Great story

The following was told to me by aaron, verbatim:

"my friend ian knew a guy who rode in an elevator with bill murray once and bill murray put him in a headlock out of nowhere and then whispered in the guy's ear, 'no one will ever believe you.'"

Best thing I've heard all week. Of course I've spent the past week with my face in a cadaver's perineum....

Rabbi Lew on CNN

Here is a video of Rabbi Yossi Lew, my 6th grade mishnah teacher, and a really great guy, commenting on his reaction to the attacks in Mumbai, India.

CLICK ME TO WATCH RABBI LEW

Awesome Channel Cat

Check out this great link stumbled to me by Chief Tanto. This channel cat is monster, and needs to be noodled immediately. scourge of the southern waterways!

CLICK ME!

Music Vid for realz

This is an awesome video that Julz Shnieder posted on facebook. it's hilarious, and answers the age old challenge of a song that describes what is actually happening in the music video. the twine have met my friend, the twine have met.

Dangerous Alliance?

I recently wrote about the misguided intentions of evangelical christian zionists. Here is an interesting cartoon by Eli Valley on the topic sent to me by aaron, that is "ruffling some feathers."

Kristallnacht

Today marks 70 years since Kristallnacht, kicking off the wholesale murder, vandalism, and deportation of Europe's Jews. I hope that we as humans have advanced from that terrible point 25,550 days ago. I hope we have. I recommend viewing chief prosecutor for the US at Nuremberg Ben Ferencz's speech on inhumanity and war crimes. Here is a choice excerpt that I particularly like:

The most impressive thing to me at Nuremberg and in my other experiences in Germany was a complete absence of remorse on the part of the defendants. They argued that they were justified in doing what they did. The simple soldiers argued superiors' orders; the higher ups who were on the policy-making level argued that what they did was in self-defense - that they knew or feared that the Soviet Union was about to attack them and therefore they felt justified in a preemptive first strike. And the additional argument was then made, then why did they kill all the Jews? According to their own reports, they killed millions of Jews.

The trial in which I was the chief prosecutor against the special extermination squad, the lead defendant there was a general in the SS, Doctor Ohlendorf. He explained it very clearly: "We had to kill the Jews," he said, "because we knew that they were supportive of the Bolsheviks so therefore we had to kill them to eliminate any increased opposition to us." And why did you have to kill the children? "If we killed the parents, then the children would grow up to be enemies of Germany." Why did you kill the gypsies? "No one trusted the gypsies so we had to kill the gypsies as well." These arguments that supported justification of killing millions of human beings left me very, very cold. And they still do today.

To commemorate, I found a nice piece of atonal jazz, by Gary Lucas, that melds the sounds of Hatikva with Deutschland Uber Alles, combining the two with electronic shrieking and screams.

Verklarte Kristallnacht

Tani describes it as a combination of sculpture sound and musique concrete.

Post-Script

This is an addendum to the post below:
Many Jews lately have sided with the republicans because they feel they better represent their interests in Israel. I suspect that this is because the republican party has closely allied with the Evangelical Christians and Christian Zionists. This is a VERY dangerous alliance. While the christian evangelicals are God-Fearing, moral, and what they believe to be well-intentioned, Jews must not forget what the ultimate reason for their recent love for Israel is: as part of a messianic end-game. I know that there will be no return of Jesus, so that end-game does not exist, and one could argue making these followers eternally supportive of the jewish people without end. However, the christians have been the primary oppressors of the Jews in the name of Jesus for much of Jewish history, and it is with a very reluctant hand that the jewish people as a whole have recently joined forces with them. Compounded onto this is the old war addage, "your enemies' enemy is your friend," and having a mutual enemy in radical islamic terrorists, the american christian zionists and the jews have joined forces. But the commonalities end there. The Jewish faith allows for abortion in certain circumstances, provides for end-of-life issues much more liberally than does the conservative christian theology, provides for birth control in certain circumstances, would allow stem cell research using embryonic stem cells, to name a few examples. Jews do not need to vote democrat, or republican, but to ally with a party simply because it will implicitly follow the whims of the christian right is not a good reason whatsoever. Living in a very christian place, I can assure you that the respect of all religions is NOT granted by a religious majority, and in fact the majority's views will prevail. See my other blog posts about evangelizing at MCG ( a state-run institution), par example.

Islam, Universal Healthcare, and Gov't Control

I will start off with this video:


