*Beginning of the end.....end of the British justice system ? No less a person than Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, feels that there is room for ".....constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law......" Only time will tell if he is right.Excerpts from BBCDr Williams says Muslims should have a choice in legal disputesDr Williams interviewThe Archbishop of Canterbury says the adoption of certain aspects of Sharia law in the UK "seems unavoidable".Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4's World at One that the UK has to "face up to the fact" that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.Dr Williams argues that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social cohesion.For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court.He says Muslims should not have to choose between "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty".An approach to law which simply said - there's one law for everybody - I think that's a bit of a danger Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of CanterburyIn an exclusive interview with BBC correspondent Christopher Landau, ahead of a lecture to lawyers in London later on Monday, Dr Williams argues this relies on Sharia law being better understood. At the moment, he says "sensational reporting of opinion polls" clouds the issue.He stresses that "nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that's sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states; the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well".But Dr Williams said an approach to law which simply said "there's one law for everybody and that's all there is to be said, and anything else that commands your loyalty or allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts - I think that's a bit of a danger"."There's a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law, as we already do with some other aspects of religious law."Dr Williams adds: "What we don't want either, is I think, a stand-off, where the law squares up to people's religious consciences.""We don't either want a situation where, because there's no way of legally monitoring what communities do... people do what they like in private in such a way that that becomes another way of intensifying oppression inside a community."From what we know about practice of Sharia Law in Islamic nations there is no reason to feel that those members of the Muslim community who believe in Sharia will be content with "constructive accommodation". They will demand more and more.Considering the size and influence of the Muslim population in the UK one can see the desire for a compromise. Compromise, however, is not going to be the answer. Until Muslim men and women in the UK throw off age-old traditions, antiquated teachings of the Koran, and decide to become part of the main-stream society there can be no solution to this issue. There are no signs that this will take place any time soon. Comments Paul Mitchell — 2008-02-12 A cogent presentation regarding Islam from a Lefty? Color me impressed.

*The Bush Budget * Secularists in Turkey Protest Headscarf LawThe self-described compassionate conservative president's 3.1 trillion budget announced today is awash in red ink but protects his pet tax cuts and includes an 8.1 increase for "security funding in the areas of the budget controlled by annual appropriations" (AP).The usual mumbo jumbo accompanied the announcement of the budget."Two key principles guided the development of my budget — keeping America safe and ensuring our continued prosperity," Bush said in his budget message to Congress. "As commander in chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people."Yes, there are spending cuts......"$196 billion in savings over the next five years in the government's giant health care programs — Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor." The programs -- entitlements, according to Republicans -- face reductions while targeted tax cuts that benefit a very small percentage of people at the top of the income pyramid are needed for "continued prosperity".See full report by the Associated PressDoublespeak, smoke and mirrors ? They are hallmarks of the Bush administration.AP: WASHINGTON -The $515.4 billion in Pentagon spending for 2009 that President Bush proposed to Congress on Monday does not include the cost of fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Bush asked for $70 billion as an "emergency allowance" for war costs for the first part of the budget year, which begins Oct. 1. The White House said it would request more — probably at least another $100 billion, if current war costs are a guide — "once the specific needs of our troops are better known." *Secularist Turks Oppose Headscarf LawCurrent Turkish government is dominated by conservative Muslims. The BBC reported:Thousands of Turks have rallied in Ankara to protest against a government plan to allow women to wear the Islamic headscarf in Turkish universities.The protestors fear such a move would usher in a stricter form of Islam in Turkey, which is a secular state.Turkey's parliament is expected to approve a constitutional amendment to ease the ban next week.Fundamentalists -- no matter whether they are Muslims, Christians, or Hindus -- have the same mindset. The plan by the so called "devout" Muslims in Turkey is along the same line as attempts by conservative Christians here in the United States to support mandatory prayers in school and display of Ten Commandments and other symbols on public grounds.

*Punxsutawney Phil has been known to be wrong in the past but if he is right then the cold and gray days are going to be with us for six more weeks. Traditionally, Phil has credibility. This year, however, Gen. Beauregard Lee, Phil's counterpart in Lilburn, GA, didn't see his shadow. Let the pundits quibble about who is right. Associated Press, Punxsutawney, PA The tradition is that if a hibernating animal sees a shadow on Feb. 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says spring will come early.That was the forecast from Gen. Beauregard Lee, Punxsutawney Phil's counterpart in Lilburn, Ga. Beau did not see his shadow Saturday morning at the Yellow River Game Ranch.It was the third year in a row the two groundhogs' predictions differed. ...

