THE SUPREME COURT

Justice John Paul Stevens announced last Friday that he will be retiring from the U.S. Supreme Court at the end of the current term. His announcement presents President Obama with his second opportunity to nominate a new Justice -- his first was Sonia Sotomayor.

The President already has a short list of ten possible nominees. Two seemingly opposing forces will guide his selection -- the need to appoint someone who is moderate enough to gain approval in the no-longer-filibuster-proof Senate, against the need to appoint somone who is liberal enough to create at least the beginnings of ideological balance in a Court which is ideally impartial, but which is currently so packed with conservative justices that it has shifted to a reactionary stance which pays too little attention to the Constitution and the precedent of law.

It is a Gordian knot. Obama is both an idealist and a pragmatist. I've not agreed with all his decisions thus far in his presidency, but he's still the most intelligent and thoughtful leader to occupy the office in decades. Since his appointee, if approved, will serve an indefinite term, one can only hope for an experienced jurist, deeply schooled in the Constitution, eloquent in his/her opinions, and unafraid to buck the tide of the conservative majority.

Weighing in on the debate, here are a few letters to the NYTimes. I found the first two to be particularly evocative.

REVELATIONS BY A CATHOLIC WOMAN

In her NYTimes column, Maureen Dowd arrives at a moment of catharsis -- noting the striking similarities between two religions in which "women are subordinated; the ruling authority is an inbred and wealthy men's club cloistered behind walls and disdaining modernity; the autocratic authority of the church ignores the progress of women in the secular world; and men in dresses allow their religious kingdom to decay and cling to outdated misogynistic rituals, blind to the benefits of welcoming women's brains, talents and hearts into their ancient fraternity."

The two religions on question? Catholic Christianity and Islam. (Note the similarities of dress in both images, emphasizing uniformity and concealment of the woman as though she were visually offensive.) Both Catholics and Muslims have allowed the original teachings of their respective prophets, Jesus and Mohammed, to be perverted by fundamentalist men straight out of the Dark Ages. Negating women, Dowd says, is at the heart of both churches' hideous -- and criminal -- indiference to the welfare of boys and girls in its care. Catholics struggle with (among other scandals) the sexual violation of boys by priests, hidden by (therefore sanctioned by) the church. Muslims struggle with the twisted transformation of boys into warrior/martyrs, suicidal soldiers of jihad.

Many years ago I came to the conclusion that such excesses are only part of the long list of examples of intellectual and moral bankruptcy perpetuated by organized religion. I realized that nearly every advance in our knowledge of ourselves, the world we inhabit, and the universe has been systematically resisted by religion. Church leaders often take centuries to admit they may have been wrong in their beliefs -- e.g. believing that the earth is the center around which all the planets and stars revolve; that all matter and life was miraculously created 6000 years ago by a purportedly omniscient, omnipotent supernatural being; that the scientific explanations posed by physics, evolutionary biology and paleontology were only acceptable if viewed through the lens of church orthodoxy; et al.

Further, I reflected that there are thousands of religions, each claiming to be the correct interpretation of the world. How could they all be right? And if one is wrong, might not they all be wrong? Unlike science, in which every hypothesis must be testable, verifiable, and most importantly falsifiable, religion lamely falls back on a leap of faith. You believe, or you don't, regardless of the evidence, or lack of evidence.

I'm more inclined toward the principle of parsimony -- the simplest explanation (supported by evidence) is likely to be the correct one. Increasingly, as our understanding of ourselves and the world grows, there is less and less need for the irrelevance of superstition/religion. The positive aspects of religious faith -- a sense of community, doing good works, attaining internal peace -- can all be achieved without a religious framework. Parsimony.

Like any human institution, religion is prone to corruption, greed, scandal. Dustin Hoffman's character in the film Straw Dogs notes that more wars have been fought and more lives ruined in the name of religion than by any other cause. Religion is exclusionary (we vs. them) rather than inclusive. Religion sees the world in stark, black and white terms, with little room for the subtlety or nuance or ambiguity which embody human reality.

With regard to the current scandal in the Catholic church, another film, Sleepers, brings home in stark and horrifying images the degradation of innocent human beings by adults. Although the abuse is not in a Catholic setting, the commonality of theme is unquestionable.

So Maureen Dowd's moment of illumination is a good start. But only a start. Women and men of the world, greet each other as equals -- we need the insights and talents and strengths of all the human species, not just half of it.