Colin Powell should win a fucking prize, cause he's awesome and dead-on in so many ways. I recommend watching that entire segment (which is available on youtube), because he speaks so many truths in it. I recently had a group discussion at school, moderated by two pediatricians working the wards at MCG Hospital, which serves a very large very sick and very indigent population. The topic was universal healthcare. Many student postulated the typical for and against. Everyone clearly recognized that there IS a problem, with millions of regular, "joe the plumber" americans without any coverage at all. The interplay between the insurers and the providers has falsely driven the cost of healthcare into a "bubble realm," making the uninsured functionally unable to pay fee-for-service for any procedure or visit. I believe that everyone should have healthcare, but I don't any idea how to provide it. All I know is government-controlled healthcare is not the answer. We are currently in a war on terror, specifically the brand brought to us by islamic fundamentalists. What Powell touched on in the above video, is that we are (hopefully were) only inches away from being in a war on islam. some people in this country might not realize that difference. 9/11 was terrible, and domestic terrorism is the worst thing on earth. I know, I've seen it first hand in Israel. It is awful. But we are NOT in a war on islam. We are in a war against those who wish to kill Americans and have declared war on America...namely Al-Qaeda and its supporters. Islam and terrorism are not synonymous. So, should the government be in control of our healthcare, what happens if they decide that we are in fact in a war on islam? It is not out of the realm of possibilities. what if they decide to no longer insure muslims. After all, America interned Japanese-Americans in concentration camps during WWII, siezed their property along with their rights. It only takes a charismatic and morally erratic fundamentalist christian leader to bring the conservative christian base (and voting block) into a slightly more terrible direction, and America could see wholesale disregard for race, creed, and color. That is why it is important to LIMIT the powers given to government, to not provide them with more control over our lives. The merits of self-reliance were established by this country's forefathers early-on, and we must not forget them. We must remember to defer to common sense, to our own abilities, to the ideals we were founded on. It is absurd that 30 million of our American brothers and sisters cannot access healthcare in a meaningful way (that is, outside of an emergency room), and it is our duty to provide a solution for them, for ourselves. But more government control is not the answer. As I've said before, the only good government is a castrated one.

First Appointment

I applaud Obama's choice of Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff. Emanuel's father was a member of the Irgun, and Rahm himself attended Anshe Emet Jewish School in Chicago as a child, and currently attends an orthodox shul. He served as a senior advisor to clinton, and though he was horribly mistaken in striking accords with the snake Arafat (which disintegrated into Intifada II and thousands of dead israelis and palestinians), there can be no doubt that Emanuel has a vested interest in Israel's success. I have heard many times that Obama's election will mean death to israel (presumably from Iran). Obama's appointment of a Jewish congressman with experience in modern Israeli-American foreign relations, as well as a father who was a member of the praised Irgun, who himself was named after a Lehi figher named Rahamim , speaks well of Obama's intentions for his relations with Israel. 

sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emmanuel and http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/31/prominent-jewish-congressman-floated-obama-chief-staff/

Why I Love the South

This picture epitomizes my love for this land and culture. Any place where the meat of a beast described (by wikipedia) as  a"living fossil from the age of reptiles," is sold at a mainstream supermarket (in this case, kroger), alongside such standard fares as sock-eye salmon and shrimp, any place where that is unquestioned is my kind of frontier. God bless the south!

Ramones + Spiderman = Enjoyment

I love cartoons, and I love the ramones. This is a great synthesis of the two. and its hilarious. and catchy. and the ramones. Woot!

Noah's Ark Rebuilt

Check out a full-to-scale Noah's ark rebuilt according to the dimension provided in the bible. Oh, the Netherlands! I like this link for 2 reasons:
1) it is on a crown-heights blog
2) it was sent by ben wilson

Noah's Ark!

not to sound like a heathen, but where would noah have found all that wood in the middle east? did he have a sawmill? you're telling me that a man working alone or with several others was able to craft thousands of axe-hewn boards from the pitiful lumber supply of israel and lebanon. gimme a break. I think the dimensions in the bible are a bit exaggerated.

Matching Piano with Voice

Cool videos of a person playing a piano to McCain and Palin speeches and interviews. When asked about such videos, Tani said, "whoever is playing the keys is genius...its hard to connect speech and music, and the person did it flawlessly."

The Offices of the US Socialist Party

Here is a panoramic image of the headquarters of the US Socialist Party. How intimidating....

US Socialist Party Headquarters

Consumption-fest

Head on over to the Disgusting Things I have Eaten blog. It features a wretched milieu of carefully --dare I say germanically so--categorized assortment of some of the worst gustatorial concoctions of western society. Ever heard of a Gandy-dancer? ever counted your meat in kilos? Check out the great rhetoric paired with terrible food, courtesy of my brother. You won't be let down. (Note: picture ripped from aaron's blog)

Banjo Brain Surgery

Check out the video below on Sweetgams! Eddie Adcock is the man!

Homelessness

I've heard before that the term hobo actually stands for homo bonus, or better man and that the only true life is the listless life on the road. some douche bag intellectual authors have posited the same things, while sipping tea in their southern california mansions. fuck you jack london.

I think that the homeless become resolved to their condition, and enter into a state of helplessness much like a patient in a hospital, where life just kind of rolls on them like waves, and they just bob along surviving. Once they lose their dignity, everything falls apart. And how could they not? the average person on the street will view a homeless person (if they look at all) as a sub-human. the homeless sit on the ground, sleep on the ground. they go to homeless shelters where they are robbed, raped, and beaten. they are roughed up by cops and security guards.

and how does it happen?
Well, i know someone who was trying to get a job. He had no college degree, but some experience in his field and a good head on his shoulders. he applied to job after job, getting rejection after rejection. He watched his savings dwindle. couldnt' afford a car or a cell phone. he lived at friends' houses, left one, was kicked out of another, and then things began to fall apart. He was on the verge of having no where to live. with no address, you can never get a job. luckily he found a job, immediately got a car and an apartment, and is now stable. but in this i saw how a good person can slip through the cracks. Imagine what would have happened had he not had a supportive family and community he could have fallen back on, or if he had a drug or alcohol problem. he would be under a highway overpass somewhere.

the homeless are by and large not the insane or addicted, but teeter on the edge of both when stripped of dignity and opportunity. I count my blessings daily (even though I bitch alot).

