Just a few things I've been thinking about . . .


What makes The Brain think it's the boss?
Last week was a real humdinger from start to finish. With so much unusual excitement going on, I should have been prepared for The Brain to take control and to push me into the passenger seat. At least this time The Brain held off on the electrical surges until Thursday night; the only bad thing about it waiting so long is that the surges are worse than normal -- as if seizures are ever normal per se. I don't like it when The Brain takes over, but that's life; I'll continue to deal with it as best I can.


Why are people so willing to believe what they hear without bothering to investigate the facts?


Watching the debate over health care reform devolve from discussion to organized shouting matches has made me pull out my much used and well loved copy of John Stewart Mill's essay On Liberty and to reread his discussion of the Tyranny of the Majority, because I see its bud fully flowering on this single issue in a way that it hasn't for quite some time.

The "people" who exercise the power are not always the same people with those over whom it is exercised; and the "self-government" spoken of is not the government of each by himself, but of each by all the rest. The will of the people, moreover, practically means the will of the most numerous or the most active part of the people; the majority, or those who succeed in making themselves accepted as the majority; the people, consequently, may desire to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this as against any other abuse of power. The limitation, therefore, of the power of government over individuals loses none of its importance when the holders of power are regularly accountable to the community, that is, to the strongest party therein. This view of things, recommending itself equally to the intelligence of thinkers and to the inclination of those important classes in European society to whose real or supposed interests democracy is adverse, has had no difficulty in establishing itself; and in political speculations "the tyranny of the majority" is now generally included among the evils against which society requires to be on its guard.

When a group, whether numerically greater or not, gains enough power to assert its authority over others and uses that power to silence dissenting voices, we have Tyranny of the Majority. Since tyranny is the antithesis of liberty, and something that Americans take an inordinate amount of pride in "removing" from the world, why do we allow it to happen in our own back yard?

Among other things, controlled experiments on tyranny have shown that

• Tyranny can be implemented and exercised by normal people.
• Tyranny is more likely when people are competing for insufficient resources.
• Tyranny is more likely when the tyrants have little empathy for the tyrannized.
• Tyranny is more likely by stealth by those in power than by coup. (Source)
  

The folks who are showing up at town hall meetings with the sole purpose of shouting down their elected officials or acting as the spokeshole for a special interest group (insurance industry, pharmaceutical company, et al) are, for the most part, quite normal people, I'm sure. Yet once they have had their daily dose of Rush and O'Reilly, they feel empowered enough to behave like tyrants, silencing all who disagree with them, in a controlled environment such as a town hall meeting.

To say that people are competing for insufficient resources in these difficult economic times is, perhaps, to use an old cliche, the understatement of the century. Because of fear mongering further compounded by the fact that the average American is too lazy to search for factual information independently and thus, like so many lemmings, is willing to throw himself off the cliff without cause.

Empathy is having the capacity to understand, be sensitive to, and feel the experience of someone else. When the economy is bad and people are concerned about making their own mortgage payments, putting food on their own tables, and meeting the needs of their own families, empathy often gets lost in the daily struggle. The problem is that the same people who struggle to make ends meet but have health insurance are the very ones who ought to have the greatest empathy for their uninsured fellow Americans who find themselves having to choose between paying for a doctor visit or a prescription and making a house payment or buying groceries!

The special interest groups on both sides of the health care reform issue resort to stealth by spreading misinformation anonymously. It doesn't take long before the lemmings leap into panic mode and once they pick up the ball, the lobbyists can sit back and enjoy the show as they pat themselves on the back for a job well done; they know that to stage a successful coup, they need only to strike fear into the hearts of the lemmings who can be relied upon to take them at their word without ever bothering to research the facts themselves.

God protect us all from the lemmings of the world irrespective of the side of the political spectrum on which they sit!


What am I missing?