THE BLACKFOOT NATION

I grew up in northern Montana, at the verge between prairie, mountains and sky. During my formative years we moved a number of times from farm to farm within Pondera County (pronounced pond-uh-RAY, a word derived from the French name for the Pend'Oreille Indians), before settling in the county seat, Conrad. With the Rocky Mountains marching down the western horizon and the vast dome of the Big Sky spreading over the northern Great Plains, I was surrounded by sprawling vistas of earth and sky.

I made many camping trips into the mountains with my family and with the Boy Scouts, most memorably in Glacier National Park. To reach the park's eastern entrance meant traversing the Blackfoot Indian Reservation (see map above -- click on any image to enlarge). One of many nomadic hunter-gatherer plains tribes, the Blackfoot were famous among whites and other tribes as having been fierce fighters and skillful hunters. Our visits often took us through the tribal seat at Browning, where I spent many hours exploring the Museum of the Plains Indians. The dioramas of pre-reservation life and the displays of Blackfoot culture and crafts were a window onto anothr time, another place -- details never mentioned in history books. Those visits were the beginning of my lifelong interest in native cultures all across the continent.

There are any number of informative books, both fiction and non-fiction, describing the Indian nations of the American West, and the ruthless manner in which white invaders conquered the tribes, stole their land, and robbed them of their ancestral way of life, their dignity, even their languages. Increasingly, the authors are themselves Indians -- Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d'Alene), Dennis Banks (Ojibwe), Russell Means (Lakota), Vine Deloria Jr. (Nakota), James Welch (Blackfoot), and Woody Kipp ( Blackfoot, seen in bottom image), to name a few. Even though Native Americans are by far the most neglected and abused minority in this country, more so than blacks and Latinos, there remains a strong spirit of native pride.

Yesterday I discovered a website devoted to Native culture and news -- nativeradio.com. It is a well-crafted portal to other Indian websites, music, news, and other links.

Here is a more thorough description of Blackfoot history, culture and modern life.

WE ARE ALL IMMIGRANTS

Yesterday I watched Martin Scorsese's brilliant historical drama Gangs of New York, in which rival factions of Irish immigrants battled for ascendancy against the backdrop of the American Civil War, the political corruption of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall, and the New York City Draft Riots of 1863. I was struck by the irony of the self-styled "natives" (Irish born in this country, whose parents or grandparents had been immigrants) considered themselves to be true Americans, while newer arrivals from Ireland were viewed as invaders.

We've seen this exclusionary attitude over and over in our history. Those already living here have looked down their noses at succeeding waves of newcomers from Germany, Poland, Italy, China, Vietnam. We see it currently with regard to the influx of documented and undocumented workers from Mexico and Latin America. Such is the ugly resentment, especially along the US-Mexican border, that armed bands of thugs calling themselves "militia" patrol the area, with the tacit approval of the US Border Patrol.

I lived for twenty years in southern Arizona, four of those years as caretaker of a nature preserve sixteen miles north of the border. I savored the blend and contrast of cultures, enjoyed hearing Spanish along with English being spoken, and was graced by being accepted into relationships with several Latina women, as well as those from other cultures. My life has been blessed by deep and abiding friendships with Latinos, blacks, Asians, and whites all over this nation.

All of which leaves me dumbstruck at the complete idiocy of xenophobia to which Americans are prone. It seems that nearly everyone regards at least one cultural group as Other. News flash -- we are ALL Other. Every single one of us is descended from ancestors who were immigrants to North America -- some by choice, some by force. Even tribes of Native Americans are new immigrants, having migrated across the Bering Strait from Asia a mere 13,000-15,000 years ago (depending on which paleontologist or anthropologist you listen to). The white European concept of America grew to its present state through greed, broken treaties, duplicity, and military conquest.

This morning's NYTimes featured an article describing two recent Supreme Court decisions affecting both migrant and legal resident workers from Mexico. Coupled with having seen the film yesterday, the article brought home with doubled force the destructive and hypocritical thinking behind our suspicion toward immigrants. I wonder: whatever happened to the tolerant and welcoming sentiment expressed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty? For the benefit of those who've forgotten, or who've never read the words, here they are (bold text mine) --

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

with conquering limbs astride from land to land;

here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.

I life my lamp beside the golden door."

