Posts

Promote Viagra and ban Morning After PillThe moral values gang merrily marching backward. The problem is that they want to force others to join them. "Conscience clause" ! Ya, Habibi.From The NY Times:"Pharmacies Balk on After-Sex Pill and Widen Fight in Many States" By MONICA DAVEY and PAM BELLUCK " 4/19/05I quote:Around the country, in at least 12 states, including Indiana, Texas and Tennessee, so-called conscience clause bills have been introduced, which would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptives if they have moral or religious objections. Four states already have such laws applying specifically to pharmacists: Arkansas, South Dakota, Mississippi and Georgia.The full article: Morning after Pill"There's a new medical crisis. Doctors are reporting that many men are having allergic reactions to latex condoms. They say they cause severe swelling. So what's the problem?"--Dustin Hoffman

This is what a friend wrote on April 17th:"As of ten minutes ago, Iraq took on a whole different dimension for me and Brinda. The wonderful and compassionate progressive activist Marla Ruzicka was killed by a car-bomb in Iraq today. She was working to help Iraqi families put their lives back together after the carnage of the last two years. Perhaps Robert Fisk will write a fittingly eloquent tribute to Marla, if their paths had crossed in Iraq.Brinda and I met Marla 4 years ago at the annual Green Party convention in Burlingame. Brinda wanted to campaign for Medea Benjamin's SF city-council run. Marla invited us to an all-hands party at her home. Sadly, we couldn't make it and we lost the chance to work closely with her.She came across as a very positive, energetic and charming person. I remember she played with little Nikhil while Brinda and I ate lunch. We had several email exchanges after that and a year or two ago I met her again at a talk in Palo Alto. I remember reading an article about her and her work in Iraq in the SF Chronicle, and feeling really proud of her dedication.Medea has written a short note about Marla on the globalexchange.org website that you can check out.The dead and dying in Iraq are not numbers or photos to us any more. now we have a living face, a living voice, a vibrant and compassionate soul attached to this disaster. People like Marla help us believe that love and idealism still mean something here, now.What more can I say? We are in total shock.--BG"Iraq Car Bomb Kills American Activisthttp://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050418/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iaq_activist_killedAP Iraq Car Bomb Kills American ActivistBy BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press WriterSAN FRANCISCO - A woman who led an effort to help those ravaged by violence in Iraq fell victim to the war herself when a car bomb killed her and two other people, officials said Sunday.Marla Ruzicka, founder of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, died Saturday in the blast, which also killed an Iraqi and another foreigner, officials said. She had been in Iraq conducting door-to-door surveys trying to determine the number of civilian casualties in the country.A skinny, ever-smiling woman with curly blond tresses, Ruzicka was untiring and undaunted as she went up against military and political bureaucracies in her effort to win help for Iraqi civilian victims of the war, and to make sure those who died were not forgotten."Everyone who met Marla was struck by her incredible effervescence and commitment," Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "She was courageous and relentless in pursuit of accurate information about civilians caught up in war."Ruzicka, 28, of Lakeport, founded CIVIC in 2003 and was instrumental in securing millions of dollars in aid money from the federal government for distribution in Iraq.U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), D-Vt., said it was Ruzicka's idea to put a special fund in last year's multibillion-dollar foreign aid bill to help Iraqis whose businesses had been bombed by mistake or as collateral