Evening open thread

All is well. My computers are both back online (even networked them myself this time). Man, I hate technology. How do people with no technical clue (i.e., mom) deal with this stuff? Read the rest of this post...

The Unique Opportunity

This disaster in South East Asia is on such a massive scale that it should be a wake up call for all of the world. We have all been bogged down psychologically in terrorism; it has taken over the world psyche. We're fighting wars in the name of terrorism. We see pictures on our television screens of bombs and bodies, children with limbs blown off, grieving mothers on both sides of conflict. Humanity ripping at itself. It has taken over how we see each other as people and created even further distance.

This crisis presents an opportunity for the world to stand up and say that this moment - this disaster of such immense proportions - it is time for us all to join and work together to show our humanity and help. Really help. It's an opportunity for leadership both from nations, but also for grassroots on an international level.

It's not all that hard to imagine actually. It's a question of what kind of view of the world we want to have.

What the UN can do -- and repair it's tarnished reputation at the same time -- is to take a true leadership role. It can get its administrative act together and ensure that all nations in the world contribute. To bring the nations of the world together to do good even in the face of all of our disagreements, would be a step in a positive direction for all of us.

The media can end the salacious coverage of bodies and corpses and start talking about what can be done. If ever there were a time for activist journalism, now is the time. The media can show us how good we can be as a people when we try. They can tell the story of the America that is kind and generous. They can show the story of the UN working effectively to solve problems, bringing warring and distant peoples together in what binds us all as humans.

What can America do? It can step up both on the federal level, with an appropriate level of financial aid, and it can step up on a grassroots level, as we've done in the past. We can send our rescue teams abroad, raise money of travel and send our police and fire units that train in rescue abroad.

The long-term benefit of this is massive. Our nation has faced our own internal disasters and the lesson is already there. In the aftermath of hurricane Andrew in 1992, it was the nation coming together that sowed this response, ten years later, in a town like Homestead Florida - a celebration of thank you:

City officials plan to observe the 10th anniversary of Andrew's rampage with a "Celebrate Our Second Wind Music and Arts Festival," with bands, a motorcycle show and the flying of 100 kites. ...

"It's not really a celebration of the hurricane, but a celebration of our progress," said city spokesman Charles LaPradd. "One of the main things is to say thank you to everybody who helped us: the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, the little fire departments from the middle of nowhere that helped us rebuild."

Imagine what the peoples of South East Asia would think of the US if it brought to bear the riches of our nation in this time of such crisis? Sent our "little fire departments" from around the country to help these nations rebuild? Not just the federal government's response, but our grassroots response as well. Show this region of the world, a hotbed and breeding ground of terrorism, the America we all know is here.

What can you do? You can turn your New Year's Celebrations into fundraisers for relief and rebuilding efforts. There are over five million people who have been left homeless by this disaster. Take this time to do something on your own level other thn just sitting by the TV and watching it all unfold.

-- Rob in Baltimore

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Bush is not a good Christian

If President Bush wants to flaunt his Christianity, invoke it to defend his policies and use it to promote legislation like the anti-gay constitutional amendment, then it's fair game for us to consider just how good a Christian President Bush really is.

The devastating Tsunami this past weekend, and Bush's reaction to it, prove beyond a doubt that this man is hardly a good Christian.

Bush's first reaction on hearing of the devastation, as leader of the free world, should have been to immediately annonce that the US was taking the lead in coordinating disaster relief. When we've already spent over $200 billion on Iraq, we shouldn't have said we were committing $15m to the relief effort, we should have announced the creation of a billion dollar global fund and called on all the nations and private citizens of the earth to come together and help finance it. He should have called on all the liberal and conservative donors to both presidential campaigns, red state and blue state, to put aside their differences and donate to this worthy cause.

But he didn't.

Bush stayed on vacation and had a deputy press secretary, not even his real press secretary, answer questions on the disaster. Not until 5 days after the disaster struck, and after news reports indicated the death toll was approaching 100,000, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, not until after the Washington Post ran a story saying that Bush was being criticized for ignoring the humanitarian crisis did Bush finally speak publicly on this matter.

I return to the issue of Bush's Christianity. A good Christian would be mortified by the death and destruction in the East. Occuring just a day, ONE DAY, after Christmas, his heart would go out to the millions of lives affected by this tragedy. He'd demand his aides come up with an immediate Marshall Plan for helping Asia. He'd go on TV immediately to convey his condolences - not simply because it's the right thing to do, but also because we're dealing with a region of the world where such ceremony and attention to such public statements are given great weight. He'd do it not only because it's the right thing to do, but because the disaster has struck a region of the world with the largest Muslim population on the planet. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the WORLD. They have been the worst hit by this disaster.

Imagine the political and public relations impact of the United States coming to the rescue of the world's Muslims during our own high holiday.

Alas, it never happened.

It never happened because it's something a good Christian would do. It's something a good church, a good faith, would do. It's something that any decent human being, let alone a decent person of faith, would do. But it's not something that George Bush did, and it's not something that the religious right in America did. You didn't hear Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell organizing any telethons to help the dead and dying. You didn't hear the religious right demanding the White House get more involved to help the devastated. No. Hurricane Gay is a call to arms for the religious right and this president, but Tsunamis in Asia killing over 100,000 people? Not so much.

George Bush is a bad Christian and a bad president. And the religious right and their pseudo faith in God is right there along side him. One wonders if the reaction would have been different had the victims been European and Christian.

And white. Read the rest of this post...

Late morning thread

Still working on the 'puter - post any interesting article you think I should link to. Read the rest of this post...

Now the republicans want a "revote" in Washington state governor's race

Yeah, well, if "revotes" were the order of the day Al Gore would be president. So go Cheney yourself. Read the rest of this post...