COOL STUFF ONLINE

Just for fun, here is a random sampling of useful or whimsical information.

10 simple Google search tricks

iPad reviews from blogs

China's Internet censorship backfires (as all censorship should)

the pros and cons of induction cooking

Confederate history month

and this from the inestimable xkcd.com --

COLLATERAL MURDER

Tipped off by the release of classified documents and video from Wikileaks (a.k.a. The Sunshine Press, a nonprofit organization funded by human rights campaigners, investigative journalists, technologists and the public), the mass media have siezed upon the killing of innocent civilians by two US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters in Bagdad, Iraq, on July 12, 2007. A short version and the full version of the video may be viewed at CollateralMurcer.com, a Wikileaks special projects website.

The incident raised several significant questions. Why has the US Army kept this massacre hidden from public srutiny for nearly three years, and only after its unauthorized release, labeled it as "collateral damage" (translation: coverup)? Its own video clearly shows that the helicopters were not under attack or even threat of attack -- the pilots, commanders and gunners blantantly violated the rules of engagement by taking a group of non-military, non-militia civilians under fire. It happened that among the twelve people killed on the ground were two journalists from the Reuters news service, carrying cameras, not guns. (click on images to enlarge)

In both civilian and military affairs, whistleblowers play a key role in keeping those in power honest. Witness Daniel Ellsberg's release of the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War, exposing the secret expansion of carpet bombing of Cambodia and Laos, coastal raids on North Vietnam, and Marine Corps attacks. Such is their value to the public good that whistleblower laws now protect those who expose corporate fraud and corruption from retaliation by their former bosses.

In the current instance, why did it take a whistleblower organization like Wikileaks to bring what truly amounts to premeditated murder by military personnel (approved by their commanders) to public attention? The obvious urge toward self-preservation by those involved aside, in my mind there is a more powerful, less obvious undercurrent -- absent or inadequate training and preparation of ALL military personnel regarding the psychological stresses of war, and the temptation to regard any human being in view as the enemy. The chopper crews in the 2007 incident, like most air and ground forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, were (and continue to be) under intense stress after days of coming under fire from the ground. Fear and frustration naturally build until (in the absence of training and firm leadership) those feelings boil over into unrestrained violence. These killings are nothing more or less than a miniature version of the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam. Only this time there was no Hugh Thompson to intervene and stop the carnage.

Our military, like our police, are called upon to risk their lives to protect not only citizens, but also the best values inherent in a democracy. With proper training in the psychology of conflict, they are mentally prepared to deal with taunting, threats or actual attack with restraint, resorting to force only as a last resort. In my eyes, that training is sorely lacking among the military forces deployed in the Middle East. Only the personal decency of most troops has prevented more such incidents of collateral murder.

GREAT BARRIER REEF OIL SPILL

In my March 31 post, I took issue with President Obama's proposal to expand off-shore drilling to vast reaches of the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the entire North Slope of Alaska. Among other reasons, I cited the environmental and economic costs arising from the risk of oil spills. As if to prove my point, only three days later, on April 3, a Chinese cargo ship carrying 72,000 tons of coal ran aground on Australia's Great Barrier Reef (top image, click to enlarge). This coral reef is the world's largest single structure made by living organisms, stretches for 1600 miles, covers an area of 133,000 square miles, and is clearly visible from space. It is home to untold thousands of species of marine organisms (bottom image).

The cargo ship was an astonishing seventeen miles off course, and at impact was on an illegal course well within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, an area which is completely off limits to commercial shipping. The impact holed the ship's hull, allowing seawater to damage its main engine. The impact also damaged the ship's rudder, and ruptured one of its fuel oil tanks, creating a leak (center image) which has released an oil slick two miles long .... so far. Heavy swells prevented the deployment of a boom which would have contained the oil. Those same swells have repeatedly lifted the vessel and then dropped it back against the reef, creating the potential for the ship to come apart, releasing all its fuel oil (800 tons) as well as its cargo of coal.

Such a scenario would be a catastrophe to the world's largest marine ecosystem, already under attack from pollution, shipping, over-fishing, outbreaks of Crown of Thorns starfish (which attack coral polyps), climate change, and general human abuse.

Australian authorities are considering imposing a fine of up to $5.5 million on the ship's owner, a state-owned company, along with other legal measures yet to be determined. Clear laws and certain repercussions for violation of those laws are a start, but only a start. We need a national and international paradigm shift in our generation and consumption of energy.