damage."She was constantly calling us to say (lawmakers were) moving too slowly," he said by telephone on Sunday. "Just from the force of her personality, we decided to take a chance on it."Ruzicka's parents said they were notified of her death just hours after the explosion. U.S. Embassy officials publicly released Ruzicka's nameSunday."We've been very worried about her but we know better than to tell our children not to do anything. We were supportive and just reminded her to be careful," said her mother, Nancy Ruzicka.She said her daughter had left her a telephone message the night before her death that said, "Mom and dad, I love you. I'm OK.""She cared about people and gave people her love and help," Nancy Ruzicka said. "I'll remember the love she spread around the world and the good ambassador that she was for her country."Leahy remembered Ruzicka as a fiery young woman who came into his office about two years ago seeking federal money to aid civilians.Leahy said $10 million was added to the foreign aid bill last year for that purpose and another $10 million has been set aside for next year. The money was being distributed by government aid workers with Ruzicka's help, he said.Leahy said he would speak about Ruzicka on the Senate floor Monday, and possibly help plan a memorial service for the woman in Washington."I said to her father this morning, 'A lot of people spend their whole lives and do not begin to accomplish what she's done,'" Leahy said.Human Rights Watch said Ruzicka had been set to leave Iraq within a week when she was killed.In an essay she sent to the New York-based group a few days before her death, she explained the significance of her work counting Iraqi casualties."A number is important not only to quantify the cost of the war, but to me each number is also a story of someone whose hopes, dreams and potential will never be realized, and who left behind a family," Ruzicka wrote.Ruzicka got her start working for non-governmental organizations 10 years ago at the San Francisco-based human rights group Global Exchange.Medea Benjamin, the group's director, said Ruzicka was a "pretty, peppy, vivacious young woman who wanted to learn about the world." Ruzicka worked on projects ranging from AIDS in Africa to the travel embargo against Cuba, she said."It's a terrible tragedy and a tragic irony that somebody who devoted her life to helping the victims of war would herself become a victim of war," Benjamin said.Ruzicka campaigned for civilian victims in Afghanistan in 2002. That work helped produce precedent-setting legislation in Washington, sponsored by Leahy, authorizing aid to Afghans who suffered losses in U.S. military operations.When the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began in March 2003, Ruzicka was already in Baghdad with Code Pink, said Jodi Evans, co-founder of the women's anti-war group.Other activists decided to return to the United States to talk about how the Iraqi people were affected by the invasion, but Ruzicka made a commitment to stay, Evans said. She founded the group CIVIC that year."Marla thought she would be more effective staying, because once the bombs started falling, people would be hurt and she needed to help them get their lives back together," Evans said.Even as fighting continued to rage in sections of Baghdad in mid-April 2003, Ruzicka arrived back in the Iraqi capital, set up office in an unprotected hotel and soon was a regular visitor to the city's makeshift newsrooms, encouraging media interest in the civilian-casualty story."Spread the word - it will be what we make of it," she e-mailed friends as she began her Iraq work.Ruzicka is among several foreign aid workers killed in Iraq. Others included Margaret Hassan, a British aid worker who was abducted in Baghdad in October and later shown on video pleading for her life, and four workers for a Southern Baptist missionary group who were trying tofind a way to provide clean water to people in the northern city of Mosul.___Associated Press Special Correspondent Charles J. Hanley contributed tothis story from New York.