So my laptop is up and running again. All the software has been reinstalled, the file folders created, the desktop organized and decorated just the way I like it. It's even running much faster than it was pre-hacker / Trojan. I should be happy, right? Bleh -- that would work in someone else's world, not mine! Something is missing, I just know it! The problem is that I can't put my finger on what I've forgotten, and it's making me crazy. You know what it's like when you can't remember a song or movie title and it sticks in your head until you do? It's like that with the missing software. I know that I neglected to reinstall something, but what? I don't know! I guess it will hit me on the head like a sledgehammer when I go to use it and can't find it -- then I'll know what I forgot to install!



"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." -- Thomas Paine

Random Thought #1

Listening to Senator Jeff Sessions' opening statement at the start of Judge Sotomayor's confirmation hearing yesterday got me riled. I haven't yet figured out which planet the Senator lived on before gracing us with his presence, but it must be one with a society like the one in Lois Lowery's juvenile novel, The Giver. I still haven't decided if his comments are more hypocrital, disingenuous, or idiotic; all three are viable options.

As an attorney himself, how could Senator Sessions not know that everything we read is understood, interpreted, and processed through the lens that informs our lives? Meaning has never been the same for all people in all times in all places. If this were true, humanity would never have progressed! There would have been no flowering of democracy in Greece, no birth of Christianity in the Middle East, no Renaissance, no Age of Reason, no French or American Revolutons. Without a change in understanding and interpretation, Martin Luther would have had no reason to nail his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg; "the shot heard round the world" would not have been necessary, and the U.S. could well have remained part of the British Empire until its collapse; the notion that race determines a human being's worthiness of freedom might well have remained the norm in America, and Rosa Parks wouldn't have felt the need to refuse to give up her seat on the bus. As you can imagine, the list could go on ad infinitum.

The ever evolving landscape of human experience is what makes literature, music, and art great. The ability of a piece to have meaning across time, language, religion, and culture is based on the fact that meaning isn't the same for all readers, listeners, or viewers; what an individual gets out of a work is determined by his or her understanding and experience which, in turn, inform his or her interpretation. It is this fact that accounts for the volumes of books written about Shakespeare's plays, Mozart's music, and Raphael's art. Shakespeare's plays, Mozart's concertos, and Raphael's paintings haven't changed, but the knowledge, understanding, and experience of the people at the point in time in which they are read, viewed, or heard has; thus, the interpretations of these artists' work will change as well. It is also this fact that accounts for the various translations of the Bible; words translated from the original Hebrew and Greek are assigned meaning in another language based on the translator's understanding and analysis of context. Luckily for those of us living in 21st century America, interpretation and understanding of the law has evolved as well.

Senator Sessions established himself as an authority on the judicial system thus:

I have been an active litigator in federal courts for the majority of my professional life. I have tried cases in private practice, as a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice, and as Attorney General of the State of Alabama.

The Constitution and our great heritage of law are things I care deeply about — they are the foundation of our liberty and prosperity.

Good for you, Senator Sessions! I applaud your dedication to the Constitution and its principles. But I do have a question for you. How is it possible that you have achieved such a remarkable CV without also recognizing that your interpretation of the law is, at the very least, influenced by your understanding of connotation and denotation in language coupled with your values, beliefs, and experience?

Random Thought #2

Betty's health is improving at last. She was moved yesterday from the hospital to a rehab center, where she will stay for two weeks while she gets an IV antibiotic for the treatment of a staph infection in her lung. I felt horrible for agreeing to the placement, no matter how temporary, because I promised Bob that I would never put her in a nursing home situation. Unfortunately, there is no alternative available to her until the antibiotics course is finished. There is, however, some good news here. The nursing home / rehab facility is just a couple of blocks away from my house, so visiting her daily will be super easy.

Random Thought #3

I don't know what got The Brain's knickers in a twist yesterday, but It decided that I was so deserving of some good old electro-shock therapy that It delivered a total of 8 seizures throughout the day. Each succeeding seizure was worse than the predecessor so that by the end of the day, I had spent more of it asleep than awake, more of it nauseated than not. Bleh! I could have done without all that excitement. My fingers are crossed that The Brain feels confident enough in its preeminent power once again that It will practice -- are you ready for this one? -- empathetic justice on me today!