China is the world's leading consumer of coal, burning more than the Unitied States, the European Union and Japan combined. Toxic technology like coal-burning power plants and offshore drilling must be replaced by green, sustainable sources of energy. The technology, the brainpower, and the motiviation have been in place for decades. All that has been lacking is the courage to change, even in the face of monstrous corporate interests seeking to maintain their profit margins.

President Obama, are you listening? Leaders of the world, are you listening?

THE SPACE PROGRAM

(Note: click on any image to enlarge) In the predawn hours this morning, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off on a mission to the International Space Station. In addition to its scientific and supply assignments, today's launch is notable because there are now only three (yes, I said three) launches remaining in the entire Shuttle program -- in May, July and September, 2010.

After the drama and discovery accomplishments of the Apollo moon missions, NASA appeared to take a step backward with the introduction of the space shuttle to operational status in 1982. A big, ugly, functional vehicle, it was compared to a space-going bus or truck, with good reason. It was expensive to launch, poorly aerodynamic to land (akin to trying to fly a brick), and was plagued by several lethal in-flight accidents. Still, the shuttle was the symbol of continued U.S. presence in space, and has in fact racked up a long list of accomplishments.

Yet the step backward aura remains, in part because all shuttle missions are conducted no farther than low Earth orbit, a far cry from the stunning outward advances in manned space exploration beginning with the Mercury program (1959-1963), the Gemini program (1965-1966), and the Apollo program (1961-1975). After the first manned moon landing on July 16, 1969, public and political enthusiasm started to wane with subsequent landings. We lost sight of John F. Kennedy's ambitious vision, funding for NASA dwindled, and now .... now we face the prospect of no significant manned American presence in space for the first time in half a century.

Even (perhaps especially) in times of economic turmoil and political deadlock, this ought to be treated as a national scandal. The benefits of space exploration have been legion, ranging from widespread public access to velcro and GPS, to satellite weather forecasting and the deep space views from the Hubble telescope.

Granted, we've accomplished a number of spectacular unmanned missions throughout the solar system and beyond. But there remains latent within us an ineffable, powerful impulse toward manned exploration (I include women with men when I use the term "manned"). Our fascination with human voyages of discovery are reflected in movies like Star Trek and Serenity, and reflected also in the unquenchable scientific curiosity which leads young men and women to study astronomy, cosmology and exobiology.

President Obama is scheduled to reveal his proposals for the future of American astronauts in space at a forum on April 15. One can only hope that his presentation will be equal or surpass the sweeping vision and inspiration which first launched us into space, and will include the Constellation moon program and far more. Clearly a replacement vehicle is needed for the aging shuttle fleet, but research and development has been excrutiatingly slow and underfunded.

I hope that Obama will fan the flames of our passion for space exploration back to life. Failing that, we will be relegated to the sidelines while other nations pick up the torch.

ALEXANDRA COUSTEAU

Nearly a year ago, I wrote a post summarizing the story of father and son Jacques and Philippe Cousteau. Each man explored and told the story of the world ocean from his own perspective -- one from beneath the water, one from the air. Phllippe's premature death was a shocking blow to his family, to the environmental and oceanographic communities, and to me personally.

Today I learned that the legacy lives on. In addition to the conservation activities of another Cousteau son, Jean-Michel, a new generation of the family has emerged to public prominence. Philippe's daughter Alexandra Cousteau, like the reast of her family, was introduced to the undersea realm at an early age. In a NYTimes article, Alexandra tells her own impressive story with elegant simplicity. Her chosen path of activism is the media, in writing and producing documentaries about the environment and water issues around the globe. She founded Blue Legacy International to further her efforts.

It is reassuring to this writer that there are still Cousteaus in the world to remind us of things we've forgotten, and to illuminate things we never knew.

A MICRO VIEW

Shown above is the flower head of a sunflower. The head comprises numerous florets, or small flowers, which are often yellow, maroon or orange in color. The florets evolved into a spiral pattern that allows for the most efficient packing of seeds within the flower head. The entire flower is shown below. (click on images to enlarge)

JASMINE THE GREYHOUND

From GreatPetNet.com --

In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. The dog had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had quite clearly been abused.