Taking down the barrier between Church and State, one brick at a timeAnd doing so with glee. There are two articles in The NY Times about the cynical shenanigans of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Texas) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. While Tom DeLay's efforts to seek cover under religion come as no surprise (he is the epitome of the proverbial "snake oil salesman"), one would have expected better from Dr. Frist.Part of the editorial in the NY Times (4/16/05)reads:"We fully understand that a powerful branch of the Republican Party believes that the last election was won on "moral values." Even if that were true, that's a far cry from voting for one religion to dominate the entire country. President Bush owes it to Americans to stand up and say so."From what we know about our president, it would be futile to expect him to take a rightful position. He, too, is quite adept at playing the God card.Links to NY Times:Bill Frist's Religious WarGet Tom DeLay to Church on Time

A few classics and some that are of more recent vintage"Great" is a matter of opinion. I think they are great. You might not agree.Warning: These films do not contain scenes of mindless violence; you will not see cars going over cliffs and bursting into flames; buildings being blown apart, and people being killed at random.All The Kings Men (1949)Based on Robert Penn-Warren's Pulitzer Prize winning novel (1946) about the rise and fall of a politician in the Deep South. Broderick Crawford gave an outstanding performance as Willie Stark and won an Oscar. John Ireland made an impression in a secondary role.Starring: Broderick Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge, John Ireland, John Derek, Joanne DruDirected by: Robert RossenProduced by: Robert RossenCleo from 5 to 7 (1962)French - Cleo de 5 a 7 (with sub-titles)Corrine Marchand as Cleo A typical Agnes Varda film. Portrait of two hours in the life of pop singer Cleo Victoire (Corrine Marchand) as she restlessly awaits the results of a cancer test. "With a distinctly feminist take on the French New Wave films of the early 1960s, Varda's film examines Cleo's banal yet extraordinary afternoon as she traverses Paris, bouncing back and forth between various men, intercepting and avoiding friends, enemies, superstitions, chance, and eventually love. The camera follows at breakneck speed as Cleo's existential ennui pulls her through Paris. Lively characters populate Cleo's journey, ranging from a tough female cabdriver, Cleo's mothering assistant, her blasé boyfriend, and finally a talkative and intriguing stranger, a young soldier (Antoine Bourseiller) spending his last hours in Paris before shipping off to war. As Cleo's perspectives are completely rearranged by the specter of possible illness, Varda describes a world of life, possibilities, and love.""Private Confessions" (English Version, 1999)Pernilla August When Ingmar Bergman stopped directing movies his favorite actress Liv Ullmann took over. They were lovers and lived together for some years. Based on an autobiographical book (about his parents) by Bergman, this is a movie that powerfully depicts a woman's search for love, her battle with her religious convictions, and the weakness of the man who failed to provide the support that she needed to escape a loveless marriage.The story unfolds over a period of decades and begins in 1925 "as the 36-year-old Anna Bergman (Pernilla August) confesses to an elderly priest (von Sydow), that she is having an affair. He advises her to break it off and tell her husband the truth. Each scene is essentially an encounter: between Anna and her husband, her lover, best friend, or the priest. As the story moves forward in time and then, dramatically, backwards to when Anna was 18, we come to understand the ways in which honesty, love, loyalty, and sexual passion play different roles at each stage of one's life. Bergman seems to be suggesting that "the truth" is not only relative, it is constantly changing. "Starring: Max Von Sydow, Pernilla August, Samuel FrolerDirected by: Liv UllmannProduced by: Ingrid DahlbergLantana (2001)Anthony LaPaglia and Kerry Armstrong A gem from Australia."Plagued with grief over the murder of her daughter, Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey) suspects that her husband John (Geoffrey Rush) is being unfaithful to her. When Valerie disappears, Detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) attempts to solve the mystery of her absence. A complex web of love, sex and deceit emerges-drawing in four related couples whose various partners are distrustful and suspicious about each other's involvement. With its myriad, entangled affairs LANTANA deftly suggests an atmosphere of doubt and deception and shows the ruinous effects these dispositions can have on people and their relationships."Starring: Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey, Kerry Armstrong, Rachael BlakeDirected by: Ray LawrenceProduced by: Jan ChapmanInsomnia (Norwegian, with sub-titles, 1999)Stellan Skarsgard The American version (2002) with Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hillary Swank is very good but I give the edge to the Norwegian one."Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard (BREAKING THE WAVES, GOOD WILL HUNTING) gives a compelling performance as Jonas Engstrom, an exiled Swedish city detective working in Norway who travels to the small coastal town of Tromso in order to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. When he makes a fatal mistake in the investigation, however, his own conscience, coupled with the insomnia caused by the 24-hour summer sunlight of northernmost Norway, sets Engstrom on the path to insanity. Director Erik Skjoldbjaerg creates palpable tension in this strong, subtle film."Starring: Stellan Skarsgard, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Maria Bonnevie, Frode Rasmussen, Gisken ArmandDirected by: Erik SkjoldbjaergProduced by: Petter J. Borgli, Tomas Backstrom, Tom Remlov

Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheneyi, and Agathidium rumsfeldiGreat honor; quite appropriate."They are synonymous with American power, conservatism and the projection of military might. Now the names of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have gained a second, somewhat less formidable connotation: two scientists have named a species of beetle after America's paramount triumvirate."The Guardian-Axis of Weevils

