I hear you; I just haven’t heard enough

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Farheen Hakeem, 30, the Green Party candidate for mayor of Minneapolis, pointed out the large number of children at the rally who attend Twin Cities-area schools and said, “We are as much a part of society here as anywhere else in the world. We demand to be heard.”

That was from one of the speakers at Sunday’s peaceful (and isn’t that front page news) Muslim rally in Minneapolis to protest the publication of caricatures of the prophet Mohammed. To their credit, many of those in attendance called for people of different faiths to live in peace, which might be construed as an apparent but gentle rebuke of the more violent Muslims who seem to have no quibble with the caricature they’re making of their “religion of peace”.

For Imani Jaafar-Mohammed, the sight of more than 1,000 Minnesota Muslims packed into a south Minneapolis gym Sunday for a noisy, emotional rally was exhilarating.

“We are living here among people who don’t know anything about us, and we have come together to educate them peacefully,” the 26-year-old activist and Woodbury attorney told the crowd, which erupted into passionate, in some quarters tearful, chants of “Peace! No more violence!” and “Allah-u-Akbar!” (God is great!)

OK, you’ve got my attention, educate me. In particular, tell me what your faith teaches about the character of God and whether grace, mercy and forgiveness are Godly traits mankind is supposed to emulate. Tell me if you believe it is easy to love those who love you, but more sacred to love your enemies or those who persecute you. And while you’re at it, answer these questions for me:

  1. What do you really think of the efforts this country and other western countries made on behalf of your Muslim brothers in Bosnia?

  2. If insulting God is a capital offense, why does God need men to carry it out?

  3. If this behavior is required by your religion, why do your brothers kill people who had nothing to do with that insult, in a part of the world that had no connection to the affront?

  4. Do you condemn or condone this behavior?

  5. Why do you rally now to protest those cartoons, but not earlier to protest the things done in the name of your faith?

Lest this be a one-sided conversation, permit me to offer some information that you might not know. For example, one of the speakers at the protest, Hassan Mohamud, an imam and director of the Islamic Law Institute at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, had this to say:

“We want to show solidarity with every Muslim feeling pain,” Mohamud told the crowd. “We want the U.S. government to take a position on this matter.”

You see, the U.S. government already has taken a position on this matter, more than 200 years ago when our Constitution was written. It’s the reason why you were able to hold your protest last Sunday with the expectation that the police not only wouldn’t attack you, but that they’d protect you. One last question: could I expect the same respect in downtown Teheran, or Riyadh, or in Nigeria?

Don’t you dare question their patriotism, unless…

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Readers outside of Minnesota might not be aware that this state is the first place where a group called Midwestern Heroes is running a series of ads featuring Iraq war veterans and families of soldiers killed in Iraq. The vets and families speak out in favor of America’s involvement and positive accomplishments in Iraq in an effort to counter the typical reporting and commentary on most MSM outlets.

The local Democratic party is reacting as predictably as Islamists to the publishing of cartoon Mohammeds – and using the same tactics, demanding that the ads not be shown and urging the faithful (the Party faithful, that is) to protest. (The ads can be viewed here.) As succinctly reported on Powerline:

Brian Melendez is the chairman of the Minnesota Democratic Party. This past Thursday Melendez called a press conference and condemned the first of the two advertisements — the one featuring the veterans — as “un-American, untruthful and a lie.”

That ad features Lt. Col. Bob Stephenson, who is the co-chair of Minnesota Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission. This is a man, Powerline notes, who has 10 years of active duty experience and is being called “un-American” for publicly supporting the U.S.’s foreign policy.

Apparently, daring to question someone’s patriotism is okay after all as long as that person (or persons) disagrees with you. (This will be a great relief to Jeff, who also has this post detailing the advertising controversy and the parties involved.)

Gemini rising

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The Minnesota Twins, like their spiritual counterparts Faith and Hope, opened training camp today as pitchers and catchers reported. Of course it is all just so much wasted effort according to the team’s own Cassandra, Strib columnist Patrick Ruesse, has read the augers and pronounced doom for the lads this season.

