I Believed All Your Words

Overall, season 11 of the X-Files was an unredeemable mess, but episode 9, which itself was almost unwatchable, had a brilliant gem of a scene between Mulder and Scully as they stood in a Catholic church talking about some of Dana's internal struggles. I was particularly struck by Fox's response at one point:

"I don't know if any god is listening, but I am standing right here, and I am listening, right beside you, all ears . . ." - Fox Mulder, X-Files season 11 episode 9.

Tea With Sarkozy and Lou Dobbs

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“Alongside the already heated debate over the place of Muslim, African and Asian immigrants in European societies, the debate about the Roma could call into question one of the basic tenets of the European Union: the rights of its 500 million citizens to cross internal borders.” - The New York TImes, Dispute Grows Over France’s Removal of Roma Camps

Interesting how when the Western European countries wanted to roam the world availing themselves of whatever resources or opportunities could be found, it was considered a golden age of civilization, but as the scions of empire find their way back to our door steps, sans plagues, and swords, and guns, mind you, it’s some kind of unholy invasion.

Fighting With Words

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“A profound distrust of everything that is merely verbal often causes a personal word to a brother to be suppressed. What can weak human words accomplish for others? Why add to the empty talk? Are we, like the professionally pious, to ‘talk away’ the other’s real need? Is there anything more perilous than speaking God’s Word to excess? But, on the other hand, who wants to be accountable for having been silent when he should have spoken?” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Believing profoundly in language, I find myself in strange conflict with the words funneling from my mind to my mouth, or more specifically the way those verbal impulses seem to lose value the closer they get to resolving into sound. What seems profound, or kind, or helpful as it bubbles up out of the weird grey being of mind, feels flippant, self-serving, or even hurtful as it rests on my tongue, and I can’t bring myself to foul the air with it.

Grace and kindness and love are too important to be hollowed out by practiced wit and feigned concern, or twisted by ignorance and inattentiveness. Bonhoeffer puts ‘listening’ well before ‘proclaiming’ in his list of things an individual living in community should strive to do. I think I will try to do the same.

A Cold Sunday Morning

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“(The "deal" that was ultimately rammed through was nothing more than a grubby pact between the world's biggest emitters: I'll pretend that you are doing something about climate change if you pretend that I am too. Deal? Deal.)” - Naomi Klein, For Obama, No Opportunity Too Big To Blow

And whereas the mainstream media has paid almost no attention to the one year anniversary of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead - the consequences of the invasion and the recent protests, and attempts to protest against it - thankfully Amy Goodman and Dear Noam think it’s worth continuing to pay attention to the plight of the Palestinians.

Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now!, Gaza: One Year Later

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Brown Shirts Unite!

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“Last week, a protester hanged an effigy of Representative Frank Kratovil Jr., Democrat of Maryland, at a rally opposing health care change. This week, Representative Brad Miller, Democrat of North Carolina, said he had received a death threat about his support.” - Health Debate Turns Hostile at Town Hall Meetings by Ian Urbina

Fascism, historically, is a conservative, backwards looking world view that eschews dialogue, preferring a more force oriented means to ends methodology.

As relates to the linked article this begs the question: which group is really acting like Nazis?

The Best Justice Money Can Buy

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“The Justice Department said a 1976 law on sovereign immunity protected the Saudis from liability and noted that “potentially significant foreign relations consequences” would arise if such suits were allowed to proceed.“ - Eric Lichtblau, Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists

Odd how we have this 1976 law which provides protection from legal action in the face of presentable if sometimes tenuous evidence, but there seems to have been no law against fabricating information in order to invade Iraq.

I also note the mention on yesterdays Democracy Now! that the Supreme Court has chosen not to hear Valerie Plame’s case against the Bush administration for illegally outing her as an undercover CIA agent.

I need to find out where the Texas Mafia gets those wonderful teflon suits.

More On Bair The Bear From The NY Times

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At a public meeting three weeks ago, John C. Dugan, the comptroller of the currency, blasted a proposal to impose stiff new insurance fees on banks as unfair to the largest banks, which he regulates. The financial crisis stemmed in part from problems at small banks, he insisted. Sheila C. Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the regulator for many smaller, community banks, could barely hide her contempt. The large banks, she said, had wreaked havoc on the system, only to be bailed out by “hundreds of billions, if not trillions, in government assistance.” She added, “Fairness is always an issue.”

- Stephen Labaton and Edmund L. Andrews, Regulators Feud as Banking System Overhauled