*After the Surge * SuicidesA year after the much debated troop surge took effect, sectarian violence in Iraq is down. American casualties, while still in double digits, show marked reduction. Good news for sure. That does not wipe out the basic wrongness of the war and the lies used by President Bush and members of his administration to bring it about.Dana Priest's report in The Washington Post today details the high number of suicides among returning veterans. Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was waiting for the Army to decide whether to court-martial her for endangering another soldier and turning a gun on herself last year in Iraq, attempted to kill herself Monday evening. In so doing, the 25-year-old Army reservist joined a record number of soldiers who have committed or tried to commit suicide after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.The Dead of JanuaryJoshua R. Anderson, 24, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 02, 2008Ryan D. Maseth, 24, Army Staff Sergeant, Jan 02, 2008Thomas J. Casey, 32, Army Captain, Jan 03, 2008Andrew J. Olmsted, 37, Army Major, Jan 03, 2008Menelek M. Brown, 24, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class, Jan 04, 2008Jason F. Lemke, 30, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 05, 2008James D. Gudridge, 20, Army Specialist, Jan 06, 2008Timothy R. Hanson, 23, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 07, 2008Todd E. Davis, 22, Army Specialist, Jan 09, 2008Jonathan Kilian Dozier, 30, Army Staff Sergeant, Jan 09, 2008Sean M. Gaul, 29, Army Staff Sergeant, Jan 09, 2008David J. Hart, 22, Army Sergeant, Jan 09, 2008Zachary W. McBride, 20, Army Sergeant, Jan 09, 2008Ivan E. Merlo, 19, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 09, 2008Phillip J. Pannier, 20, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 09, 2008Matthew I. Pionk, 30, Army Sergeant 1st Class, Jan 09, 2008Christopher A. Sanders, 22, Army Sergeant, Jan 09, 2008Curtis A. Christensen Jr., 29, Marine Lance Corporal, Jan 11, 2008Keith E. Lloyd, 26, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 12, 2008Danny L. Kimme, 27, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 16, 2008David H. Sharrett II, 27, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 16, 2008John P. Sigsbee, 21, Army Specialist, Jan 16, 2008Richard B. Burress, 25, Army Specialist, Jan 19, 2008Jon M. Schoolcraft III, 26, Army Specialist, Jan 19, 2008Justin R. Whiting, 27, Army Staff Sergeant, Jan 19, 2008James M. Gluff, 20, Marine Lance Corporal, Jan 19, 2008Michael R. Sturdivant, 20, Army Sergeant, Jan 22, 2008Tracy Renee Birkman, 41, Army Sergeant, Jan 25, 2008Duncan Charles Crookston, 19, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 25, 2008Robert J. Wilson, 28, Army Staff Sergeant, Jan 26, 2008Mikeal W. Miller, 22, Army Sergeant, Jan 27, 2008Alan G. Rogers, 40, Army Major, Jan 27, 2008James E. Craig, 26, Army Sergeant, Jan 28, 2008Gary W. Jeffries, 37, Army Staff Sergeant, Jan 28, 2008Evan A. Marshall, 21, Army Specialist, Jan 28, 2008Brandon A. Meyer, 20, Army Private 1st Class, Jan 28, 2008Joshua A. R. Young, 21, Army Private, Jan 28, 2008As of today, total number of soldiers who lost their lives in Bush's war: 3942Source: icasualties.org

*Musafir as a RunnerRunning through the streets is a good way to become familiar with the neighborhood. There are days when it brings unexpected pleasures.One day last week I took Randall Road to Clearview, turned left on W. Hillsdale, left on CSM and right on Parrott Drive. Going up Parrott I had no clue where it would end. I wanted to loop back to W. Hillsdale and Clearview. There was a guy on the sidewalk heading in the same direction and I asked where would the road take me. He said "What about heaven". I told him that I didn't want to go that far. Then he said "Nirvana?". Well, nirvana is a state of mind. On most days when I run I'm close to it and that is good enough.The friendly man stopped and gave me detailed instructions about making a loop which would require getting off the street and running on a half-mile long uphill trail ending at CSM (College of San Mateo) parking lot. From there it would be easy to get back to Clearview bypassing W. Hillsdale Blvd. I told him that I would try it another day.Yesterday there was a break in the weather. So I ran up Parrott, made a right turn on Bel Aire Road, and a hard right on Tournament Drive which dead ends at the bottom of a slope. It was there that I found the gate to the service road and the trail that went uphill. It was muddy and slippery but I had no difficulty getting to the parking lot and paved roads. Not a long run -- approx. a 3-mile loop from my starting point -- but challenging.As to heaven, think of those who could be there -- people like G.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Rev. Pat Robertson, the late Jerry Falwel and other smarmy champions of moral values. Yuck! *"The introduction to the Mass of the Runner", said the Jesuit seated at the living room window overlooking the the ocean and the dunes, "will be from a passage by Amby Burfoot."The distance runners of every age strewn on chairs and stairs and floor gave a sigh of assent. They conjured up the figure of the stork-like Burfoot as he won the Boston marathon in 1968."I run," the non-running Jesuit read , "because I enjoy it--not always, but most of the time. I run because I've always run--not trained but run.""What do I get ?" The words of Burfoot, a Connecticut Yankee, came in the Boston accent of the priest. "Joy and pain. Good health and injuries. Exhilaration and despair. A feeling of accomplishment and a feeling of waste. The sunrise and the sunset."--George Sheehan (Dr. Sheehan on Running)