This is not unusual for Reusse except that the prophecy comes so early. Usually his storm crow warnings don’t begin until around Memorial Day and then hit full-caw around the All-Star break. It seems that the earlier he can make his pronouncement, though, the better he likes it. Last year there was a note of pent-up triumph in his mid-summer requiem, stemming from his failed predictions of the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Fortune-telling is a difficult business, however, and typically an unwelcome one so I won’t heap further coals on Patrick’s head, especially since he typically produces a good column as often as Nick Coleman produces a bad one.

There is something about baseball however that often leads writers toward the mystical. It’s a game of innumerable numbers that somehow still defies statistical prediction, opening the door to divination and talk of curses, hexes and can’t miss phenoms. The facts, however, do appear grim for the Twins at this stage.

Their division has gotten better, at least on paper (but we know what happens when that paper gets wet with tears). They had definite, well-known needs coming out of last season and seemingly little to show for the off-season machinations. Where is the power-hitter the team has needed since Kent Hrbek traded his cleats for bowling shoes and fly balls for fly rods? Where is the reliable, cool-headed hand for the hot corner who can both make plays at third and get runners home from there as well? How can the offense strike fear in the hearts of pitchers not already on its own team?

Ah, but faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (see Hebrews 11:1), and we’re certainly hoping for a lot and seeing little at this stage so maybe that’s a good sign. Rondell White should replaced Jacque Jones’ numbers for less than half the price and may act as if he’s actually seen a strike zone and not just heard about it. Tony Batista might have the range of a fireplug at third base, but the durability of one as well – something missing from Corey Koskie’s resume. A Kyle Lohse for Hank Blaylock trade was very intriguing to me, but Lohse, for all his maddening inconsistency, is still young and has both experience and upside. With this presumably being Radke’s last year the Twins had to think long and hard about parting with such a commodity even with guys like Scott Baker and Francisco Liriano breathing fire and throwing smoke in the wings.

As others have said, the key to the Twins improvement this year will be the improvement of it’s existing young core. Guys like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Jason Bartlett have to improve but part of baseball’s allure for me is that it is a game where you can see steady improvement. This might be the year that power springs from Mauer’s bat the way it suddenly burst from Kirby Puckett’s after his first couple of slap-hitting years. As for Morneau, baseball has definitely become a year-round game and a healthy and active off-season should serve him better than his ill-fated and illness-plagued 05 off-season. Bartlett is still an unknown quantity but he reminds me a little of the way Greg Gagne played when he got his first opportunities with the team and perhaps he’ll emerge as a confident and capable player. Jason Kubel is intriguing but I don’t expect much from him this year. He may have recovered from the knee surgery but he can’t get back the at-bats he missed last year and with few exceptions you have to have hundreds of these to become a factor.

But, as the poem says, “somewhere the sun is shining…” and right now that is Florida. Baseball season is coming, and I can’t wait.

Challenging Word of the Week: petard

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Petard

(pi TARD) n.



A petard was a heavy explosive engine of war, filled with gunpowder and fastened to gates to blow them in or to walls, barricades, etc., to smash them and form a breach. The soldier whose job it was to fire the device was always in danger of blowing himself up as well, in which case he would wind up hoist with his own petard. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Act III, scene 4) the prince says to the queen:



…’tis the sport to have the engineer

Hoist with his own petar…

But I will delve one yard below their mines,

And blow them at the moon.



(Shakespeare spelt it petar, possibly influenced by the French pronunciation of petard in which the -d is silent.) Hamlet was speaking of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, commissioned by King Claudius to escort him to England and see to his death; but as the play develops, it is they who will be done in, and thus hoist with their own petard. To be thus hoist is to be caught in the trap laid for someone else. This was indeed the fate of certain inventors of torture devices and dreadful places of imprisonment, like the Bastille built by Hugh Aubriot, Provost of Paris c. 1360, where he was the first to be imprisoned. In the Book of Esther 7:9 Haman was hanged on the high gallow he had devised for the hanging of Mordecai, and the witch-hunter Matthew Hopkins, tried for witchcraft under the rules he had set up, was himself executed as a wizard in 1647. Petard has an amusing derivation: via Middle French petard, related to peter (to fart), from the Latin peditum (breaking wind), neuter form of peditus, past participle of pedere (to fart). In this age of jet propulsion, doesn’t that derivation give hoist with one’s own petard a new twist?