Greenville, MS

Last night I was talking with my friend LydiaDL about how her 22nd birthday was coming up, and being self-centered, I got to thinking about where I was at my 22nd birthday. I was in Greenville, Mississippi, a place I haven't thought about in some time.

My buddy wes, who was a party with me to many nefarious deeds in college, got the idea to go there from his sister. She was living there working for teach for america, living in some big old southern mansion with about 6 other teachers, all of them semi-recent college grads. Sister said that the teach for america people were starting a summer camp there that would cater to the impoverished severely and profoundly mentally retarded children in Greenville and the surrounding Delta area. I had never been to the delta, but had heard about it, about it's beauty and its poverty; but seeing it is something else entirely. So wes and I packed up the car and headed on down to Greenville, a good 9 hour straight-shot from Atlanta. I remember as we crossed into mississippi, the sparkling and endless white pavement of I-20, which stretched on sloping hills miles ahead of us, endless miles of us, that government-laid pavement took on a reddish tint. The land gradually changed from the dense pine patches of eastern mississip and western alabama to rolling farm lands. We saw some corn, some soy, but most of all, we saw tobacco. We stopped in Greenwood, just a hop skip and jump away from Greenville, and looking around that dilapidated old shell station, I felt as if I'd steped back more than the 1 hour time-zone change, I felt as if I'd stepped back 70 years. 5 black men, some strong, some old, al,l with down-turned ruddy overalls and shitted-up denim, pushing an old pickupwith no wheels on it onto a wooden trailer, the rotor cutting a deep hole in the moisture-soaked wood. People walked by, stared at us, cause of our clothes, because of our voices, the way we talked. We were foreigners, and I've lived in Georgia nearly my whole life.
We descended upon greenville, flanked by rich soil and endless tobacco. Greenville is small, but not tiny. The town has suffered from what so many small southern towns suffer from: low-rise commercial establishments. Mcdonalds, burger kind, wendys, steak and shake, and of course, wal-mart. We pulled up to the teacher-house, and after fond hello's and introductions, we decided we wanted to mosey around town. We happened upon a casino. This casino was on a riverboat docked in an oxbow of the mighty mississippi river. I suspect this was due to some sort of legal loophole for gambling. Anways, we made our way inside. I have never been in a casino before, but what hung in the air in this place was 1930s-style depression. Men still in their works clothes--janitors, farm workers, orderlies--throwing their entire paychecks onto the table, watching it get stuffed in by the dealer, and watching their week's pay turn to fallen-hopes. These men, who weren't at home with their wives on a wednesday night, who hadnt even taken the time to switch their clothes, threw some of America's most honest-earned dollars down the drain, for perhaps a hope of escape, of riches, or just to feel big for a while. These were not high-rollers, these are poor working men.
We get home, to find the head teacher drunk in the front yard, sitting on her overweight haunches, cackling with a miller light in one hand and propping herself up with the other. Foreshadowing!
The next day we greet our campers. Their parents or caregivers bring them to us. Some have severely handicapped parents, some from seemingly normal families. I speak with one father who boasts to me:
"I been pickin' cotton heya all ma laf. Ma granpa hat fowty aye-kas ant a myoole, an sho nuff thas what I got too."

