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"The King of Spain"Jordi SavallIt was the 1991 film "Tous les matins du monde" (All the Mornings in the World) that introduced me to the music of this extraordinary artist from Catalonia, Spain. Jordi Savall was the music director. Gerard Depardieu played the role of Sainte Colombe, the French viol player.Bought the CD of the sound track as soon as it became available.Label: AUDIVISCatalog#K 4640Another good one is "Ostinato" - Jordi Savall with Hesperion XXILabel: Alia VoxCatalog # AV 9820In 1974, with his wife (soprano Montserrat Figueras) and other musicians from different countries, Jordi Savall created the ensemble Hesperion XX. It is now known as Hesperion XXI.Following his appearance at the Metropolitan Museum in April 2005 (the series of three concerts was called "Celebrating Jordi Savall") The New Yorker published an article by Alex Ross titled "The King of Spain". Those interested in learning more about this superb musician can link to:NewYorker-Alex Ross-The King of SpainAnother King I am listening to a different breed of cat---the blues man B.B. King. Great accompanists, especially Duke Jethro.B.B. King live at the Regal Theatre, Chicago, November 21, 1964B.B. King-vocal/guitarKenneth Sands-trumpetJohnny Board, Bobby Forte-tenor saxDuke Jethro-pianoLeo Lauche-bassSonny Freeman-drumsMCA Records @ 1964, 1997"Put some music in your life and some life in your music"

.In a pre-election appearance last March, Prime Minister Tony Blair said to an audience of evangelical Christians at Lambeth:"................it would be “unhealthy” if religion got too mixed up with politics."Mr. Blair has been described as the most devout Christian Prime Minister since Stanley Baldwin. He attends Catholic service with his family (Mrs. Blair is a Roman Catholic) although he declares himself as Anglican.Yet, despite his personal belief he recognizes the British public's distrust of politicians who wear their religion on their sleeves. An article in TimesonLine (3/25/05 - see link) reported that when the prime minister wanted to add "God bless" at the end of his speech to the nation announcing the war against Iraq, he was dissuaded by Alastair Campbell, his the then chief of communications. Campbell said "We don't do God"."One answer may be found in the increasingly secular and multi-ethnic character of British society. Figures published in the UK Christian Handbook suggested that at the current rate of decline, total church membership across Britain would have fallen to 5,598,000 by this year, down by more than a million people in 15 years."According to the Timesonline article, Prime Minister Blair's cabinet (before the election) included members who declared themselves as atheists or agnostics.Can we imagine an atheist cabinet secretary or an elected representative here in the United States! Strange. Is it fear of God or love of God that drives the zealots in our country? Is America a more moral nation? Is the divorce rate here lower than in England? What about crime rate? Teenage pregnancy?Few clicks through Google provided answers. Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe but below that of the United States. Divorce rate is much lower in the UK So is crime rate although gun-related violence is on the increase. Not signs of a country in moral decay. The Brits are doing fine without being obsessed with hell and damnation.The Evangelical Christians in America blame all ills of our society to godlessness, lack of faith in Jesus. Based on what we see, read, and hear about them that is a stretch.Currently, they are in the driver's seat. The president is on their side. Whether we like it or not, their beliefs are being rammed down our throats. From banning the teaching of the theory of evolution in schools, display of Ten Commandments in public buildings, efforts to deny women the right to obtain "Morning After Pills" and access to abortion, the puritans are riding rough shod over those who disagree. The wall between Church and State is under siege. As more and more judicial vacancies at all levels are filled with justices who side with the religious conservatives, the wall will crumble.Link:Timesonline

Straight from the Horse's Mouth (VOA is the official news agency of the U.S. Government)"US Military Gives Details of Mishandling of Koran at GuantanamoBy VOA News04 June 2005The U.S. military Friday released the details of five incidents in which guards mishandled the Koran at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.An investigation by the base commander, Brigadier General Jay Hood, said the incidents included a prison guard splashing a Koran inadvertently with urine, an interrogator stepping on the holy book, and an obscenity written on the inside cover of a Koran.The U.S. military noted that more than 1,600 Korans have been given to detainees, and guards are told to avoid touching the holy books if possible. General Hood says the investigation found that mishandling the Koran was rare, and never condoned.The military said again Friday that there is no evidence that U.S. guards or interrogators ever flushed a Koran down the toilet, as Newsweek reported in a story that the magazine has since retracted. The report sparked anti-American protests in several Islamic countries."Amnesty International has come under fire for comparing Guantanamo to Gulag, the infamous slave labor camp in Soviet Russia. It is fair to question the choice of the term used. Amnesty's Secretary General, Irene Khan, after first attempting to defend the comparison with Gulag is now backing off. There is nothing wrong with humility when one makes an error.President Bush forcefully said "absurd" no less than 4 times to refute Amnesty International's report during his press conference on June 2nd. Is the president going to modify his position in view of the press release by VOA? Don't bank on it.Why should this be of concern to us, ordinary Americans?E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post said it well in his comments on the report by Amnesty International, and about the president's press conference."But I hope the group learns a lesson that all of Bush's opponents should also take to heart. That lesson is not to pull back from criticism or to cower before administration attacks. It's outrageous that Bush tried to dismiss all questions about practices in Guantanamo as the work of "people who hate America.""On the contrary, it's people who love America and the liberties it espouses who are most vehement in insisting that we live up to our creed. Those who care about the fate of our men and women in uniform worry how the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib might affect what happens to Americans taken prisoner in current and future wars."Links:VOA - Mishandling of KoranE.J.Dionne-Washington Post