In an act of kindness, the police took the dog which was a female greyhound, to the Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, which is run by a man named Geoff Grewcock, and is known as a haven for animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.

Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved. They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home

Jasmine, however, had other ideas. No one quite remembers how it came about, but Jasmine started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It would not matter if it were a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit, or any other lost or hurt animal. Jasmine would just peer into the box or cage and, when and where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.

Geoff relates one of the early incidents. "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross, and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the centre, and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with both of them, cuddling them."

"But she is like that with all our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them, and it helps them to not only feel close to her, but also to settle into their new surroundings. She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs, and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."

Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, fifteen chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and fifteen rabbits -- and one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, eleven weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster mum role. Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the roe deer with affection.

"They are inseparabel," says Geoff. "Bramble walks between her legs, and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the santuary. It's a real treat to see them."

Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse.

.... And, just in case you wondered, Snopes.com has verified the truth of this wonderful story and the reality of the photographs which accompany it. So you can pass this story along, and help make someone else's day just a little brighter.

CORE/ALIGN

I'm currently undergoing physical therapy for chronic lower back pain from a suite of conditions which include a herniated lumbar disk (a work injury), facet joint arthritis and degenerative disk disease. Today my stars aligned in a most unusual way.

I would like to be among the first in the U.S. to praise the benefits of the CoreAlign fitness system. While Pilates aligns posture, fine-tunes one's body awareness, and strengthens core muscle groups on horizontal machines (for back patients), CoreAlign translates movement to vertical exercises on tracked foot platforms, introducing dynamic balancing and more complex movement to the therapy program. It happens that my PT provider, Alpine Physical Therapy here in Missoula, will be the first facility in the nation to offer trained and certified CoreAlign instruction. It happens that Alpine's staff includes Sam Schoeneman, one of only twelve master CoreAlign instructors in the world (seen in bottom photo, at right).

And today was my lucky day -- the entire Alpine staff is receiving basic instruction from the system'screator, Jonathan Hoffman from Tel Aviv, Israel (seen in top photo, foreground). My PT session was under Sam's astute direction on the CoreAlign equipment, plus I got to meet Jonathan. All this thanks to the suggestion and able assistance of my regular (and extremely knowledgeable) therapist, Brent Dodge.

Just as Pilates has become a standard component worldwide in therapy and exercise, so (I predict) will CoreAlign spread as a natural extension of the treatment and fitness regimen. You heard it here first, folks. (photos courtesy of Tom Bauer at the Missoulian.)

Footnote: First, indeed. Two days after this was posted, an article on CoreAlign's debut at Alpine PT appeared in the Missoulian, the local daily newspaper. Score one scoop for me ! (photos courtesy of Tom Bauer at the Missoulian.)

OFFSHORE OIL

I've been a supporter of Barack Obama ever since he announced his candidacy for the Presidency. I believe that, on balance, this Constitutional scholar explores the facts on all sides of a given issue, assessing the pros and cons, and then makes informed decisions which are practical, rational and aimed at the greater good.

President Obama has, however, made several policy decisions and concessions which are, in my view, misguided attempts at political appeasement, when he should be taking a firmer stand. Our continued military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan is one example. Today's announcement that he proposes to open vast expanses of American coastline to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, comes as a painful shock to this observor.

Included in his proposal are immense stretches of Atlantic coastline from New Jersey to Florida, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska's entire North Slope. Here is a map showing the affected areas.

Mr. Obama justifies his decision by noting that "given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth, produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we're going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy." I'm thinking. WHAT? I respect Mr. Obama's ability to find the middle ground on difficult issues, but this is not the middle ground -- this is abject surrender.

In his provocative and well-researched book The Limits of Power, Andrew J. Bacevich describes in vivid detail American assumptions about their right to unlimited energy use, their resistance to simple and effective energy conservation, and the economic, military and political forces which combine to encourage our profligacy. The author lays out an array of alternatives which would go a long way toward reversing this trend. When 2 percent of the world's population accounts for two-thirds of the world's energy consumption, clearly our perception of our own energy needs bears re-evaluation -- not to mention our assumptions about unharnessed economic growth and competitive businesses. Further, the U.S. possesses only 2 percent of the world's known oil reserves, yet is responsible for 20 percent of world oil consumption. To imagine that this proposal will make even a dent in our current consumption, without addressing the need for a profound paradigm shift in our production and use of all forms of energy, is whistling in the wind.

