This weekend [01 thru 03 april 2005] The Global Flow of Information | Site blurb: Patterns of information flow are one of the most important factors shaping globalization. Today individuals, groups, countries, and international organizations are trying to promote and control the flow of different kinds of information across national borders; information ranging from intellectual property and scientific research to political discourse, brand names and cultural symbols. And digitally networked environments subject information to ever new methods of distribution and manipulation. Fights over information flow are going to help define who holds power in the global information economy.
Soon [08 thru 10 april 2005] The US Constitution in 2020 | Site blurb: It is time for progressives to set a constitutional agenda for the 21st Century. In 1987-88, the Reagan Justice Department produced a white paper known as “The Constitution in 2000” which, by taking a long view rather than focusing on the immediate issues of the day, was immensely successful in influencing the Constitution under which we now live. If progressives are to rehabilitate that Constitution, they must now, more than ever, articulate constitutional ideals capable of inspiring the next generation. The goal is to set forth a positive constitutional vision for tomorrow, rather than merely to respond to the crises of today.

¶ 08:12 0 comments

     A few weeks ago, the price of oil ratcheted above fifty-five dollars a barrel, which is about twenty dollars a barrel more than a year ago. The next day, the oil story was buried on page six of the New York Times business section. Apparently, the price of oil is not considered significant news, even when it goes up five bucks a barrel in the span of ten days...
     "...we face the end of the cheap-fossil-fuel era. It is no exaggeration to state that reliable supplies of cheap oil and natural gas underlie everything we identify as the necessities of modern life -- not to mention all of its comforts and luxuries: central heating, air conditioning, cars, airplanes, electric lights, inexpensive clothing, recorded music, movies, hip-replacement surgery, national defense -- you name it...
     "...No combination of alternative fuels will allow us to run American life the way we have been used to running it, or even a substantial fraction of it. The wonders of steady technological progress achieved through the reign of cheap oil have lulled us into a kind of Jiminy Cricket syndrome, leading many Americans to believe that anything we wish for hard enough will come true. These days, even people who ought to know better are wishing ardently for a seamless transition from fossil fuels to their putative replacements.
     "...If we wish to keep the lights on in America after 2020, we may indeed have to resort to nuclear power, with all its practical problems and eco-conundrums. Under optimal conditions, it could take ten years to get a new generation of nuclear power plants into operation, and the price may be beyond our means. Uranium is also a resource in finite supply. We are no closer to the more difficult project of atomic fusion, by the way, than we were in the 1970s.
     "...The upshot of all this is that we are entering a historical period of potentially great instability, turbulence and hardship. Obviously, geopolitical maneuvering around the world's richest energy regions has already led to war and promises more international military conflict. Since the Middle East contains two-thirds of the world's remaining oil supplies, the U.S. has attempted desperately to stabilize the region by, in effect, opening a big police station in Iraq. The intent was not just to secure Iraq's oil but to modify and influence the behavior of neighboring states around the Persian Gulf, especially Iran and Saudi Arabia. The results have been far from entirely positive, and our future prospects in that part of the world are not something we can feel altogether confident about...

¶ 07:36 0 comments

"...I'm sorry to say this but, This will be my last e-mail.
     Things have been a bit tough and life is getting shorter and shorter. I want to take time and smell the Roses. So I am going to quit e-mailing and travel full time with a biker gang to see the country and enjoy life while I still can.
     Don't worry about me - they all seem like really nice people. It has been nice emailing you, but it's time to say good bye. A photo of the gang is attached. |