The Catholic ChurchThere is an adage about "Ostriches with heads buried in the sand". Nicholas Kristof's column in NY Times (5/10/05) described a good example--the Catholic Church in Latin America. No surprise that preachings against birth control and use of condoms are not being heeded by the faithful."I resent them," said Alessandra Katiane da Silva, a 21-year-old who goes to Mass and was wearing a necklace with images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. She said she could better judge her contraceptive needs than elderly cardinals, then added, "We have to take care of ourselves, because they're not looking out for us."Mr. Kristof mentioned that Latin Americans were embracing Pentecostal movement because of the failure of the Catholic Church to understand and help them. The Pentecostals saw an opening and took advantage of it. While the Pentecostals are not against condoms, they too do not advocate sex for pleasure. A prayer before and after the act? The Latin Americans must be desperate to seek such an alternative. Somewhat akin to jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.Here in the United States Catholic priests railed from pulpits against supporting politicians who were pro-choice but remained conspicuously silent about their brethren in the Church who were sexually abusing children. The Archdiocese of Spokane, faced with lawsuits for $76 million, sought bankruptcy protection. What were the lawsuits about? Pedophilia.And what is happening in the Pope's own backyard? "We are not soldiers that blindly obey." Barbara McMahon wrote in The Guardian about the church's "waning influence in Italy".Prayer BreakfastsScrambled eggs and "Our Father who art in Heaven""Joseph Conn, a spokesman for the Washington advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the prayer breakfasts are thinly disguised lobbying efforts. 'These events give politicians a chance to cater to their political base, and they give religious groups a chance to curry favor with elected officials and advance their political agenda,' he said."In recent years the nation's capital has become full of devout politicians. Prayer breakfasts are an ubiquitous feature of the Washington scene. According to The Washington Post (Alan Cooperman, 5/21/05), the budget for the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast is more than $100,000. There are fringe benefits for those involved in organizing them and those who provide service---the parking attendants, wait persons, security staff, janitors, and others. Trickle down effect in action; not being recipients of largesse from the Bush tax cuts, they deserve it.For the participants, lapel pins of the national flag de rigueur. In today's America, such public display of devotion and patriotism pays dividends. President Bush recently spoke at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast."The keynote speaker was Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, who said during the presidential campaign that voting for a candidate who supports abortion rights would be a sin that must be confessed before receiving Holy Communion.'When a public official claims to be Catholic but then says he can't offer his beliefs about the sanctity of the human person as the basis of law, it always means one of two things: That person is either very confused or he's very evasive," Chaput told the prayer breakfast. "All law is the imposition of somebody's beliefs on somebody else.' "Duh! So it goesLinks:Washington Post- Bush lauds CatholicsGuardian-Barbara McMahon

Which nation can claim clean hands?Torture takes different forms---physical and psychological. Retraction by Newsweek of the report about desecration of the Koran notwithstanding, torture happens.Torture of prisoners not new and it is not going to go away. The Catholic Church used it during the Spanish Inquisition; the Nazis took it to new heights during Hitler's Third Reich; the North Vietnamese tortured their prisoners and so did the South Vietnamese with our full knowledge. Prisoners have been tortured at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. The "rendition" program is the icing on the cake. Under this program we clandestinely ship prisoners to other countries where the Geneva Convention is a joke. It has been aptly described by some as outsourcing of torture.Naomi Klein's report in The Guardian (5/14/05) sheds light on one particularly horrendous case involving a prisoner who was "renditioned".It is interesting to note that our own School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia, graduated many officers of the armed forces from Latin American countries who were later found to be directly involved in torturing and killing political dissidents. The school offcially closed on Dec.15, 2000, and now operates under the name of Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC).George Monbiot of The Guardian wrote a fascinating report about the School of the Americas way back in 2001.Links:Naomi Klein-The Guardian,UKGeorge Monbiot-The Guardian - Backyard Terrorism

Loss, grief and the need for compassionI was nearing the end of my run, a few blocks from my place when I heard the man say "My dad died". I had seen him before, sitting on the stoop smoking, on some days with a can of beer in his hand. But we never spoke to each other. He watched me running past and I saw him from the corner of my eyes.The words "My dad died" made me stop. He came off the stoop and said "My dad died today". He named the hospital a few miles away. I asked him how old was his father and he said "He was old. 81." I said the usual things. That I was sorry and hoped that the end was peaceful. The man said that his father was suffering for a long time; it was time for him to go. He wiped his tears. I took his hands, stood there for a few minutes, said "take care" and resumed my run.After coming home I thought of the man who lost his father and felt the need to talk to a stranger. I was glad that I stopped and wondered whether it helped him in a small way to be able to share his grief. I hoped that it did.These days when I run past the house he waves at me and says "Hi". Still don't know his name but we have a connection.....sort of."Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." --- John Donne(1573-1631), "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions"