"........a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"Asparagus Gratin This is the season when asparagus is plentiful and the price is right. We, in the San Francisco Bay area, are fortunate to get fresh, succulent asparagus from the San Joaquin Delta. The following recipes are simple, take very little time and taste delicious.The bottom (tough) ends of asparagus spears should be trimmed, discarded.The recipes call for preparing the asparagus by parboiling or steaming (preferred). To retain the flavor, texture and color, avoid overcooking. Add salt to the water. I steam them for about 4-5 minutes then put them in an ice bath to prevent softening further. If you are boiling them, about 3-4 minutes should be enough...and be sure to drop them in the ice bath (a large enough container with cold water and ice cubes). The stalks should be tender and crisp, not limp.Asparagus Gratin with Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese(From Lidia's Italian Kitchen)24 medium-size asparagus spears (about 1.5 pounds) steamed or parboiled -- see above1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese2 tablespoon plain dry bread crumbs1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest (the yellow part of the skin only)3 tablespoon unsalted butter, meltedSalt and pepper, to tasteIn a bowl, toss the cheese, bread crumbs and lemon zest until blendedPreheat the broilerArrange the asparagus stalks in a single layer in a baking dishDrizzle the asparagus with melted butterSprinkle an even layer of the bread crumb mixture over itBroil about 4 inches from the heat until the top is golden brown--about 3 minutesAsparagus stir fried with Five Spice Powder, Hoisin Sauce and Soy Sauce(Musafir's kitchen)1 lbs Asparagus stalks steamed (or parboiled) - see above - cut in 1" pieces1 small onion diced in 1/2" piecesA few stalks of scallion cut in 1/2" pieces1 dried red chili pepper2 tablespoon canola or peanut oil1/2 teaspoon Five Spice Powder1-1/2 tablespoon Hoisin sauce2 tablespoon Soy Sauce1 teaspoon Sesame Oil (optional)Heat the oil in a non stick panAdd red chili pepperAdd diced onion and stir for a few minutes until onions turn soft and goldenAdd Five spice PowderAdd Hoisin Sauce and stir until all ingredients are coatedAdd scallionAdd Soya Sauce and mixReduce heat and cook for a few minutesRemove from stove, add Sesame Oil and mixServe with rice or noodlesNote: Five Spice Powder, Hoisin Sauce, Soy Sauce and Sesame oil available in Oriental grocery stores.East-West Asparagus Salad(Narsai David's KCBS Kitchen)1 lb pasta (penne or ziti)1-1/2 lb Asparagus, previously steamed or parboiled (see above), cut into 2" pieces4 scallions chopped with green tops1 red onion sliced into thin half-moons4 tablespoon pickled red ginger (cut into thin strips)1 cup Narsai's Hoisin dressing (see below)Cook pasta until "al dente".Drain and chill immediately under cold water and then drain againIn a large bowl toss pasta and asparagus with remaining ingredientsThe dressing1/3 cup Hoisin sauce1/4 cup balsamic vinegar1/4 cup soy sauce1 tablespoon lime (or lemon) juice2 teaspoon Dijon style mustard2/3rd cup salad oilMix all except the oil and sir until blended (blender could be used at low speed). Then add oil and blend again.Note: I do it manually and it works.Pickled red ginger available in Oriental grocery storesListening to:Waltz For DebbieBill Evans--PianoScott LaFaro--BassPaul Motian--DrumsRiverside Records