*After watching There Will Be Blood and driving home in the rain I needed to unwind. Have been listening to Art Tatum the past few days. So it was Tatum's "In Private" that I again put into the CD player. Wonderful music. Almost blind, Art Tatum "learned to play by copying piano roll recordings his mother owned, playing by ear by the age of three. Tatum would learn both parts of a piece for four hands by feeling the keys depressed on the piano."Art Tatum (1909-1956)Photo credit: npr.orgArt Tatum, Solo Piano - Playlist, "In Private""These rare and historic recordings were originally made on a private tape at Art Tatum's home, during his time in California at the end of the forties. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (Barris-Koehler-Moll) Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin' (Strayhorn-Ellington-Gaines) You're Drivin' Me Crazy (Walter Donaldson) Tenderly (Walter Gross-Jack Lawrence) Over the Rainbow (Arlen-Harburg) In a Sentimental Mood (Ellington-Mills) You Took Advantage of Me (Rodgers-Hart) She's the Talk of the Town (Livingston-Symes-Neiburg) She's Funny That Way (Moret-Whiting) I'll Never Be The Same (Malneck-Signorelly-Kahn) Night and Day (Cole Porter)" *The critics rave about "There Will be Blood". They see something that JHL and I missed. No question about great acting by Daniel Day Lewis but we found it long and boring. *Past 11:00. Time to hit the sack. Tomorrow is Saturday. More rain, not only tomorrow-- if the weather man is right we're not going to see much of the sun in the next 10 days.Anyone remembers Alan Sillitoe's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning? He was one of Britain's "angry young men". The novel, published in 1958, was made into a movie in 1960.

*Foothills Park, Palo AltoA buckeye tree in mid-winter. Come spring it would be full of green leaves and white clusters.© MusafirPast middle of January. Yesterday, JHL and I hiked the Los Trancos Trail in Foothills Park. Green but not moist. We need more rain. We sat and had our lunch by the creek about 1.5 miles before the bench dedicated to Lynn Torin, and then continuing on the trail and making a U-turn at the bench to return to the parking lot in the meadow. Reached the parking lot just before 5:00. Darkness had not set in -- a sign that we were over the hump....days getting longer.Chanterelles and an UltramarathonerThis morning a group of us went hiking with a young boy to introduce him to wild mushrooms, chanterelles no less. Sunny and clear morning when we left Palo Alto to head south, and it remained so all afternoon. It was a rewarding trip for all of us, especially for Nikhil.Nikhil's first Chanterelle© MusafirAnother first timer© MusafirLunch break in a grove of trees© Musafir*When we came out of the forest on Hwy 9, a runner stopped and asked if we had water. His water bottle was empty. We chatted for a while. Ralph Hirt of Crescent City was on a 25-mile run. Said he ran the Western States 100 (Squaw Valley to Auburn) five times and was going to enter again this year. When I mentioned Gayla Johnson, an ultra marathoner I came to know a few years back, Hirt said he knew Gayla. Gayla ran the Western States 100 four times.This is what I wrote about distance running on December 4, 2005:For me, it is not a "lonely" experience. Far from it. Of course, there are the occasional hazards and physical problems--aches and pains, pulled hamstrings, and such. Yet, loneliness is not part of my world when I am out on a long run. It is mostly a good feeling, especially when I run on trails in fall, muddy patches notwisthstanding. The changing landscape as the foothills turn into a lush green, the smell of bay laurel leaves, the look of the oak, madrone and buckeye trees never fail to give me pleasure. I don't need an electronic device to listen to music or news when I run. I feel close to nature; I feel at peace with the world.