"A POEM THAT I WROTE IN A HIGH FEVER"You who are lengthening your liveswith the best doctors and best medicinesremember those who are shortening their liveswith the warthat you in your long lives are notpreventing.You who are again screwingthe younger generationsand winking at each otherthe winking of your eyelidsis like chill of the swinging shuttersin an empty house.---Yehuda Amichai (translated from Hebrew by Leon Wieseltier)So far in May,Sixtysix (66) American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq...and there are 4 more days before the month ends. Patriots or cannon fodder? You decide. My mind was made up long before the first pair of boots hit the ground.Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) Yehuda Amichai was born in Germany. He moved to Israel at the age of 12 and lived there until his death."In Amichai one almost always encounters a delight in figurative language; yet his poems are never pretentious or tedious, since they speak out of the everyday and towards concerns we encounter every day. His great themes are love and loss: he celebrates life with vibrancy and energy and a relish for feeling, yet at the same time he is intensely aware of what is lost as history, both personal and social, shears away from each individual things he or she holds dear."Link:UVM-Amichai

Volte face by Congressman Walter Jones (NC)"Although he voted for the war, he has since become one of its most vociferous opponents on Capitol Hill, where the hallway outside his office is lined with photographs of the 'faces of the fallen'."The Guardian,UK, reported that Republican Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina now regrets initiating the ban against the word "French" from menus in Capitol Hill restaurants. He has become a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq. Good for him.What about Speaker Hastert? I remember hearing him speak passionately in support of the change in names. The politicians never say "No" to an opportunity to appear before cameras.Link:Guardian-Freedom Fries

And the Lure of Half DomeThe falls at Yosemite are in their grandest at this time of the year. The unusual amount of snow on the peaks and the heavy melting process means water flowing down in force rarely seen. To add to it, the valley is green and not yet overrun with summer visitors although the Memorial Day weeknd would bring a lot of them to the park. It is a treasure to enjoy.Distant view of Bridal Veil ©Arundhati BhowmickMerced River ©Arundhati BhowmickA great view © Arundhati BhowmickBridal Veil © Arundhati BhowmickYosemite Falls, Upper and Middle © Arundhati BhowmickFifth tallest in the world. Height: 2425 ft.Closer view of Yosemite Falls © Arundhati BhowmickMeadow, Horsetail Falls in the background © Arundhati BhowmickAlso known as El Capitan Falls. Height 1500 ft.Small Church (Non-denominational) in the Valley © Arundhati BhowmickLooking at the peaks from Yosemite Valley © Arundhati BhowmickLower Yosemite Falls © Arundhati BhowmickVernal Falls from Mist Trail ©@Tim HentzelNevada Falls © Arundhati BhowmickHalf Dome, A Piece of Rock that is like a magnet to hikersHalf Dome, Sheer Side © Arundhati BhowmickRock climbers, brave souls, go up the sheer face of the rock. We,hikers, ascend the other side. The last 200 yards require pulling yourself up cables attached to posts embedded on the rock. Not as hairy as it looks but strenuous. Thousands of hikers do it during the season. For those who are interested, full details available in the excellent post by Kenton Lee(see link).Climbers going up the cable (like ants) © MusafirHalf Dome cables, last 200 yds, 55 degree incline © Kenton LeeOn Half Dome © Sarbajit GhosalClimbing buddy,SG, showing off © MusafirSG on the precipice © MusafirPhoto credit: Arundhati Bhowmick used a Nikon Coolpix 5700 to take most of the photographs, including the sheer side of Half Dome. Exceptions were the ones going up Half Dome and of Vernal and Nevada Falls.Link:Kenton Lee

Lies and distortions, smoke and mirrorsAs the zero hour approaches for the so called "Nuclear" option over President Bush's judicial nominees, we know about the major players in this battle.What do we know of the facts--the history of judicial appointments?And what do we really know of how the American people feel?For the answer to the first question all one needs to do is to look at the chart below (published in NY Times May 18, 2005). These are historical facts, not numbers cooked up by reporters of the Times. May 18, 2005 As to the second question, the Republican senators pushing the nuclear option feel that they have the backing of their constituents. How many of their constituents are aware of the facts and the significance of this unprecedented political muscle flexing is another matter. Editorials in newspapers as diverse as The Chattanoogan, Salt Lake Tribune, and Roanoke Times have come out against the tactics being used by Majority Leader Bill Frist and the senators who are supporting the nuclear option. While refraining from public statements, The White House is deeply involved...and is in full suppoort of what is going on in the senate.This is an example of "power corrupts" at its worst. It is almost as if the Republicans are sure that they will enjoy majority for ever.