change

“What shall we find the other side of the walls of the world we are abandoning?

“Fear will come upon us – a void, a vast emptiness, freedom – how are we to go forward not knowing where we are going, how face loss, not seeing hope of gain?... If Columbus had reasoned thus he would never have weighed anchor. It was madness to set off upon the ocean, not knowing the route, on the ocean on which no one had sailed, to sail toward a land whose existence was doubtful. By this madness he discovered a new world. Doubtless if the peoples of the world could simply transfer themselves from one furnished mansion to another and better one – it would make it much easier; but unluckily there is no one to get humanity’s new dwelling ready for it. The future is even worse than the ocean – there is nothing there – it will be what men and circumstances make it."

— Alexander Herzen, quoted by Leo Tolstoy in The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You: Christianity Not as a Mystic Religion but as a New Theory of Life, New York, Cassell Publishing Company, 1894, p 157

daily monster | get yer fix

props | ten things we should never say to kids

A generous review of Ten Things We Should Never Say to Kids from Nicole Avery, The Planning Queen in Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia.

Nicole writes about thoughtful parenting in her Planning with Kids blog (where she uses words like whilst and spells reorganising with an s.

I think the second best thing about Ten Things We Should Never Say to Kids is it's free. The best thing about it is what's inside.

You can download Ten Things We Should Never Say to Kids at thetinycompanycalledme.com

Senator McCain Said What?

Rudolph W. Giuliani’s statement on Wednesday that he was uncertain whether waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique, was torture drew a sharp rebuke yesterday from Senator John McCain, who said that his failure to call it torture reflected his inexperience.

“All I can say is that it was used in the Spanish Inquisition, it was used in Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia, and there are reports that it is being used against Buddhist monks today,” Mr. McCain, who spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, said in a telephone interview.

Of presidential candidates like Mr. Giuliani, who say that they are unsure whether waterboarding is torture, Mr. McCain said: “They should know what it is. It is not a complicated procedure. It is torture.”
— The New York TimesOctober 26, 2007


Oddly, on February 13, 2008, Senator McCain voted against a ban on waterboarding. Senator McCain, you leave me shaking my head. Who are you?

oh, no you can't | like hope, but different

[thanks JP]

yes, yes we can

We may not, but we can.

yes we can

I've been out of the loop for a bit—a long story I'll try to tell as soon as Kara Powell and I deliver the updates and revisions for a new edition of our sexuality curriculum, Good Sex, for Youth Specialties.

But I did find time tonight to listen, and nod my head, to the words of Barack Obama in South Carolina. He's talking about an American ideal I remember; an American ideal I want to help reclaim and burnish to a bright and shining state. I choose to ignore the weary and cynical who say it can't be done. I say it can and must be done—and we must do it.

Burn the 18 minutes it takes to watch this speech. And don't tell me you don't want this too.

us + them | Emo Philips

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't
do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do
you believe in God?"

He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said,
"A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He
said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said,
"Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern
Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too!

Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"
He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too!

Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern
Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern
Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of
1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region
Council of 1912?"

He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist
Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And
I pushed him over.

— Emo Philips, The Guardian 29 September, 2005

a story without love | Hugh McLeod

at the closing of the year

• Susan + I celebrated Christmas and our 35th anniversary at Disneyland
• Rich Van Pelt + I have a new book: The Parent's Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis
• I'm on my way to Ethiopia + Tanzania to shoot a digital movie about malaria interventions for Compassion + Youth Specialties
• There is precious little peace on earth but we're chipping away at it
• The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed yet (Wm. Gibson)
• I am dazzled by the beauty and horror of it all

Here's hoping...

don't rearrange the deck chairs...

speechless