Slavery is a source of pride, believe it or not. He was proud of his heritage, as a black american. I didn't know what to make of that. We went to the campsite, a lake-side slew of cabins in the woods outside of greenville. There were about 25 campers in all, ranging from 5 years old to 18, and from partially functional to completely inert. The camper I was assigned to was Austin Tardy, a 17 year old severely down syndromed young man. Austin, I learned, was the product of an adulterous affair, and actual has a twin sister, who is normal. I heard grumblings among some of the greenville locals who came to work with our camp, about how Austin is the penalty for his mother's misdeeds. Austin did not speak and was incredibly stubborn. However, he had a sweet soul underneath it all, and one could tell he was capable of great affection. Austin threw my boots into the lake, tried to break my fishing pole, and wiped his butt with my bandana. He consistently hit other campers, and was often physical with me. I think he liked me, because sometimes he would crack a smile and laugh as he came at me, but luckily I was quick on my toes (most of the time). What was interesting, was how much Austin hated John, a 275-lbs recent Greenville High School grad who came to work at the camp. Upon looking at him, one might draw some conclusions: big white-tee, corn rows, deep southern drawl. But John was all heart, but Austin, for some reason, would throw ashes at him (from our BBQ) every time he got a chance. He hated John, and I suspect he learned that at home. Austin was the only white camper.
Tony-T was my favorite camper. He was the product of his severely retarded mother being raped in the hospital by her orderly. That is terrible, but is not unusual down there (and I suspect elsewhere too). In fact, tony was raped in his front lawn by an at-risk teenage boy from Greenville High. Tony could talk, carry on a conversation, was very funny, and at 18 years of age, he was one of the oldest campers. He spoke in a high-pitched southern lilt, almost at a falsetto. Every day he would wake up and put on a fine black suit, with a dapper black tie, and talk about how he can't wait to sing the song we were teaching them to sing in church that sunday. He told us of life with his Auntie, of his girlfriend michelle, about how he wanted to fish (we taught him to), and how this was the first time in his life he had ever left Greenville. We gave out toy cellphones as a prize to some campers, and tony would talk on his all day. saying he was talking to his girlfriend, and how she was gonna come over and see him. One time in the car, he asked wes to borrow his cell phone, he had to call his auntie. wes, assuming tony was up to his old fake cell phone hijinks, said, "why don't you call her on your cell phone (the fake one)?" tony looked at wes incredulously, and responded, "man, that's a fake cell phone!" At that moment, I wondered who was the camper and who was the counselor.
Two older fellows came to see the children (lord knows how they found out we were there). One of them was a lineman for the power company, who had taken a fall and had broken his back and both femurs. He could barely walk, was struggling with alcohol and other drugs, and seeing these kids, he was constantly moved to tears. He spoke about how he was a broken man, and he embraced tony, and told him to cherish his life.
The camp had a buccolic exterior, but underneath was a darkness that lurks in much of these poor southern areas: alcohol, drugs, abuse. THe speech therapist who worked at Greenville High School was named Debbie. She was an overweight and overbearing woman, but we trusted her, assuming her to be responsible and interested in the welfare of these vulnerable kids. However, I caught debbie doing strange things. At one point, I saw he take a wooden spoon and raise it up to strike Trentarus, a def and severely cerebral-palsied boy. I stepped in between her and him, and she protested "move ben, his mother told me I can do this if he acts up" I said, "i don't give a fuck what the mother said, you are not hitting him with a god-damned wooden spoon." debbie sculked off, but kept a watch on me from that point. At night, debbie's boyfriend rick would show up in his big rumbling pickup. they would disappear into debbie's room for hours, and we'd hear noises of laughter and talking, and then they'd leave at 9 pm, and return at 3 am. Wes and I would stay up at night drinking beers and flirting with the cute southern girls who worked with us (all of them had boyfriends named John, or Mike, or JohnMike). We would see debbie stumble in, intoxicated, with this rick. I saw rick put his hands on some of the children, from a distance, for a second. not a friendly pat, an inappropriate touch. At our nightly meeting, Debbie's eyes were bloodshot and pupils were heavily dilated. she was sweating. I suspected meth. We had words with her that night because she was abusing the children, and she got in a fight with the head counselor (the drunk from the lawn), which ended in debbie storming out of the camp, fired. We were concerned, as on the way out, rick yelled some sort of threat. The next night, wes and I went back to the house in greenville (all the teachers were at the camp). As we pull into the driveway, we see someone run past the window in the living room. Who is that? wes asks. We realize quick its a burglar, perhaps rick, and we run after him. He takes off out the porch, and wes and I pursue him through the backyard. He jumps the fence, but is snagged on the barbed wire top. Just as I grab hold of his pants-leg, he frees himself, and jumps into a waiting pick up. He stole laptops, broke the television. THe police come. We tell the white officer about what happened, and he says, "I wish yo uwould have caught him, cause you coulda killed him if you wanted to. Hell I woulda shot him myself if I'd been here." We suspected debbie and rick were behind it, but probably not.
I found out recently that both debbie and rick were imprisoned for hijacking a truck filled with supplies going to New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina victims. Rick fled once he got bail, and debbie committed suicide in her jail cell.
There are more stories from that place, and as they come to me, I will post more. There is something so beautiful, and yet so terrible, about the south.

When, for lack of a logical argument, paint your opponent as the black incarnation of hitler

Here is a video my dad sent to me today:




This video is disturbing, of course. Any form of indoctrination of youth (to a drum-beat no less!) is just awful. Of course, I don't believe that the Obama campaign wrote this song, rather it was probably the nutty teacher leading them in the center. The tribal-esque drums and clothing of the observers leads me to assume (I bet i'm right!) that this is somewhere in new-age goofy california. Look, the west-coast is messed up. the US already put internment camps there once. Anything can happen out there, so I will keep as far from california as possible.

Aaron Lefkove's reaction: I think Joseph Goebbels, Leni Reifensthal, and Karl Rove. Would all applaud this wonderful piece of propaganda. Well done

I think obama is not hitler, nor do I believe he has the power or means to dispose of our personal freedoms. I think the constitution was very careful to insure that a US leader can not be a tyrant, or rather cannot attain the power of a tyrant without having a massive nation-wide resignation of power. Indeed, the US constitution diversifies power much in the way I wish my stock portfolio were diversified. I agree with aaron though, that this video is propaganda, that the people in it are complete nuts acting alone, and that barack obama has neither the time, nor influence, nor public support to attain the position of tyrant/fascist. Here's a funny bit of humor, and then I'll wrap this up:
as one becomes more and more extreme in any political direction, that person borders on some form of totalitarianism. The extreme end of conservate republicanism is fascism. The extreme end of liberal democratism is socialism (and eventually communism). What is funny is that the above youtube video, if you read the comments, is being proferred by what seems to be conservative republicans. They, whose ideology is the one that borders fascism, are calling obama a fascist! HA! ain't that rich.
Anyways, I denounce this video as propaganda, and without merit. The end.

Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals

Say hi to your mother for me ok

Create your own God

"Man was created in God's Image" -Somewhere in the genesis

I think people create God in their own image. I view God as a compassionate healer, because that's who I want to be. Guilt-ridden individuals often have an image of a vengeful and angry God who never forgets even a single indiscretion (i.e. a God created in the image of my mother). And small-minded ignorant racists have a God that is small-minded, willingly sending all people who aren't "just like them" to hell and eternal damnation. That God, conveniently, is just as big of a dick as the follower. I am not making a statement as to the existance of God, just towards how people personify God.

Fly-Overs

Cool video sent to me by albert showing all air-traffic in the world in a 24-hour period.
lots of planes!

Freemasons at large in augusta

I have been noticing lots of freemason symbols around augusta. I will post as I document them. Here is a picture of the cornerstone of MCG hospital.

Space Olympics

Watch this immediately

Space Olympics

Kicking a robot

this robot is awesome. I initially thought it was two humans in a costume. in fact, it is all robot. my favorite part is when the guy kicks it.

The Charleston + Daft Punk

I love the charleston, and daft punk is good too. together, it makes a thrilling combination.

Paul Schaeffer!!

Here is a great video of Paul Schaeffer...that's right, the one from the late show...singing a song about the evils of speaking lashon harah (translated literally as "evil speech" or "evil tongue", it is meant to refer to gossip). I think it's amazing. thank you Tani P. for finding this gem.

http://www.ou.org/ou/event_more/national_day_of_lashon_hara_awareness

Twitch

Twitch Itch lurks deep in the face and in the throat, waiting for his moment to whisper "believe in me, pan." oh! you pixie-spewing bitch, you heroin that begs for my acceptance yet rules my compulsions. forcing, grimacing, tightening I can squeeze you out, I can take control of my receptors and crush you in a vice of self-control. but Twitch Itch, you wait in the silence, in the moments of calm, in the time that I take for myself, you demand attention. You stalk for focus and once you grab it, you Siren, once you grab it your scorpion-tail injects its opiate-addiction into whatever you convince me will make me feel right. that panacea is my remedy, but the high is short-lived. Twitch Itch, send me to heaven, only to cackle as you impale my frontal lobe with another dopamine-drenched trident of scrunched forehead, crinkled nose, and blinked eyes.

Professional Jesus

I recently attended a professionalism forum held by our school, which was the culmination of a week of lectures, diatribes, and castigations on acting like a professional. And I agree, doctors should be professionals, and med students should start acting that way as they transition into that life. What was impressed upon me throughout the professionalism lectures was mutual respect for those around us. That includes patients, colleagues, strangers on the street. And that seems like a good moral lesson in general. At this forum, MCG, a public university funded nearly entirely by citizen tax dollars, had a speaker stand up and say something to the extent of, “…and only through the grace of THE lord and savior jesus Christ, was I able to overcome this…” This to me embodies unprofessionalism. I, and I bet not a few others, was made very uncomfortable by this. I am not a Christian, I have no desire to be a Christian. What place in a professionalism forum is there for a phrase like Lord and savior jesus Christ. It is so unilateral, so authoritarian. It assumes that we in the crowd would agree with you, that we in the crowd are not off-put by your mentioning the phrase lord and savior jesus Christ. I cringe at that phrase, because it reminds me of all those horror stories about the Spanish inquisition told to me at too-young an age, it reminds me of intolerance. I know that this nice young man standing up on the stage was just so grateful to be given a second chance (he had cancer it turns out), but why not just say God, why not just say, “thankfully;” why did he say lord and savior jesus Christ. This is evangelical. I recognize we are here in the bible-belt, and that augusta, GA in particular is a very religiously Christian place. I’m happy that so many people are taking advantage of the rights granted us in this country (that is to practice whatever version of religion you so please, no matter how soul-crushing). This seems sublime, slight. Another example:

During our first week of school, we had nightly events, which I believe were school-sanctioned. One of the events was a BBQ hosted by MCO: a medical-student run Christian outreach group. Along with the great people and delicious veggie burgers, they distributed pamphlets on opportunities for bible study and medical mission trips. MISSION TRIPS! Taken together, this all just seems so inappropriate. MCG is a public, state-run institution. What happened to separation of church and state? I recognize that this is a student group, and that this was a student speaking, but why is it not being ingrained into us that proclaiming your religious beliefs as if they were face, at a public forum, is not appropriate. Is unprofessional. What frightens me is my suspicion that the reason why no one complains (and I have anecdotal evidence to back this up) is because the administration and student body are in a vast majority religious Christians, perhaps ascribing to some evangelical breed. Again, these people are free to practice their religion, but a measure of discretion and subtlety in delivering public displays of faith is long overdue.