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five were captured by the British as traitors, tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists.

Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton,Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife 's bed side as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

The tapestry of American patriotic music is as rich and varied as her people. Hymns, marches, national songs, poetry, military themes, and music from the theater, television, and radio combine to reflect the pride and hope embodied in the American Experience. With the celebration of our independence just two days away, my list is about American Patriotic Music. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it.

1. America the Beautiful
Katharine Lee Bates wrote the lyrics for "America the Beautiful" while on a lecture trip to Colorado in 1893 after being inspired by a trek up Pike's Peak in a prairie wagon. Originally sung to any tune that fit the lyrics -- "Auld Lang Syne" was the most popular, "America the Beautiful" didn't have its own melody until 1882 when Samuel Augustus Ward, a New Jersey church organist, composed one for it. Thereafter, the song has been sung the way we recognize it now.


2. My Country 'Tis of Thee
While we know that Reverend Samuel Francis Smith wrote the lyrics for this song in 1831, the mystery surrounding the composition of its melody remains unsolved. The tune's first appearance in a verifiable form is in the 1744 tune book, Thesaurus Musicus, printed in England. It has been used mostly for songs honoring kings and became the national anthem in 6 countries before making its way across the ocean to America.


3. Battle Hymn of the Republic
Julia Ward Howe, a staunch abolitionist, rewrote the lyrics to a very popular song among the Union troops during the Civil War. The soldiers called the song "John Brown's Body" in honor of John Brown, the abolitionist killed at Harpers Ferry. But after visiting Washington, D.C. with her husband in 1861 and hearing Union soldiers marching to the tune, Julia determined to write lyrics that better suited the majesty of the music. The end result is the song that we now know and love.


4. When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again
The story of one of the most popular songs of the American Civil War is also the story of the Irish immigrant who wrote it. John Philip Sousa considered Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, an 1848 Irish immigrant and author of the song, "The Father of the American Band." In 1861, Gilmore's band was attached to the 24th Massachusetts Infantry where they served as both musicians and stretcher bearers in some of the most significant Civil War battles including Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Richmond. In 1863, when he was posted to occupied New Orleans, Louisiana, Gilmore composed "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." The song became popular with northerners and southerners alike.


5. You're a Grand Old Flag
I love the story of this song! Written for his stage musical, George Washington, Jr. in 1906, George M. Cohan's inspiration came from a random meeting he had had with a Civil War veteran who, like my great-great grandfather, had fought at Gettysburg. Cohan noticed that the old man was holding a carefully folded but ragged old flag and when the old man saw Cohan looking at it, he said, "She's a grand old rag." That old man's comment about a cherished battle-worn flag became the original title of the song; however, when people objected to the flag being called a "rag," he changed the word to "flag." Maybe if Cohan had explained why he titled the song the way he did, people would have reacted more positively to it because its meaning with the original title and lyric is much more powerful!


6. Hail to the Chief
Did you know that this song, which plays with every formal entrance made by an American president, actually has its origins in a poem written by a Scotsman? Sir Walter Scott's poem, "The Lady of the Lake," tells the story of a Highlands Scottish clan that loses its heritage and land to an imperalist invader (the Brits): "Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances!" The song first came to be associated with presidents when, on February 22, 1815, it was played honor both the deceased George Washington and the end of the War of 1812.


7. Marine's Hymn
The tune for this song actually came from Jacques Offenbach's comic opera Genevieve de Brabant, first staged in 1859. Nobody knows who added the lyrics or when, but at least one verse has been traced to Colonel Henry C. Davis who wrote it during the early part of the twentieth century.


