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Public vs. Media on War

A new poll from an unlikely source suggests that the U.S. public and the U.S. media have very little in common when it comes to matters of war and peace.

Punishment is Violent and Counterproductive


Punishment is a popular pastime for humans. Parents punish children. Teachers punish students. Employers punish workers. Courts punish lawbreakers. People punish each other. Governments punish 'enemies'. And, according to some, God punishes evildoers.

What is 'punishment'? Punishment is the infliction of violence as revenge on a person who is judged to have behaved inappropriately. It is a key word we use when we want to obscure from ourselves that we are being violent.

The violence inflicted as punishment can take many forms, depending on the context. It might involve inflicting physical injury and/or pain, withdrawal of approval or love, confinement/imprisonment, a financial penalty, dismissal, withdrawal of rights/privileges, denial of promised rewards, an order to perform a service, banishment, torture or death, among others.

Given the human preoccupation with punishment, it is perhaps surprising that this behaviour is not subjected to more widespread scrutiny. Mind you, I can think of many human behaviours that get less scrutiny than would be useful.

9/11 Truth?

For the first time a presidential candidate, admittedly from a fringe party, is calling for a reexamination of 9/11. Jill Stein of the Green Party has recognized that exercises in which the United States government examines its own behavior are certain to come up with a result that basically exonerates the politicians and the federal bureaucracy. This has been the case since the Warren Commission report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which, inter alia, failed to thoroughly investigate key players like Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby and came up with a single gunman scenario in spite of considerable evidence to the contrary.

Slavery Was Abolished

Book Review: The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Andersen Brower

I have only visited the White House once, in 1975, a year before America’s bicentennial. Of course it was much easier to get in then–pre 9/11–and the public rooms still retained most of the vision and gloss of Jacqueline Kennedy, the First Lady responsible for the restoration of the building in 1962.What I remember most is that the colors of the room are extraordinarily vivid–the Red Room is really, really red–and a sense of wonder that Americans can rubberneck around the home of the President of the United States. This can’t be said about the official homes of most other world leaders.

Radicalization: What Is it Good For?

Radicalization: what is it good for? The song, “War? What is it good for?”, tells us that war is worth “absolutely nothing!” Is radicalization the same? Just something that turns everyday, ordinary people into gun-toting, bomb-throwing terrorists? The media give us that image after every new terror incident here in the U.S. or in Europe involving presumed Islamists. How did these people turn into suicide bombers, gunmen/women, decapitators, torturers, or whatever? Well, it must have been “radicalization.” So then we need to know how that happened. Where and when did their radicalization start? Was it from a web site? Or the influence of a religious leader or friends or family or even a spouse?

Marty Robbins and the Case for PC

Black and white photo of guy with big mustache sitting at piano singing

One of the hallmarks of the Donald Trump campaign, and to a lesser extent the Republican Party, is a call for the end of political correctness. I’ve always felt a little sorry for that term, doomed to the grammatical tragedy of becoming a sarcastic pejorative before it ever had a chance to be a straightforward noun. That said, with a few highly regrettable exceptions, I’ve never had much trouble differentiating the loud, profane, obnoxious, ribald and borderline pornographic from language that hurts, demeans, dehumanizes or demonstrates power over someone else. Be polite, just like your mom told you, and you shouldn’t have to worry about anything.

Palestinians Seize Israeli Embassy While Thailand's King Annoints Son

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Armed Palestinian "Black September" guerrillas
seized the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok, threatened to execute the six
Israelis inside and blow up the building, but suddenly surrendered
saying, "We love your king," when told that King Bhumibol Adulyadej
was appointing his son that day in 1972 as sole heir to the throne.
   Today, while Thailand mourns King Bhumibol's death on October 13,
his son Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is preparing to fulfill his
father's decision and become this country's next monarch.
   But on December 28, 1972, the king's royal appointment ceremony of
then-Prince Vajiralongkorn to be crown prince and heir, was almost
marred by bloodshed across town.
   Four Palestinian guerrillas wearing jackets in the sweltering heat
had arrived in a taxi at the Israeli Embassy on Soi Langsuan near the
British Embassy just before lunch on December 28.
   They climbed "over the wall, using the embassy insignia [placard]
as a step-ladder," the embassy's messenger Anek Bariman said hours
later.

Blood and Guts, Ole' Blue Eyes and the Old Man

Black and white photo of young Frank Sinatra at the mic

What would a Frank Sinatra White House look like?

You do know a vote for The Orange Lord is a vote for old-school values, right? When men ran in packs and she-rats pretended to run for their lives, especially when those male rats carried names like Sammy, Dino, Peter and Frankie Baby.

Because if Donald Trump isn't a one-man rat-pack, I don't know who is.

Let us ponder this phenomenon, one that is fast disappearing from our culture as the buffalo were in the late 1870s on the American Great Plains.

Buffalo. Rats. White men. See where I'm going with this? I don't. I'm flying blind. But I'm feeling it. And that instinct got me from the Mediterranean French coast to its north, Verdun, in a day on a motorcycle without the use of a map and I don't speak French, except you know, when I'm loving. But I know when I'm on to something, dear reader. So, onward, monks.

The American male as we know him is a living thing of the past, put out to pasture by, oh, a lack of a fence on our southern border? Nah. More like every movement needs its villain. Thus it was decreed: thanks for setting up this good thang but you're politically expendable. Sorr-ee!

Nonbelievers continue to help feed the hungry in central Ohio for the fifth year in a row

Weird cartoon spaghetti monster

The Columbus Coalition of Reason (Columbus COR) is hosting their fifth annual “Flying Spaghetti Monster Benefit Dinner,” featuring -what else - a delicious spaghetti dinner with vegetarian, gluten-free and take-out options. The event will take place Thursday, November 10 from 6 until 8:30 pm (serving food until 8:00) at the First UU Church, 93 West Weisheimer Road in Clintonville.

Admission is $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for children aged fourteen and under, with proceeds going to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. In addition, there will be people collecting canned and boxed goods for the Foodbank. Guests can also participate in both a silent auction of handmade pieces by local artists, and a raffle for items donated by community members and local businesses.

Entertainment for the evening will include live music and brief comments from community members. For the children there will be a variety of supervised games and activities.

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