ID and humanity

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=15-answers-to-creationist


Compelling and interesting. I agree with the authors conclusion. I have studied evolution extensively in school, and I have also read mike behe's book "darwins black box," which is considered the bible of intelligent design (aside from the actual bible). What offends me the most about intelligent design is exactly the point the author spoke about: that it is a non science. ID essentially ends debate by saying "we don't know how this structure could have evolved, so it MUST be designed." that isn't good science, its a cop out. We can find answers, we just need to keep looking and thinking. What the enlightenment accomplished was to free western society from the dark ages of religion and superstition dictating out understanding of nature. Since the scopes monkey trial, biblical literalists have attempted to hijack and undermine the scientific pursuit of evolution as some sort of offensive anti religious theory when in fact it really is not a theological issue for all but the most biblically ignorant. Now Christian religious fanatics have stopped stem cell research, even when clever and inventive scientists have up with a method of deriving embryonic stem cells while preserving the viability of the embryo. This ignorance of fact and blind nay saying is frightening. Of course, our scientific pursuits should be tempered by our ethics and values, but ignorance and blind faith are not a substitute for informed morality. Another example is a law recently struck down in second reading in the Ga congress, which, if passed, would prevent women with ectopic pregnancies from receiving abortions from their physician without a court order. Ectopic pregnancies are when the fertilized egg impants in the fallopian tube (or other places) instead of in the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies will always self abort, and if allowed to come to that point, will cause a massive hemmhorage which will probably kill the mother. But fanatically right wing Christians are so uninformed and willingly ignorant, or perhaps just stubborn, that instead of considering a mothers life where a fetus would die anyways, they want to require a court order before allowing a doctor to save a life. And the questioning of evolution has opened the door on wholesale ignorance of scientific fact and progress.

Why my faith is dwindling

I want to maintain faith in my religion. I began a search for something more at age 18, and still I'm looking. That looking is ok with me. The following makes me sick. In the words of tani palefski (the following was also taken from his blog, sweet gams!):
"Rabbi Ephraim Luft of Bnei Brak, Israel has taken it upon himself to define "kosher music" and ban everything that doesn't fit that definition. In my opinion, this amounts to an abuse of power and an assault on the human spirit."

the following links will sicken you:
http://sweetgams.blogspot.com/2008/09/kosher-music-defined.html

rules: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/11_9_08_kosher_music.pdf

Proof!

Several months ago I wrote a note called "Thoughts on the Origin," that detailed a theory I developed with my wife (who is a skeptic), that explains an apparent gap in darwinian evolution, the creationist battle-cry of irreducible complexity. I supposed earlier that cells have an inherent internal intelligence that they use to drive their evolution in a positive direction. Now I have found a suggested proof of this: enter Japanese cell biologist Toshiyuki Nakagaki. In a paper appearing in the prestigious Nature journal, he noted how the slime mold Physarum Polycephalum, when placed in a maze, will determine the shortest possible route towards its food (Nature 407, 470 (28 September 2000)). This means that an amoeboid slime mold can make decisions on length of time and distance, and can elect to use the shortest distance possible. Mind you, these notably dendritic mycelial structures do have some resemblance to a highly primitive neural network, but one can hardly compare a slime mold mat on a forest floor to even a lobster's brain. It is oft-assumed that the lower eukaryotic and all prokaryotic species do not make decisions, do not have the ability to make decisions. However, as one who has dabbled in and been amazed by cellular life, the power and depth of the living organism should not be underestimated. The old way of looking at cells, that they simply react uncontrollably to stimuli presented to them, and the greater the stimulus the greater the reaction until threshold et cetera, is a mindset that underestimates the capability of the cell.
What I postulate is that cells illustrate intelligence on not just the macro whole-organism level, but even on the internal moloecular signaling level. Take cancer cells for instance. A p16-deficient melanoma cell will use the PI-3 kinase and akt signaling pathway to regulate its survival and proliferation. When faced with an insult, some drug or toxin that interrupts this signaling, the cancer cell will switch signaling pathways, perhaps to mTOR, or even some other pathway. This is evident in the treatment of elusive and deadly cancers like melanoma (J Invest Dermatol. 2006 Oct;126(10):2160-6.). What is amazing is the cells ability to adapt and change based on its environment. Of course, in this case, it is cell regulation gone awry, but the trait is still evident. So perhaps then, it is not an inconceivable jump to suggest that cells, over time, great amount of time, can drive permanent alterations to their phenotype and even genotype. Such alterations can even go so far as to develop into novel species, distinct from the ancestor.

Business as Usual?

I have alot to say on the American Yeshivas in Israel, and the society which surrounds them, but I want to make this note directed to a point. Forgive me if a ramble or digress. I recently read a note by someone I know who just started his year at Ner Yaakov, my old rompin' grounds 2001-2002. In his neophyte experience at said institution, he comments to the extent of: I don't understand why people say Ner Jake is so religious when only 2 or 3 people last year 'flipped out' (to use the parlance of our times). This is a popular myth, he says.