8. Stars and Stripes Forever (check out the video for this one!)
John Philip Sousa was the greatest musical star of his era, combining the charisma and popularity of Leonard Bernstein and The Beatles. He wrote "Stars and Stripes Forever" in 1896, while grieving over the death of his manager. For 25 years, Sousa's band played this song at the end of every concert. "The Stars and Stripes Forever" was declared the National March of the United States in 1987.


9. Yankee Doodle
This is one of America's oldest, and most enduring, marching songs. It was written several years before the American Revolution, but like so many songs of old, its origins aren't clear. What we do know about it is that the song isn't really as patriotic as it seems: it is a British parody of the early American militiamen. "Yankee" comes from "Nankey," a word from a well-known not-so-nice song about Oliver Cromwell that later became the name for American colonists; "Doodle" means a fool or simpleton; "Dandy" is a word used to describe a gentleman of artificial manners, dress, and hairstyle -- in other words, a fake. Put these three words together, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and you have a foolish American colonist who puts on airs. At the battles of Lexington and Concord, the British troops sang the song to make fun of the rag-tag American militiamen.


10. This Land Is Your Land
Woody Guthrie, America's most influential folk musician, wrote "This Land Is Your Land" in 1940 after becoming annoyed with Irving Berlin's song, "God Bless America," which Guthrie thought glossed over the lop-sided distribution of land and wealth that he was observing during the Great Depression and had experienced as a child growing up in Oklahoma. Guthrie's observations accurately reflected the fact that, even in the depths of the Depression, nearly 20 percent of the nation's wealth rested with one percent of its population. Guthrie's personal and musical styles were deeply influenced by his childhood in rural Oklahoma during the Great Depression years, which led him to a hobo life-style, a powerful dislike of greed, and a deep appreciation for the diversity of America's everyday folk.


11. God Bless America
Shortly after becoming an American citizen in 1918, Irving Berlin, already a highly successful popular lyricist and composer, was inducted and stationed at Camp Upton in Yaphank, Long Island, New York. While stationed there, Berlin convinced his commanding officers to allow him to write a musical comedy that could be used to raise both funds and troop morale, and the original version of this song was part of this production. But after he heard the song, Berlin decided that it was too serious for a comedy and tucked it away for 25 years. On November 10, 1938, contralto Kate Smith introduced the song to America on her CBS radio show that was broadcast from the New York World's Fair. Timing is everything; the song became an instant hit. Berlin generously signed over his royalty money from the song to charity, and the revenues went to the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts of America.


12. God Bless the U.S.A.
Lee Greenwood, a country music artist, wrote "God Bless the USA" in 1983 as a patriotic song about his country. When it was originally released, it didn't top the charts; however, it quickly became Greenwood's signature song. When the Amazing Egyptian Dude was sworn in as a U.S. Citizen, this is the song that played in accompaniment to a video showing scenes of what it means to an American. We already knew the song because we have been fans of Greenwood's music for quite some time, so the AED was thrilled when the song blared out from the loudspeakers at the Los Angeles Convention Center on the day that he officially became an American in 1986. If you've never been lucky enough to witness the swearing in of a new American citizen, check out this video; the song & video we saw is at 8:05. I guarantee goosebumps!


13. The Star Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key put new words to an old song when he wrote what would become the national anthem of the United States of America. In the mid-1760s, a London society of amateur musicians, the Anacreontic Society, commissioned a young church musician, John Stafford Smith, to compose music for material that its president, Ralph Tomlinson, had written. The result was a song called "Anacreon in Heav'n." Its metric difficulty was meant to be the vehicle through which the group's best bariton singer could display his virtuosity and vocal range. Its musical complexity has been compared to the famous "Toreador Song" in Bizet's opera Carmen. The tune appeared in North America before the end of the 18th century where the lyrics were rewritten to include references to Jefferson, Adams, and Liberty. Francis Scott Key was fascinated by the song's unique metrical structure, not found in any other song of the period. That explains why it's so difficult for the average person to sing!

So, how did it become our national anthem? While detained aboard a British ship during the bombardment of Ft. McHenry on September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key witnessed at dawn the failure of the British attempt to take Baltimore. He used this experience to write a poem that asked the question "Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave?" or in modern American English, "Hey, Dude, is that flag still flying?"

