

In response to the actions of those who would deny a man, no matter how reprehensible, the respect afforded by a simple burial I can only repeat what I tell Muslims in dispute: We are all people of the book and are required to respect the values of others.  You might not like the individual but you must respect his right to fair treatment both  under the law and as a statement of our social commitment.

Autonomous Cars

I read a recent article that talked about the virtues of “autonomous cars” and what a brave new world the future would be if only all cars were self controlled.

I started reading the article because the title was intriguing and I was curious why the author choose to use a somewhat obscure word to describe efforts and goals for making cars more self sufficient and ultimately capable of going from point A to point B without any human input.

The planners envision a future with drivers doing office work, reading the news and perhaps even taking a nap while the vehicle does all the work. They tell us that cars will not get into accidents, travel will be more efficient, gas mileage will be better and efficiency will improve.

I see their future dream as one more step towards removing control from the human loop. The futurists who are selling this concept belong to a culture that wants to centralize authority to “those who are more capable than the common man”  and taking the right of each one of us to decide how and in what manner we choose to lead our lives…and knowingly responsible for the results of those decisions.

I know that driving from one place to another is a minor task but I would much rather depend on the awareness of a human being rather than the known fact that electronics fail at the worst possible time, with the worst possible consequences.

As for autonomous cars we already have that capability. If you don’t want to drive you can usually take the bus or hire a taxi.