Karzai - Thumbs Up On Women's Rights

Hammid Karzai said today that this roomer that has been going around about a deal between the Obama administration and the Talliban to make peace at the price of denying women their hard earned rights- - is nonsense. Karzai says he was shocked at the recent stonings of women, and I believe him. Karzai appears to want to Westernize his country in a more progressive direction. He does however want these private “security contractors” out of his country by the end of the year. Apparently this “phase out” will actually be taking place. He says that these outfits in the name of some vigilante pursuit of justice and “routing out corruption” in his government has arrested people in the dead of night and sought to ship them off somewhere like Russia used to do. He personally intervened in a case involving one of his close aids. To me he seems like a reasonable man. The issue was raised whether members of these “security” groups might join the Talliban is they were forced to disband and Karzai said that made absolutely no sense. He said something about “If they’re that messed up they shouldn’t have been working for the United States”. ABC news wants us to know however that US troops are personable and recognize you by face, and they know the good guys from the bad guys. At least that’s what they would dearly like you to believe.

The credit card provisions of last years bill went into effect today bringing welcome changes for customers. If they raise your rates they have to give you notice, and they have to reconsider the move if it’s seen as no longer necessary after six months. Your penalty cannot exceed the infraction. So if your infraction is two dollars they can’t charge you $35.00 but a maximum of two dollars. Apparently certain penalties are limited to $35.00. They can’t charge you multiple penalties for the same infraction any more. Of course many synics out there out there will note that there is nothing in this legislation which prevents credit card companies from conjuring altogether new charges to lay on you. Some libertarians might say that it’s a communist conspiracy to even step in and regulate credit card companies at all. They would say “If you don’t like the service of one bank, then go to another”. Actually it is hard to argue with this logic. Loose credit is what caused all our economic problems to begin with and a “slap down” by the bank may cramp your style, but may in the end force you to be more careful.

Last night I reread those two articles in Astronomy Café. One was on those fourteen Grim Facts about the Universe. First and foremost, even empty space is not empty. Other statements are made such as the brain controls the “energy environment” of matter. They say three percent of your body is made up of quarks, which is a lot more than I figured. The rest of it is pure energy. So let me get this straight - - 97% of the weight of your body is comprised by energy. They said if you had enough brain power you would meld yourself into a wall because “there is no scientific reason why that should not be possible. Perhaps you can lead me to Wayne Dyer’s padded cell. But also the statement amazed me that “If there were no gravitational fields, there would be no time”. Obviously people in weightless environments don’t suspend people in time so I’m puzzled. Another thing was suggestive of something I had already put in a blog. They said that gravitational fields can ONLY be properly described in four dimensions and not three. As you know I introduced the concept of “deep time” and “shallow time”. We also seem to have the possibility based on that Excel formula that these newtron star gravity wells can emcompass time going back hundreds of billions of years. You may say to me, “but the Universe is not that old”. Thus we have the concept originally aired by Gene Scott that “the past” is something that can be “created” after the fact.

Time Magazine has that stars and stripes in the shape of an Islamic crescent, and the heading was Islama-phobia. But we have worse than a phobia, what we have in this country is outright bigotry and hatred, of a type that would not be acceptable against any other group, not Latinos, not Blacks and not even gays. This whole thing with the community center is such a petty complaint to provide a rationalization for this hatred of an entire religion with 1.3 Billion followers world wide. George Bush himself espressly said we were not at war with the Islamic community. But today's Republican main stream is way to the right of George Bush. I had ABC’s “This Week” on and it consisted of two lengthly segments. One was a Jewish woman as one guest, and also the wife of that Sufi Islamic leader who wants to build the community center. This center will have things ranging from classes to swimming lessons to bereavement meetings. Actually it's kind of an Islamic version of the Y M C A. I went to Y M C A camp as a kid and I was never indoctrinated. There was some American history about the British banning Synagogue construction here. As to the remark about the US being an “accessory” to the crime of 9-11, he was referring to the long term CIA support of the Talliban in the 1980’s. I hope Newt and the gang figured that one out. People twist words so readily today and they don't listen to things in context. Yes, the CIA really was funding the Talliban. Don't you believe that ever happened? It did. Also it should be pointed out that the Koran is not Sheria law. From what I have heard lately, Sheria law is not consistent but varies from country to country. So it's rather silly to talk about Churches having Koran burning parties on 9 - 11. When you burn another religion's Holy book, what do you call it if not hatred?

Here is something to think about. They say in the Psalms that “If I make my bed in the grave- - Thou art there”. If so it means that the vision of Hell as “total separation from God” can’t be true. But some would say “We know God is everywhere but what you lose forever is your awareness of God’s presence”. OK right there I have you because I have wearied myself looking for some clear “evidence” of God’s actions in my life and haven’t come up with anything. And ponder this- - people might point to something like my living here and being on welfare as “God’s provisions”. I have just one thing in response to say to that. Any positive act of God has brought to pass has to pass the “is it something I could brag about to other Christians” test. Capish?

Of course we still have the same stories ad nausium in the news. It’s been all bad eggs and bed bugs- - and now they aren’t limited to a few states, they’ve gone international. They replayed the same article from NBC Nightly news the next morning on the Today show. We should be thankful, we’re told that there are no serious diseases associated with them. I watched the Mc Laughlin report. Today Pat Buchannon was back, bellering about the Mosque at ground zero. He played the lone wolf today with nobody to back his strident opinion. Monica was absent and some liberal Oriental looking guy was in her place. At seven it was “Malcolm in the Middle”. Then I switched to the end of that Auto Race on ABC. No I don’t remember who won. After this it was aimless dial twirling the rest of the night not watching one station that long. And it wasn’t that long because there was nothing on and I remember making preparations for bed at five to nine. Fortunately the nights continue to cool off nicely. Of course they’re saying this heat wave will intensify as the week progresses.

In the morning I had the Today show on. They were discussing vegetable juice “cleanses” to rid the body of toxins. They say “they don’t have enough calories - - and they lack protein to sustain any regular diet”. After this they had what white wine to drink depending on how hot the thermometer read, becoming lighter and lighter. That’s another way to “cleanse” your body. We had Rice Krispies for breakfast and a fried egg that was well cooked (good health move) and toast with butter and jelly. I had Brenda’s orange juice, and Laurie had Andrew’s, though later he showed up. I watched the 2^nd half of Chris Matthews and “Meet the Press”. You know if these talking heads want to do something we’d all love, they’d have six months of reporter’s predictions made at the end of these shows, so we can see who’s right and who screwed up badly. John Mc Laughlin says his prediction was that “in the end Rod Blagoiavitch walks”.