Almost immediately Key's poem was published and set to the tune of the "Anacreontic Song." The Secretary of the Navy, on July 26, 1889, designated "The Star Spangled Banner" as the official tune to be played whenever the flag was raised, and Woodrow Wilson chose the song to be played whenever a national anthem was appropriate because we didn't have one yet. It wasn't until March 3, 1931, that the song was made our official anthem by President Herbert Hoover.

Back in 2006, when Al Jazeera English, the English language sister news channel to Al Jazeera in Arabic, launched, I really wanted to watch it. I called our satellite company and asked which channel number it would be assigned, only to discover that they had no intention of carrying the station -- ever. When I asked why, I was told in no uncertain terms that this company did not support "terror television." Since the channel was brand new, I wondered how they had determined that it broadcast "terror" and decided to shop for a cable service that carried it instead. My luck was no better in that arena than it had been with the satellite provider. Just like the kid who has never tasted spinach announces that he doesn't like it, our local satellite and cable providers had blacklisted Al Jazeera English before the station had had an opportunity to prove itself.

"Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage." -- Winston Churchill

Three years later, the new satellite system that the Amazing Egyptian Dude had installed several months ago has given us access to Al-Jazeera English under the Free-to-Air format. I have been able to watch it and assess for myself just how much "terror" the station broadcasts. Instead of "terror television," as countless fear and many believe it is, I have found Al-Jazeera English to be a news source every bit as valuable to the American audience as the Western mega news channels.

Much like CNN, Al-Jazeera English's hosts and reporters come from around the world. With such a diverse base, the channel is able to offer a true global perspective on the news. Take, for example, the case of Josh Rushing, whose report on Fault Lines, "Lone Star: The Death of a Small Town," chronicles the decline of the steel industry in his hometown of Lone Star, Texas, and illustrates how a small town with a population of less than 1700 people is dying because of the current economic crisis. The coverage of California's budget crisis and its impact on the state's poor in "California: Failed State" has been exemplary, as well. I suppose, though, that considering how bad off the Golden State really is at the moment, one could call this report, at least, "terror television." All in all, though, I fail to see what the hype and fear-mongering over Al Jazeera English is all about.

More and more, news reporting has become like the informercials that plague late, late night television: full of hype, rife with loaded language, and often downright comical to watch. CNN says it delivers “All news, all the time”; FOX claims to offer “Fair and balanced news reporting”; MSNBC uses technology to deliver "a fuller spectrum of news." Bells, whistles, catchy tag lines, slogans, and visually appealing hosts aside, each of these mega news channels claims to report the news. While this all sounds well and good, the truth of the matter is that even in the No-Spin Zone, far more spinning than reporting takes place on these channels. MSNBC caters to the far left, FOX delivers news with a distinctive far right twist, and CNN feeds both audiences.

Perhaps because I have a background in language analysis and research, or maybe just because I love to argue (not in the negative sense as in to scream and hurl insults, but to weigh the pros and cons of an issue using reason, logic, and facts), I learned long ago never to rely on a single source for important information. Recalling my mom's wise advice to me and my sisters whenever we fought with one another, I know that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of the "my side vs. your side" equation. And it is that middle ground, that truth, that I strive to find. Thus when it comes to the news, I follow a single story from multiple sources, analyzing the use of language, word choices, and presentation of facts to determine wherein that middle ground, or truth, can be found. It's not as hard as one might think to figure out a news source's position on an issue just by examining word choices and understanding denotation and connotation.

Mega news channels do have their place in American society. They all spin events to suit the ideology of their viewing audience; they are, after all, for profit entities and without an adequate rating to generate advertising dollars, these mega channels would fail. For those of us who long for the days of old-fashioned news reporting Edward R. Murrow style, however, they all leave a much to be desired.