I responded: I'm not saying there's anything wrong with getting offensively observant, but if you think Ner Jake's well-accomplished goal of making crazy kids crazy frum is a myth, then you are in for a true surprise come the grand siyum (graduation dinner, basically).

I want to elaborate my opinion. When I went to Israel in that fateful September 01, I was all spit-shine and excitement with my new-found faith in Hashem Almighty. I was all set for a packed year of growth and fulfillment, of besting my parents' deviant lifestyles, of growing beyond my past, and becoming my own very religious man. Myriad reasons brought me to Ner Jake, but when I got there, I was shocked: Shlomo was breaking beer bottles in the hall, Michoel was asking me to lock his 3 cases of cigarettes ("stoges" I believe was the term he used) in my locker for the night, the air was filled with rap and smoke and "fuck that" and "motherfuck this." Needless to say, it was a tough first night,in fact it was a tough first week, and a downright depressing first month for a wet-behind-the-ears baal-teshuva like myself.

But a Yeshiva is devoted to learning, and how was it at Ner Yaakov? As part of finding God and His beautiful Judaism, I also clung to Zionism and related ideals which, I felt, were congruent and essential with my religious beliefs. I was confronted head-on at Ner Jake about these beliefs. One of the most-esteemed and learned Magid Shiur's went as far as to choke me over it. Hardly a beacon-head of free thought. So I spent many months sharpening my debating skills sparring head-to-head with my various teachers, who had no shortage of powerful logic and dull-headed obstinance. What I did learn was that in Ner Jake, it is the talmid, and never the teacher, who is expected to alter his beliefs. I feel that at Ner Jake--and what I have learned is a commonality among many other similar institutions--if you do not fit a mold of rebellion (you don't smoke, you don't get high, you don't drink heavily, you LIKE being frum), they do not entirely know how to approach you, but will nevertheless find some issue, no matter how menial, some issue upon which to berate, to fixate, to attack. There must be something wrong with you, after all! So much of my year was devoted to defending my right to believe that the State of Israel is legitimate in its own right. The Revolt indeed, Mr. Begin!

I wish someone had told me what Dr. Palefsky told his son before his voyage into Yeshivaland: Yeshiva's are a business, a business of keeping Jewish asses (no double entendre intended) in the Yeshiva. So I am left with a question of conflict-of-interest: Are these holymen, these rabbis, these supposed enlightened scholars with whom we entrust our minds, nay our futures, are they sincere in their pedagogical pursuits? Can we believe that the turning of a wild youth into a black-hatted talmudist bears no financial, or maybe just egotistic, influence on the Rabbinical staff? As the pressure grew in January, in April, for these boys to get their butts in Shiur (class), to get going with being frum, to start considering a second year in Ner Jake, was this pressure indeed altruistic? Or were they the pawns that bowed unwittingly to a swift check-mate on American Dollars? Is Ner Yaakov's pushy, hardline, results-driven process purely for the growth of the student, or is their something that makes a wealthy American-turned-kollelnik a little more financially rewarding for the venerated Rosh Yeshiva? Was it, in fact, business as usual?