¶ 11:28 0 comments

     Sgt. John J. Savage III, an Army reservist, was about to climb onto a troop transport plane for a flight to Iraq from Fayetteville, N.C., when his wife called with alarming news: "They're foreclosing on our house."
     Sergeant Savage recalled, "There was not a thing I could do; I had to jump on the plane and boil for 22 hours."
     He had reason to be angry. A longstanding federal law strictly limits the ability of his mortgage company and other lenders to foreclose against active-duty service members.
     But Sergeant Savage's experience was not unusual. Though statistics are scarce, court records and interviews with military and civilian lawyers suggest that Americans heading off to war are sometimes facing distracting and demoralizing demands from financial companies trying to collect on obligations that, by law, they cannot enforce.
     Some cases involve nationally prominent companies like Wells Fargo and Citigroup, though both say they are committed to strict compliance with the law.
     The problem, most military law specialists say, is that too many lenders, debt collectors, landlords, lawyers and judges are unaware of the federal statute or do not fully understand it.
     The law, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, protects all active-duty military families from foreclosures, evictions and other financial consequences of military service. The Supreme Court has ruled that its provisions must "be liberally construed to protect those who have been obliged to drop their own affairs to take up the burdens of the nation."

¶ 22:50 0 comments

     Your prayer comments remind me of a tale a lady friend told me of when she was "church shopping" and after attending one new church for awhile she got testimony from a seasoned parishoner.
     It seems the second woman told her of a time when God had, indeed, confirmed her prayers. They experience, the parishoner explained, solidified her Faith.
     And what was this? My lady friend asked.
     Well, it seems the Saved woman and her husband had redecorated their dining room but that they ran out of wall paper. No more was available in the pattern they chose. So they prayed on this PRAYED on this challenge, and sought the Lord's guidance. Later that same day, she and her equally Faithful husband were walking in an antique shop and saw a really beautiful corner cupboard. They bought it and took it home. Wouldn't you know!?! It was the exact width and length needed to completely cover the unpapered wall. Their prayers had been answered!
     My friend, who earned her 15 minutes of fame by getting caught on camera and televised while pregnant and being teargassed by police in the 1968 Chicago Convention police riots, was appalled. She asked back, "What the ... couldn't you pray for World Peace or something useful?"
     The Saved woman, equally appalled, snapped back. "Oh no, that's impossible!"
     And why is that? my friend asked.
     The response? "Well, God's only Human!"
     Gives one pause. My lady friend remained churchless, but of faith.

¶ 09:44 0 comments

• 2 onions, chopped fine + sauteed
• 1/2 pound of hot dogs, chopped up + sauteed with the onions
• crushed garlic from a jar, approx 3 tablespoons
• 3 lbs of collard greens. chopped up
• red wine vinegar [1/2 cup]
• salt [to taste]
• black pepper [to taste]
• brown sugar, enough to fill the palm of my hand [approx 2-3 tablespoons]
• juice from my dad's home-canned hot peppers [1/4 cup; you don't want to mess with this]
• several squirts from one of the many red hot sauce conncoctions in the cupboard
• 1/4 lb of bacon, fried separate + added with grease produced in the process
• two tomatoes I had in the 'fridge, chopped up finely
• 1/2 cup of Ken's™ tomato vinegarette dressing

¶ 16:00 0 comments

     "A late 1980’s Webster’s dictionary, in fact, defines Bowery as a street characterized by flophouses and saloons. The saloons are long gone, having disappeared before the relentless pressures of gentrification. With real estate prices in the neighborhood already sky high, the days of these hotels are numbered.
     "The Bowery’s reputation as a place for jobless and often alcohol- or drug-addicted people notwithstanding, a number of the 50 men whose profiles and photographs are presented here do in fact work. One man does what he calls “independent recycling,” working long days to collect aluminum cans and bottles. In his interview, he speaks of saving up for a van and a storage room as a means of expanding his enterprise."
     The lives described are often bleak yet...
     "...the... stories [of the residents of flophouses] and the photographs of them and their bleak surroundings, reveal lives marked by a genuine dignity.
     Flophouse had its origins, in fact, in a radio documentary based on just one of the hotels, the Sunshine, that premiered on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” The photographs by Harvey Wang,... capture far more than the outward appearance of the men and the hotels they inhabit. Like the interviews themselves, they convey the inner reality of a scene that is rapidly disappearing. We may be the poorer for its loss"

¶ 15:53 0 comments