It's a place to come on Friday's and think back over your week and just post about 5 favorite things from your week. It can be anything that tickled your fancy over the week. Favorite quotes, posts, happenings, scriptures, recipes, pictures, great internet finds, etc., etc. Go ahead and grab the button and make your own post. Be as detailed as you like, the more detail the more fun for those of us visiting. Susanne, the hostess, just asks that it be kept family friendly. Click here to play along with us.

1. I love African Violets, and my kitchen is filled with them. They're all in bloom at the moment and as much as I need to split this one into at least 3 additional pots, I couldn't stand the thought of killing the blooms. Transplanting can wait.


2. My obsession with The Phantom of the Opera was reborn this week. It may be driving everyone else around me bonkers, but I'm having a great time watching the movie several times a day.




3. Earlier in the week I mentioned that one of my cats, Camry, was in heat. I scheduled an appointment for her to be spayed on June 22. Wouldn't you know it that just when I get everything set with the vet's office, she goes back to normal! It doesn't really matter; she still needs to be spayed and besides, the next couple of weeks should be much more pleasant with her not in heat and chirping all over the house!

4. Because I wake up before the possums go to bed, I managed to see President Obama's speech in the Amazing Egyptian Dude's homeland in real time. I have to say that it was fantastic to hear the president of my country acknowledge my value to it as an educated Muslim woman who wears a scarf. Yep -- the times, they are a changin'!

5. A dear friend sent me the following in an email; it was the highlight of my entire week:




This little boy wanted to see if the President's hair felt like his. For some reason, it made me burst into tears. Perhaps I cried at the beautiful demonstration of a child's curiosity when he hasn't been "shushed." Maybe it was the thought that this young boy could see part of himself in the President of the United States for the very first time. More than likely, I cried at the humble way President Obama bent down to the boy's level and allowed him to feel his hair.

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll already know that I am a Geek who loves things that teach me something. As a result, I'm hooked on documentary films and now, podcasts. I had heard my students talking about podcasts but knew nothing about them until I got an iPhone two years ago. Now, I not only know about podcasts, but I subscribe to approximately 30 different ones! So this week, my list is for my Top 13 Educational Podcasts. Whenever possible, I've included a link to the RSS feed just in case you might be interested in listening, too. if you use iTunes, most of them are available there, too. Enjoy!

1. Stuff You Missed in History Class: In addition to hosts with pleasant voices and some really quirky topics, these brief (10-20 minutes long) podcasts make history lessons lots of fun! Some of the recent topics include things like

• Did Betsy Ross Really Make the First American Flag?
• Was There Reall a Pied Piper of Hamelin?
• How Hitler's Propaganda Machine Worked
• Will the World Really End in 2012?
• Does My Vote Count?

2. This American Life: Part of the Chicago Public Radio programming, This American Life offers mostly real stories from, by, and about real people. Some are funny, some are sad, some are poignant, all are good and offer a life lesson to be learned. Immensely popular, the radio show has become a television show; both have won numerous international awards.

3. PRI's The World: American Influence: The World's American Influence covers US foreign policy, from inside Washington to the far corners of the globe. I've learned a great deal about the way our government interacts with others from this podcast.

4. Bill Moyers Journal: Moyers' popular PBS show in podcast form. Topics range from politics to ethics to faith, and everything in between.

5. American Experience: Listen to introductory segments for new and upcoming American Experience programs, America's most-watched history series. This one doesn't really "teach" per se, but if you're a fan of this series, it's a great way to stay on top of upcoming episodes.

6. The News Hour with Jim Lehrer: Daily, in-depth news and analysis from the Web site of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

7. 60 Minutes (Full Broadcast): I don't always remember to watch 60 Minutes when it airs on television, so this podcast is a godsend for me. It's the full show in audio form!

8. The Marketplace of Ideas: The Marketplace of Ideas is a radio show and podcast about books, culture, commerce and fascinating concepts.