Thoughts on the Origin

I recently read a book called "Darwin's Black Box," by Michael Behe. This is the main work espousing Intelligent Design in the origin and development of Earth's species. Behe's argument, in essence, is that the Darwinian approach towards evolution is false: that natural selection of random mutations cannot account for many structures and methods present in a variety of advanced and simple organisms. He contends that some structures are "irreducibly complex," meaning that some structures have multiple individual parts, and if one of these parts were removed from the system, the entire system would cease to function. Examples he gives are bacterial cilia, blood clotting, and anabolism of adenosine monophosphate (AMP). His arguments are powerful, and though it goes against much of the accepted truths vis-a-vis the origin of life on this planet, Darwin's theory will have to own up to the problem of irreducible complexity.
But it got me to thinking, that maybe there are other impetuses for genetic adaptation and increased complexity beyond that of simple mutation and improved survival. Darwin's theory has always seemed a little too brutal, a little to capitalist, for me. I don't like Intelligent Design though. This isn't because I am a stalwart atheist, on the contrary I am a Believer. But science is like a game. The goal of the game is to explain natural phenomenon by observable, repeatable, empirical processes. The presence of a Designer that can alter nature at His whim throws a wrench in the gears. Plus, though you can see the irreducible complexity on a biochemical level, you don't see a Designer fiddling with the process. You see repeatability. The same proteins do the same thing. Would there be a Designer doing SUPERNATURAL things, like generating irreducibly complex biochemical machines, then when does it stop? Is it happening now? Once you open the door to a Designer, there ceases to be a logical flow and repeatability upon which scientific study seemingly rests. The other issue with Intelligent Design is a philosophy of science quandry known as argument of imperfection. If a designer would make a cell, wouldn't he make it perfect. He wouldn't include genetic redundancy or blind spots in the eye. I know, you can't assume to know the intentions of a Designer, just to recognize whether design is present (which is seems to be), but still. It doesn't sit right.
So I have another theory. I feel that there is a certain internal intelligence in all living things. Let's start with something highly intelligent: humans. Where does our intelligence stem from (leave the soul out of this please, as it is non-physical nor empirical)? We are so smart because we have such a great interconnection and communication between all those electrochemical cells in our heads; a hugely dense network, somewhere on the amount of trillions of connections, where cells can rapidly speak to each other, collaborate. So that is on a macro-scale, in a multi-celled organism. What about something smaller, like a rodent? less connections, less cells, seemingly less intelligence. Smaller still, the platyhelminthes (flatworm), it moves towards light, finds food, reproduces. Definately alive, knows what light is, moves towards it. Knows what food is. What about my pumpkin plant? It reached out its tendrils directly towards the neighboring tomato vine, wrapped around the tendril, and ignored the nice trellis I set up for it. It discerned between two objects...seemingly intelligent. Let's go down smaller: the bacteria. Single-celled. It can move around independently with its ingenious flagella. It generates toxins to poison other cells. It makes energy from sugar it eats, it expels waste. Much like us, only smaller. Those who are familiar with the complexity of the cell know that they are certainly alive, and they seem intelligent. There is great communication and feedback between the many system and compartments of the cell. There is intricate cellular machinery that reads DNA at 1000 bases per minute, accurately. There are cellular motors, there are structural elements that look like scaffolding, there are little conveyor belts that bring cargo from one area to another. The cell is filled the ingenious, perfected mechanisms that are all based around unique protein-catalyzed chemical interactions. The cell can fulfill nearly any need it may have.My theory is that "internal intelligence of the cell," corresponds directly with the amount of feedback and communication within the cell and it's neighboring cells. I feel that this intelligence drives cells to change, allows them to purposefully generate pathways that are favorable towards its survival. This explains why cells seem so adequately adapted to their environment, they purposefully generate needed changes. They mutate not randomly, but with purpose. They have inherent intelligence. All our cells do. Our brain cells have intelligence, they can tell other cells what to do, and they cooperate. They tell muscle cells to contract, they tell endocrine cells to secrete, they tell other brain cells to shoot out electrical impulses. They store information, and can recall it quickly. So if our many brain cells as a unit have intelligence, why not on a smaller level. Why not a much smaller intellect, that does not act on a level which we do, but on a cellular level commits intelligent actions. I feel that given the impetus, a cell would effect a change necessary for its survival/betterment. Human, often egotistically, think that they are the only beings with true intelligence. But we are just cells, and so is everything else alive. It has to be that other cells possess smaller levels of our very intelligence.
How does this fit into the origin of the species? Well, this is where I get a little spiritual. If cells possess this intelligence, and their intelligence is a product of protein interactions, feedback, and communication, then what about on a smaller level? When is something considered intelligent? Chemicals are not intelligent. Lipids, which make our cell walls, do not think, they do what is energetically favorable. Let's draw out a paradigm of the origin of life.

Lipid bi-layers form by micelle exclusion in a primordial mix. Lightning, UV, and heat from the sun and volcanoes form amino acids and some nucleotide precursors (See Miller-Urey Experiment). Amino acids link to each other to form the first proteins, via some localized acidity or basicity within the micelle. With millions of years to form millions of types of proteins, eventually some complex proteins are formed. These proteins, with the capability of quickening reactions, express the most basic form of intelligence. Once there is greater interaction between proteins and other molecules, cells are able to effect more change. The more proteins present, the more change can be made, because more reactions can be catalyzed. Eventually, I have no idea how, the central dogma was in place, DNA to RNA to Protein. At this point, cells express great levels of intelligence.

What interests me about this is that it jives well with a view of an omnipresent all-powerful God. It also jives well with a feeling that God is present in all beings. God is not proteins, but God is meaningful intelligence. And all living things contain that Godliness. Humans contain it to a great extent. It is an exciting prospect to think that all living things surrounding you are thinking, acting, changing deliberately. That the very things that make you think, make other organisms think. I don't know if this is true or not, but it's my latest theory.

Fast Moving

A FLAGELLATION IN worD-(association)-MINOR
or
How I want to spend my summer vacation

Fast moving, fast flying, ever-whirling streams of amber grain and make-it-happen and success and all the rest that comes with an endless beartrap of social responsiblities. Will it crush the spirit, that writhing growing hexus, that drags you away from all the things you love and hate and want and need and want to throw away, will it pull you towards some ad infinitum some spinning uncontrollable unemotional "get in your cubicle!" and "get down to business!" What about the wind and the rain and the beckoning wetland and the swept mountain side, what about the hard rock and the soft soil it turns into and turns over. bring me the untuned and discard the social propping that *adorns* that latent beauty that wants to scream "let me run." get away from me you meandering pestering judgement, you worn-in do and don't do, let me achieve some clarity, some vision, something to hold on to. something that isn't what's he got what's he own what's he WORTH?! endless mindless chatter in an overflowing web of tangled neuron, disorganized visions of how it should be and how it is. unclear sights and sounds and feeling of quesiness. angry people angry at impulsive actions and poorly thought out apologies and wild responses (and where the hell is that catharsis perhaps its hiding, perhaps in the log, perhaps under the stone, perhaps within. perhaps all the important looking-in and looking-out get masked beneath a do do do go go go) and misplaced temperments. where will it go or is this it?