From the book, “1000 Most Challenging Words” by Norman W. Schur, ©1987 by the Ballantine Reference Library, Random House.



My example: The Democrats may have been hoist with their own petard in 2004 when they turned the Wellstone funeral into a campaign rally.



I post a weekly “Challenging Words” definition to call more attention to this delightful book and to promote interesting word usage in the blogosphere. I challenge other bloggers to work the current word into a post sometime in the coming week. If you manage to do so, please leave a comment or a link to where I can find it.

I’m Only Working Here ’til I Get Discovered

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I work at a store that sells formal dresses; and yes, it is located in a mall. While working Saturday, I had my .15 sec brush with fame.



A TV network began filming this show called “Instant Beauty Pageant” today. The idea was that a camera crew would go around the mall and ambush people to be in this pageant, give them money and send them to certain stores in search of a dress, swimsuit, whatever. They would only have two and a half hours to find everything, and the actual pageant would be the next day.



All the girls I work with and I knew that this was going to take place, and we thought we we’re ready. We weren’t.



I was straightening dresses, and I turned around and BOOM! there they were. A couple of girls and a camera crew (like, three cameras) were invading my space. Being camera-shy, I retreated to a corner of the store I reckoned they wouldn’t really be interested in, but nooOOoo, they came right at me with all the cameras pointed at my face, which I’m sure looked exactly like a deer’s, caught in the headlights.



After they left (just as quickly as they came, actually), we all took a deep breath and tried to calm ourselves. I told them that we were going to be discovered, and that they would want me to be in a horror movie for them, because I’m so good at facial expressions. Scary Movie: DiVa, anyone?


Timothy, Mary Jane’s cousin

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Any day now a 45-pound bale of a green, grassy substance known to produce a sense of euphoria and a case of the munchies will show up at my doorstep. People in brown or blue uniforms will have been paid off. No, my connection isn’t named Raoul (as far as I know) and the transaction won’t involve a shoebox full of five and ten dollar bills. It’s all been handled online and funds transferred via PayPal.

And it’s all because my wife likes sticking it to “The Man.”

The bale in question consists of timothy hay, and we’re getting it because our guinea pig has a hay habit that makes Cheech and Chong look like a Red Hat Society bridge club. My frugal wife, the Reverend Mother, is also known as the Finance Minister and is our chief procurement agent (that’s because one of my titles is Minister of Fritter and Waste). It bugged her to make repeated trips to PetSmart or Petco to buy, well, grass. Especially when she figured out it was costing about $2.50 a pound. OK, that’s not much I suppose as pet fodder goes, but it just seemed to her that there couldn’t be that much value added to preparing it for resale.

Sure enough, a little poking around on-line and she had a source ready to cut, bale and deliver for just under a buck a pound. You really can get just about anything on the Internet!

Now it’s just left to me to imagine the neighbor’s reaction when they see this green bale left on our doorstep, or what her new friends on the city police force might say.

Do you think they’ll believe us if we say it’s for personal use?

Update:

I received a telephone call from a mysterious reader to this blog Sunday night. The caller said, “Hey, man, I’ve got the stuff.”

My response: “Dave’s not here.”

Friday Fundamentals in Film: Conagher

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This week’s movie is Conagher. If you’re looking for a film to demonstrate certain manly virtues it’s hard to go wrong with a movie based on a Louis L’Amour book and starring the laconic Sam Elliott. Elliott plays Conn Conagher, a seasoned cowhand with the highest personal integrity; not looking for trouble, willing to avoid it if he can, but able to deal with it efficiently if the need be. The role could have easily been a caricature but in Elliott’s hands (and face) it comes off as note perfect. In fact, the acting throughout the film, originally made for TNT, is first rate: Kathryn Ross (not afraid to show some lines in her face) and veteran character actor Barry Corbin are excellent and there’s even a small but significant appearance by Festus himself, Ken Curtis. Shot on location in Colorado, the scenery is spectacular and even the minor characters look as if they’ve just stepped from a Frederic Remington or Charles Russell painting.