9. President Obama's Weekly Radio Address: The weekly address to the nation by President Barack Obama.

10. Hunting Humbug 101: A crash course in shooting down bad arguments. Two skeptics examine poor reasoning - 1 fallacy each week - real fallacies from pseudoscience, science misconceptions, politics, philosophy and media. Learn how to argue using logic and reason instead of emotion.

11. Great Books -- A Chapter a Day: A free audio book podcast of the best books and poems ever written. Choose any book or poem from the online library and click to listen. A great book is labeled thus because its themes are universal and transcend time, language, country, and culture. The end result is that there's always something to learn from reading a great book.

12. Living Books for the Ears: This weekly podcast offers "old time radio" adaptations of great books and historic stories. These fully dramatized half hour audio programs are a terrific way to introduce kids to these classic tales. But everyone, young or old, will enjoy listening to these excellent, wholesome radio adaptations (in great sound quality).

13. Old Time Radio Thrillers: Old Time Radio Network Thrillers, thrilling mystery, espionage, and political intrigue. Step into the world of action and Psychological twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The nation has been abuzz for the past several days in the wake of the release of memos that discuss torture, also called "enhanced interrogation techniques," from members of the Bush administration. While pundits on the right have expressed outrage over the documents' entrance into the public sphere, pundits on the left have escalated the debate over whether or not the people and agencies involved in the behavior outlined in them deserve further investigation and possible prosecution. One side contends that waterboarding, a torture technique with a long history (see the woodcut from 1556 on the right), at least as practiced by agents of the United States, does not constitute torture. It is, they argue, a legal "enhanced interrogation technique." The opposition recalls that in

• 1949, the U.S. brought charges of war crimes against Yukio Asano, a Japanese soldier, for waterboarding a U.S. civilian, and
  
• that when the Khmer Rouge used the same technique on its own people, the United States considered it a method of torture, or
  
• that an American soldier was court-martialed following the Washington Post's publication of a photo depicting his supervision of the waterboarding of a captured North Vietnamese soldier, and
• that as recently as 1983, Texas Sheriff James Parker and three of his deputies were tried, convicted, and sentenced to four years in prison for using an "enhanced interrogation technique" to extract "confessions" from prisoners.

Perhaps a definition of torture can clear up the confusion between the two sides' positions.

On February 4, 1985, The United Nations Convention Against Torture established the definition for torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions" (I.1.1.). Under the leadership of Ronald Reagan, the United States of America became a signatory to the Convention on April 18, 1988. Considering that those on the right hold former President Reagan in such high regard, they should have no problem accepting a definition for which he applied his, and the nation's, stamp of approval. One might expect the opposition to the U.S. approved definition of the term to come from the left, but it hasn't. Much like former President Clinton's now infamous remark that "that depends on what your definition of is is," a question of semantics in which the right found a great deal of humor and hypocrisy, waterboarding as a method of torture or an "enhanced interrogation technique" has been reduced to little more than an issue of word choice.

But while the pundits in Washington, on both the right and the left, argue over a definition, the practice of torture in its many forms has taken a toll on members of our military. To wit, U.S. Soldier Killed Herself -- After Refusing to Take Part in Torture. What makes this young girl's story so tragic to me is that her action is the ultimate sacrifice made in defense of her beliefs. It's not that she was a Mormon girl who gave up her life rather than do something she felt was wrong that makes her death so tragic -- I don't think that her religion has anything at all to do with it; the tragedy for me is that this young warrior couldn't convince her fellow soldiers that what they were doing was wrong and failing to do that, she could think of no other way out of her ethical dilemma. In her case, and the cases of others like her, suicide is not the ultimate act of a coward; instead, it becomes the ultimate act of bravery, as these soldiers kill themselves to avoid becoming like the enemy while their fellow soldiers see nothing wrong in emulating enemy behavior. And that is just plain sad irrespective of the side of the political spectrum on which you sit.