And the deafening silence of the German NationA few weeks ago I saw the movie "Downfall" which depicted the final days of Adolf Hitler and his inner circle in the bunker as the Russians were closing in on Berlin. Bruno Ganz has received a lot of praise for his performance as Hitler. Deservedly so. But this is not a review of the movie. It is about my reaction to it.History of the Third Reich, Hitler and his key aides has been well documented. We know that they were murderous thugs blinded by hatred for the Jews and obsessed with establishing reign of a master race. While the film does not try to completely hide their role, it treats them kindly. Hitler and members of his inner circle appear to be decent human beings!Questions continue to be raised about the silence and complicity of the German people. An article by Luke Harding in The Guardian (UK) about the concentration camp in Belsen made me think that while the scale might be different atrocities against hapless people continue in different parts of the world; unjust wars still take place. There is apathy, there is ignorance, and there is an overwhelming tendency to look the other way---just as the Germans did during the Third Reich."Yesterday Maj Williams said the local German population must have been aware of the camp's existence. 'The nearest railway was 5km away in the town of Bergen. Prisoners then had to walk [to the camp]. The people of Bergen must have known,' he said."Guardian-Belsen

Raves, rants, musings, erudite opinions, or just blowing off steamThis post is about fellow bloggers whose sites I visit, some more frequently than others. A few are not very active--haven't posted in recent weeks. Nevertheless, I think their sites are interesting. They are what I call "Kindred Spirits". The list is somewhat eclectic and includes members of academe, students and housewives. Among them a blithe spirit from Lahore,Pakistan (currently attending college in Minnesota); an Iraqi who just completed his dissertation for an architectual degree and writes passionately about what is happening in his country; and a young Iraqi woman, author of Baghdad Burning who has been mentioned in The NY Times and The Guardian,UK.Prof. Juan Cole is another well-known personality. There is a photographer who publishes fascinating digital images from Bangalore,India, and another who does so from a place near Austin,TX. A young man in Norway who writes about himself, his friends and his family. The subjects cover the gamut from politics to pasta, sexuality to struggle with mental depression. There are retirees and job hunters.Most of them are in the United States. The common thread that runs between us is perhaps our distaste for the Bush Republicans, the "red state" bigots and what they are doing to our country. There is the blogger from Ft.Lauderdale,FL, without whose encouragement I wouldn't have dared to write about Auschwitz and the Holocaust.In my list, women outnumber men. That is fine. "A woman has given me strength and endurance, admitted." (D.H. Lawrence)In some way or other the authors of these blogs made an impact. I say to them: Stay well and keep publishing. Whether you think so or not,the contents are meaningful. Time is a factor but I hope to find other kindred spirits in my journeys through cyber space.americanonlineA World of ChaosBaghdad Burning becker-posnerBLEHbetenuitFogduxDilettante's DiaryDutched PinaygogoshireJeans VoiceJesus' GeneralJuan ColeknobboyMindful Thingspudentillaraed in the middleRonnie LoBelloryanmcreynolds3dcafeTony HatfieldWhere two or more are gatheredwhyshouldiliveZezrie's Ponderings"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."---Elie Wiesel

Independent ? Not by any acceptable standardFellow blogger has a great post (On Why I don't watch TV, April 10th) about the media in the United States.Dilettante's Diary

"A Culture of Death, Not Life" Frank Rich in The NY Times 4/10/05)"When those leaders, led by the Bush brothers, wallow in this culture, they do a bait-and-switch and claim to be upholding John Paul's vision of a "culture of life." This has to be one of the biggest shams of all time. Yes, these politicians oppose abortion, but the number of abortions has in fact been going down steadily in America under both Republican and Democratic presidents since 1990 - some 40 percent in all. The same cannot be said of American infant fatalities, AIDS cases and war casualties - all up in the George W. Bush years. Meanwhile, potentially lifesaving phenomena like condom-conscious sex education and federally run stem-cell research are in shackles.This agenda is synergistic with the entertainment culture of Mr. Bush's base: No one does the culture of death with more of a vengeance - literally so - than the doomsday right. The "Left Behind" novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins all but pant for the bloody demise of nonbelievers at Armageddon. And now, as Eric J. Greenberg has reported in The Forward, there's even a children's auxiliary: a 40-title series, "Left Behind: The Kids," that warns Jewish children of the hell that awaits them if they don't convert before it's too late. Eleven million copies have been sold on top of the original series' 60 million. "Link:Culture of Death