Further, what constitutes "homegrown energy"? More offshore oil drilling? More strip mining for coal or shale oil? More nuclear power plants? I am deeply disturbed by the direction being taken by this administration's energy policy. I'm trying to keep an open mind, trying to see the big picture. But some things are not negotiable, particularly given the environmental (and yes, the economic) risks involved. Can you spell "oil spill"? Are our memories really that short?

I've learned over the years that whenever there is a peculiarity or an unexplained question in politics and in business, the answer usually hinges upon political power, dollar signs, or both. This proposal smacks of both. The President appears to be trying to appease conservatives in hopes of winning more support for a climate bill from undecided Republican legislators. Given Republicans' scandalous and intransigent obstructionism on other progressive measures, I have small hope that this proposal will be welcomed with open arms by conservatives, nor by conservationists. Certainly not by this conservationist.

SEWARD'S FOLLY

On this date in 1867, the U.S. purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire for $7.2 million. The purchase was initiated by Secretary of State William H. Seward -- and many who were skeptical of all that "useless wilderness" so geographically remote from the contiguous Unites States, dubbed it Seward's Folly. We gained 586,412 square miles of magnificent mountains, fertile valleys and pristine tundra, along with untold natural resources -- timber, oil, game and fish, all for barely over two cents per acre, easily rivaling the purchase of Manhattan from the Lenape tribe for 80 guilders in 1626, each the bargain of its respective century.

With this difference -- Alaska is a land of superlatives, including Mt. Denali, the tallest mountain in North America (20,320 feet from sea level to summit), a stunning array of glaciers, turbulent whitewater rivers, abundant wildlife, and ... well, size. Texans take note: Alaska is so vast that if we cut it in half, Texas would become the third largest state.

THE L WORD

Leave it to me to discover a quality TV series six years after its debut. At least I have a good reason -- no cable or satellite service. The L Word ran on Showtime from 2004 to 2009, and portrayed the intertwining lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their friends. Set in Los Angeles, the storylines and characters form the best kind of drama -- nuanced, multi-dimensional and real. As a straight man, I am thoroughly enjoying the series, available for rental through Netflix. I've always been open to alternative lifestyles, and have gay and lesbian friends all around the country, as well as straight friends. I like the fact that these characters are presented as whole human beings, with individual strengths and flaws, fears and dreams. The series does contain thoroughly erotic (and tastefully presented) love scenes, but as in life, sex is only one thread in the tapestry of their lives. Like the movie Brokeback Mountain, The L Word is much more about love than it is about sex.

Having said that, I also am enjoying the window into lesbian culture -- the issues frankly discussed, the dynamics of attraction between women, the parallels and differences between gay and straight life. Altogether informative, often funny, always fascinating.

Here's a different link to the series -- SPOILER ALERT, it contains synopses of the episodes of all seasons. You might want to see the DVDs first.

ONE YEAR LATER

A year ago today, I registered with a service called Sitemeter, which tracks and records visitors to one's blog or website. The information gathered spans a wide and useful spectrum. One can identify the number of visitors during the preceding hour, day, month, or year. Further, one can identify the source of visitors -- by domain name, by source of referral, by world map, by city location, or by entry pages and exit pages. One can rank one's posts by the number of visitors to that specific post. One can even access a statistical prediction for number of visitors over the next hour, day, week or month.















This writer is humbly gratified at the amount of traffic to a blog that is quite modest, as blogs go. My readership started out small, and spread both by word of mouth and by subject searches through engines such as Google. I write about what interests me -- social justice, the arts, astronomy, history, aviation, ecology and the environment, to name a few -- and make no apologies for my opinions. Comments are always welcome, and I post them all, including those which dissent from my views -- so long as the discourse remains civilized.

According to the most recent weekly summary (which Sitemeter emails to me every Friday), this blog receives an average of 28 visitors daily. The average number of page views per visitor is 1.4. As I write this, my writing has been viewed by a total of 10,512 visitors (some of whom are regular followers) in one year.

To ALL my readers, regular or sporadic or accidental, thank you. I welcome suggestions for topics, and I encourage one and all to post your comments in response to a given entry -- just click on "comments" at the bottom of the article. Cheers.