I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions, and I'm not going to start now. Instead of resolving to do something that I know will be forgotten in a week or two, I prefer to reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the past year. George Santayana said that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it and while history has proven the truth of his statement, what we learn doesn't always have to be negative; we could also take our lessons from the things that went right. As 2008 joins the annals of history and 2009 is born, here's my top picks for the events with lessons learned for the year.

The Good
1. The times, they really ARE a changin'! The election of Barack Obama is proof positive that we've come a long way since the days when I remember L.A. burning.

2. I can make it through a whole year without a single surgery or hospital stay. That, in and of itself, is cause for celebration!

3. The Ibrahim girls make fantastic traveling companions. Iman, Basma, and I had a wonderful time on our summer road trip to Texas. It was also on this trip that I learned the importance of cruise control. Long story. . .

4. Randy Pausch's last lecture. Because celebrating a life and leaving a positive legacy is a lesson from which we can all benefit.

5. The difficulties that Chiari patients face made headlines with the story of the little boy who didn't sleep for four years.

The Bad
1. The Top 25 Censored Stories for 2008. Lesson to be learned: the press isn't nearly as free as we'd like to think it is!

2. It's more than the economy, stupid. The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression gained attention midway through the year. Unfortunately, this one is a lesson that still needs to be taught. I've got my fingers crossed on this one.

3. $45 billion in damage from the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. The only place in Texas that I can honestly say I enjoy is Galveston, so it was with a great deal of sadness that I watched as Hurricane Ike pummeled the island this summer. Lesson to be learned on this one? If you live anywhere near the hurricane coast, pull up stakes and come to earthquake country! It's so much safer here!

The Ugly
1. We Californians have such an unhealthy fascination with celebrities that we vote them into the State's highest office -- twice! Our esteemed Governator's lack of leadership has made a bad economic situation turn downright u-g-l-y. The Golden State will likely run out of money in February 2009, and the Governator is powerless to fix the problem. The lesson to take away from this mess is a simple one: don't spend money you don't have!

2. Bernard Madoff. Need I say more on this one?

3. My inability to sleep must surely make this list not just because it gives me such a miserable time, but because the luggage hanging around under my eyes is just downright ugly!

Off with the old, and on with the new. Happy new year, everyone!

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Twenty years ago, Ali and I joined Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and got to see, from the bottom rung of the ladder, the political machinery that runs our country when we participated in the selection of delegates to represent the Democratic party in the presidential election. It was an exciting time for both of us, albeit for very different reasons. For Ali, the 1988 election marked his entry into citizenship and the empowerment that the right to vote for the first time gives us all. For me, though, the election called to mind the more turbulent times of my childhood when young people across the country stood up to the political machinery and demanded that they, too, be counted.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Much like the election of 1960 and the Democratic Convention of 1968 must have done for those who were old enough to participate (I was not), the 1988 election cycle offered me hope for greater things. It also provided me with a greater understanding of how utterly powerful the wall of ignorance in America had remained beyond the Civil Rights Movement. I learned that although the times had changed considerably, they hadn't metamorphosed quite enough to allow a black man to realistically aspire to the highest political office in the land. But the most important lesson of 1988 for me was that hope would really die only if we allowed it to happen.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

For twenty years, I've hung onto the hope that America would change enough to build a true coalition that realistically represents what this country is all about. There have been times when I wondered if we would ever cross the bridge spanning the gap between ignorance and inclusion, but I have always held onto the hope that someday we would and that someday would happen during my lifetime. Yesterday, my hope was realized.

We've still got a way to go before we can say that we have crossed the bridge of ignorance and reached the promised land of inclusion, but at least we are on it and moving steadily forward! Bobby Kennedy said it best:

"The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather, it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason, and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American society. Our future may lie beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our own hands, matched to reason and principle, that will determine our destiny."

So to those who are unhappy with the results of the 2008 election, I reiterate

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road
Is rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

". . .the dangers incident to a representative democracy are of two kinds: danger of a low grade of intelligence in the representative body, and in the popular opinion which controls it. . ." --John Stuart Mill, On Liberty