*San Mateo, CaliforniaA city in western California southeast of San Francisco. Named by a Spanish expedition in 1776, it was the center of a Mexican colony from 1822 to 1846. Population: 96000 (apprx).Quite different than the city 25 miles to the south in which I spent the last 13 years. Prettier, scenic; there are more trees. And there are other differences. No cookie cutter housing projects, not in the area where I live. Homes are older, larger. I no longer see students walking to schools. There are children in the neighborhood but they are driven to school and back by their parents. Certainly more quiet. But if one finds that there is no garlic for the pasta sauce there is no need for panic. Less than half a mile down the hill there is a small shopping center that has a Safeway store. It also has a good Chinese (Hunan) restaurant and one of those ubiquitous upscale coffee shops.Looking east out of my window on a foggy morning© MusafirLike the quietness and the scenery but there are certain things about my old neighborhood that I miss. For one, I cannot step out of the door and chat with a neighbor. And I have more friends in that part of the valley who are important in my life. Then there are my daughters and their families. In this part of the world a distance of 15 or 20 miles means nothing and, yet, there is no denying the fact that I am further away from them.Owners of the house graciously allowed me space in their garden to grow sweet peas and for planters containing herbs that I use for cooking. The netting for sweet pea vines is in place and the seeds are in the ground. Now , if snails can be stopped from destroying the young shoots the flowers will bloom in March. Some years back when I hiked the DalesWay from Ilkley to Inverness in England, I passed a nursery that had a sign which read "Sweet Peas are now ready for planting". It was the middle of May!Decisions to relocate are hard to make. In my case it was not absolutely necessary but, rightly or wrongly, I decided that it was time to move. The process itself can be very stressful. Good friends came to my aid.It was a clear, crisp morning, temperature around 60 deg. F (16 deg. C) when I went for the first run from my new quarters. Had run on Crystal Springs Road in the past but not as a resident of San Mateo.Went down Parrott, turned right on DeAnza, passed the shopping center and I was on Polhemus Road heading east. About two miles further Polhemus meets Crystal Springs Road and one can go right toward El Camino Real or left toward Skyline and the six-mile long Sawyer Trail which meanders along the Crystal Springs Reservoirs. I went left but not all the way to Skyline. On the return leg, going up Parrott was hard but it was a short stretch, less than half a mile.Researching San Mateo on the web I came across an interesting item.The Episcopal Church of St. Matthew, Consecrated May 23,1866Original Episcopal Church of St. Matthew© Episcopal Church of St. Matthew© 2006 Steve Whittaker - http://www.episcopalstmatthew.org/St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in San Mateo, California is one of the oldest stone churches west of the Mississippi. Its history begins in 1864 when the village of San Mateo had a population of 150 people, 25 houses, a railway depot, Roman Catholic Church, schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, and a grocery store. To the north was San Francisco and Grace Church, now Grace Cathedral. There were several Episcopalian families in the area, and the Reverend Giles Alexander Easton arrived from San Francisco to conduct the first Episcopal services on April 24, 1864, in the local schoolhouse."Eternity is an infinite extent of time, in which every event is future at one time, present at another, past at another."-- Dictionary of Philosophy, edited by Dagobert D. Runes

*The Bush-Cheney RegimeExcerpts from Washington Post But what are the facts? Bush and Cheney are clearly guilty of numerous impeachable offenses. They have repeatedly violated the Constitution. They have transgressed national and international law. They have lied to the American people time after time. Their conduct and their barbaric policies have reduced our beloved country to a historic low in the eyes of people around the world. These are truly "high crimes and misdemeanors," to use the constitutional standard. ...

*Some Americans have a thing about display of emotion by political candidates. To them it is a sign of weakness! The reasoning is that if a person becomes emotional in public then he or she will be not be able to deal with crises and, therefore, unfit to hold political office. It is a load of crock.The media ran with the story and pictures about Hillary Clinton who became teary on Monday while speaking at a roundtable discussion at a coffee shop in Postmouth, New Hampshire.She is not my favored candidate but her appearance at the roundtable discussion on Monday certainly did not lower my opinion of her.Other political candidates were subject to ridicule and criticism in the past for becoming emotional. Edmund Muskie and Pat Schroeder come to mind. One would think that in today's America voters with such Neanderthal attitudes are in the minority. Let's hope so. We do not need more lying bullies like the ones now holding high offices.