The action revolves around one man, Conagher, making a stand for doing what’s right in a wide open land with little “controlling legal authority” where many are looking to take advantage of others any way they can. There’s also a strong but largely unspoken love story woven throughout that is heightened by the sense of loneliness and isolation that is well illustrated by the cinematography. For all of Conagher’s rawboned toughness, he’s also consciously well-mannered and respectful around the widow Evie Teale and her children. His silences and discomfort are not because of boorishness or a lack of confidence, but because he knows himself so well and doesn’t think he’d be good for her. As he asks Charlie McCloud (another interesting character study) at one point, “What have I got to offer a woman like that?” To which McCloud replies, “Why don’t you let her answer that question?”

As I mentioned earlier, Conagher doesn’t go looking for trouble with other folks, but just by the way he goes about doing his business he convicts others of their shortcomings and causes them to feel as if they need to prove themselves – for good or ill – as a result. Conflict and teachable moments abound throughout the movie as a result without bogging down into preachy dialogue. You can watch it with the whole family and everyone will enjoy the story and get something different out of it.

Here are some questions I’d ask a viewer:

  1. What did it mean to Conagher to “Ride for the brand”?

  2. What does it mean to have integrity in a world with little in the way of effective law enforcement?

  3. Chris Mahler, Kiowa Staples and Smoke Parnell were members of the Ladder 5 gang that Conagher was resisting. Aside from the conflict over the cattle-rustling, however, each man was challenged in some way by Conager’s personal character. Can you describe what it was that bothered Phillips and Mahler the most, and the way Parnell regarded Conagher?

  4. Describe Evie Teale’s character. Do you think it makes a difference in the story that the children are her step-children?

  5. Describe what kind of men Charlie McCloud and Seaborn Tay are.

Points to Ponder:

  • Independence is apparently understood and highly valued in the part of the country where the story takes place. Why do you think that is, and how is this expressed by the different characters?

  • Johnny McGivern’s father died when he was very young. How would you describe his personality and how these factors influenced his decisions? Do you think Laban might have turned out to be like him as well? Why or why not?

Great Quotes:
Laban: “Who gave you the black eye?”
Conn: “Nobody gave it to me. I fought for it.”

Tile Coker (under Conn’s gun): “East? But that’s a 50 mile walk!”
Conn: “That’s the life of an outlaw. Tough, ain’t it?”

Cut the cake

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Today is the one-year blogiversary of The Night Writer and I find myself amazed. Considering that I didn’t have more than a general idea of what I was going to write about when I started or even more than one or two ideas on Day 1, I’m amazed that I’ve made it this far, amazed that it went by so fast, amazed by the number of new people I’ve met electronically and in person in this time, amazed that there have been 398 posts (counting this one) and amazed that according to Site Meter there have been more than 17,000 visitors to this page. That’s a slow week for Mitch Berg (and now JB Doubtless will probably slam me for mentioning traffic – see #55) but I have to admit that it’s something I pay attention to.

I know a lot of bloggers say that they blog for their own satisfaction, and that’s a big part of it for me as well – if it wasn’t amusing me I wouldn’t do this. But I’ll tell you, if I did this just for my own entertainment there would not have been anywhere near 400 posts here. The thought that someone might read your blog can be enough to get you started; knowing that people are reading it can be powerfully motivating and I’ve tried to put something of interest here every weekday (and there are good days and bad days). I’ve said before that since I can’t sing or play an instrument this blog is my garage band; my chance to jam and vent my muse. Thanks for being there.