(click on the stats graph below to enlarge)

DENIAL ISN'T A RIVER IN EGYPT

The theater of the absurd continues as Sarah Palin sucks up to the reactionary Tea Party nut jobs in Nevada this weekend -- the same people who gave us eight years of inanity, war, economic meltdown and a plummeting reputation among other nations under GWB. It would be entertaining if these folks didn't take themselves so seriously. They give me the creeps on a level with encountering real zombies -- the living dead, convinced that we live in a bygone era of racism, sexism, ageism, and every other -ism we've tried to outgrow for the past half century.

NYTimes columnist Charles Blow describes the phenomenon eloquently, in the context of the recently (FINALLY) passed health care reform bill. "Bullying, threats and acts of violence," not to mention distorting reality beyond all recognition, and acts of domestic terrorism. We live in a world of psychopaths. I've become frankly cynical toward anyone who drapes him/herself in the American flag and claims to be a patriot.

Here's my thought -- If Sarah Palin (or George Bush, or Dan Quail, or any of a long string of right wing airheads) is the answer, what is the question?

THE GLASS CEILING

Ninety years after the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote, one hundred years after the first International Women's Day, and nearing the end of the 30th Women's History Month, I pause to reflect on our progress toward gender equality. I entered adulthood during the second wave of the feminist movement, and was a declared feminist (just as I was a declared environmentalist) long before it was fashionable to do so.















A recent Newsweek article by Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison reports that the gender gap, the pay disparity between men and women for comparable work, is alive and well. Although there has been token movement into more prestigious and lucrative positions in the business world, in politics and in academia, emphasis remains on the word "token". "Women still make 76 cents for every dollar a male earns in the United States", the article notes. Further, women tend to be clustered in entry level and midlevel corporate positions, with very few penetrating to the upper levels of management. Hence the term "the glass ceiling".


This persistence of discrimination is unjust and intolerable. The pace of progress is painfully slow. My hope has been that, just as younger generations have been far less burdened by the racist attitudes of their elders, that sexism would similarly die of attrition. Now I'm not so sure. There's no predicting which of our prejudices will fade more quickly, or what prejudices may replace them. One can only plan and hope for the best, and remain prepared for the worst. A sad commentary on our enlightened age.

Abraham Lincoln famously said, "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master." Speaking as a male, as I would not be the victim of discrimination, so I would not be its perpetrator. My thanks to my dear friend IZ for sending the article.

THE IRISH DIASPORA

Yesterday I chanced upon a song that never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Sung by Irish balladeer Robbie O'Connell, Kilkelly's lyrics take the form of letters written from home to a young Irish man who has emigrated to America during the Irish Diaspora of the early to mid-1800s. The country was struck by a potato blight which resulted in mass starvation, the Great Potato Famine. Many Irish men, women and children fled to the far corners of the globe, in search of a new home and a decent living.

THE DECIMATION OF SHARKS

"PARIS -- Delegates to a United Nations conference on endangered species voted down three of four proposals to protect sharks on Tuesday, landing another victory for Japan, China and countries opposed to the involvement of international authorities in regulation of ocean fish." -- David Jolly, NYTimes.

Like many predators, sharks have historically suffered from an undeserved reputation as blood-thirsty monsters. In fact, most sharks are merely curious about humans -- attacks are usually provoked by the presence of blood in the water, or by humans unintentionally behaving in the manner of an injured prey species. As in all environments, it is common sense to educate oneself about the natural residents, both prey and predator species. They were here first.

In recent decades, numerous species of sharks have been pushed to the brink of extinction, both by so-called "sport" fishing, and by hunting sharks for their fins. The latter is uniquely cruel -- once the fins are hacked off, the living shark is tossed back into the ocean, no longer able to steer or direct its motion through the water, ultimately to die from loss of blood or from predation.

In this viewer's eyes, ALL endangered species deserve protection, regardless of the ridiculous myths attached to them, and above all top predators -- for without them, the entire food web is thrown into disarray, and ecosystems are placed in jeopardy. Beyond the practical consideration of preserving the planet which supports human life, there is this ethos: that all life forms deserve the chance to live their lives, for their own sake. We lack sufficient knowledge and understanding of the interdependence of creatures, from microbes to eagles, to carelessly, even brutally assume the role of arbiter over who lives and who dies. As for our grasp of ethics .... the UN vote speaks for itself.

Please read the entire NYTimes article here for a more complete view of the shark vote, and the national and economic players involved.