My first post compared having a blog to having a CB radio. I started about the time that Eason-gate was reaching its peak, and I later got my first mini-lanche in writing about Terri Schiavo. I’ve written about trips I’ve taken, things my family has experienced (pretty interesting times for us when I stop to think about it), wild animals in my home, wild senators on television and Vikings sex cruises — and enjoyed cruising through the MOB and the other blogs to see what others are writing about. Thinking about it now, I have no idea how many words I’ve written in the past year. I wonder if I had spent the same amount of time and effort each evening in writing a book if it would be finished by now. It’s doubtful because without this blogging experience over the last 365 days I never would have thought I’d have the gumption to come this far. Someday perhaps I’ll turn my time and attention to a book and let this lapse, but for now I feel as if I’m in a good vein and I’m going to mine it a bit longer.

One thing I know for sure is that if I hadn’t met so many wonderful people through their blogs and the trips to Keegan’s I wouldn’t have made it to this anniversary. It’s fitting that today is also a Trivia Night so I’ll be heading over there for sure. Leo, my first blogging buddy, is going to be in town from St. Cloud and I don’t want to miss him or any of the other regulars (and irregulars). I instituted a new rule for my blogging daughters (something else I didn’t expect when I started this): no Keegan’s for them unless they’ve posted something that week. This must be pretty motivating because they both “got ‘er done” before this week was two days old.

Well, another day and another post done. Now, what the heck am I going to write about tomorrow?

Update:

Shucks. Doug noticed it was my blogiversary even before I mentioned it. He’s got a sharp eye and, according to my Powerblogs statistics, more people have come to this blog from his than any other external referrer. An extra big slice of blogiversary cake for him!

Update:

Pssst! It’s Leo’s blogoversary on Sunday!

Bad news for the Reverend Mother: global cooling on the way

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I don’t think there’s a bigger freeze baby in the state than my wife. Flannel-lined pants, three or four layers of shirts and sweaters and afghans strategically placed around the house are standard for her between Labor Day and Memorial Day. During this time she’s likely to say that my best feature is the BTUs I put out. This report suggests that our retirement years might be golden but cold.

Scientist predicts ‘mini Ice Age’

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Feb. 7 (UPI) — A Russian astronomer has predicted that Earth will experience a “mini Ice Age” in the middle of this century, caused by low solar activity.

Khabibullo Abdusamatov of the Pulkovo Astronomic Observatory in St. Petersburg said Monday that temperatures will begin falling six or seven years from now, when global warming caused by increased solar activity in the 20th century reaches its peak, RIA Novosti reported.

The coldest period will occur 15 to 20 years after a major solar output decline between 2035 and 2045, Abdusamatov said.

Dramatic changes in the earth’s surface temperatures are an ordinary phenomenon, not an anomaly, he said, and result from variations in the sun’s energy output and ultraviolet radiation.

The Northern Hemisphere’s most recent cool-down period occurred between 1645 and 1705. The resulting period, known as the Little Ice Age, left canals in the Netherlands frozen solid and forced people in Greenland to abandon their houses to glaciers, the scientist said.

Man, I hope this won’t interfere with my golf game.

The Valentine’s Day Blog

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’ve always liked Valentine’s Day.

In school (when I actually went to school) we would always have what we called “Love Week”. Each day would have a different theme, e.g. Dress-up Day, 70s Day, Western Day, Clash Day. There would be a contest for the best costume, and I (Me! The Mall Diva!) actually won clash day one year.

You can keep your snide comments to yourselves.

During the week sometime, we would take a field trip to the bowling alley and spend the afternoon there in our crazy get-ups, which got us some strange looks.

Today, my girl-friends and I went bowling to keep the old tradition alive. It was pretty fun, and apparently it’s pretty amusing to watch me bowl, according to my cousin. Pssh. What-ever.

Anyway, I betcha can’t guess who my Valentine is.

Random Thought of the Week:

Lucky Charms-“They’re Magically Delicious!”

Hmmmm….

Because they’re not delicious on their own, so they have to be magically enhanced? They also cause thieving behavior in small children, just ask Lucky.