Might is RIGHT

Realpolitik argues that there can be no ethics in international affairs (nor in politics of any ilk). Politicians believe that they can always make a majority of the people believe that whatever they say is the truth. But, I don't believe that humankind is so predictable.

Just "another brick in the wall" is how Pink Floyd put it, as easy as leading a flock of sheep...For example, our journalists and social commentators are all very certain that GWB's new "lowest rating ever" is largely due to the continuing flow of negative news from Iraq. By implication, if Iraq were calm, GWB could have been considered a successful president!

Is that really all that there is? "The winner is always right", may be a classic neocon thought but have the public believed this? I really don't think that "the public" is as dumb as the media that serves them, believes.

Democracy in Iraq means the Shia domination of an important and strategic oil source. Furthermore, one could reasonably expect an axis of power to develop with the philosophical linking of two powerful neighbors, Iraq-Iran. Which truly is the stuff of the neocon-jewish lobby's worst nightmares. Knowing this President's penchant for using leaks to accelerate his spin, one could see the timely "leak" of plans to bomb Iran as a nice way to divert attention from the Iraq imbroglio. One might also suspect that our public may even begin to question why Iran having enrichment is any different from Pakistan, India and Israel who have been clandestinely developing these capabilities from the 1950s on and all of whom have both the bombs and the "delivery systems" well in place.

In the final analysis, the Katrina debacle probably did GWB more damage politically than the "far away" war in Iraq.

Pragmatism aside, doesn't one central question get consistently missed? Have the words "right" and "truth" lost their meaning for society? Thank God that however twisted or spun, the truth remains, and might can never mean the same as right.

AND Health for ALL ?

"Er, where are we, exactly?" - Don't you see, that will be our cue to set up a government body to direct clinical practice. Initially, of course, with relatively few guidelines. Most doctors probably wouldn't even notice that they were no longer autonomous. At first. Sir Bartholomew had stood and was preparing to leave. As he pulled on his gloves he continued, "The important thing is, doctors would have to practise according to government instructions. Then it would simply be a case of changing the guidelines so that by degrees they become less orientated towards simplistic notions of what patients need and more orientated towards what government can afford." Doctors' autonomy - satire on the UK's National Health Service - British Medical Journal, Dec 19, 1998 by David Orchard The world famous British NHS - National Health Service seems to be on the rocks.

In a not-so-surprising development, America's closest equivalent - the VA (Veterans Administration) health network is also heading North.

In both cases, these outstandingly effective health initiatives are being systematically torpedoed by their respective governments.





If you value your health and the health of future generations, don't let the pharma - insurance - neocon lobby win!


*** The patient refused autopsy.

Troubles Unheard of

Having been born and brought up in Africa, the fact that the wolrld's worst and least reported human disasters are all African was a rude shock. I fondly remember peace and humanism as the face of the Africa that I love. It brings to mind the title of a famous African tale "Cry, the Beloved Country".

1) War in Democratic Republic of Congo that has claimed at least 10 times as many lives as the December tsunami."It's the worst humanitarian tragedy since the Holocaust," said John O'Shea, chief executive of Irish relief agency GOAL. "The greatest example on the planet of man's inhumanity to man." Almost half of those polled--including leftwing intellectual Noam Chomsky--nominated Congo, citing the brutality of an ugly, tangled war that has killed nearly 4 million people since 1998."The human suffering is mind-boggling," said Lindsey Hilsum, international editor for Britain's Channel 4 News. "The wickedness and cruelty of the armed men who kill and maim and rape defies belief." The images that emerge are too horrible to print.


2) The details of northern Uganda's 18-year war, ranked second in the AlertNet poll, are just as shocking. More than 20,000 children have been abducted by a cult-like rebel group and forced to serve as soldiers and sex slaves, while most of the population in the conflict zone have been forced from their homes into squalid camps. "Like many people, I didn't have any idea of the scale of this conflict" says Hollywod star Helen Mirren.



3) Sudan, where Africa's longest-running civil war has raged for two decades in the south and almost two years of atrocities in the western Darfur region have raised the spectre of genocide. "Darfur has slipped from the front pages, but the situation there is again going from terrible to being absolutely horrendous," U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland said. In addition the situation in Western Africa and in Zimbabwe are threatening to wreak even more havoc from statrvation and threatened civil wars.

CADENZA Update 1

Individually experienced but as a unit, babies...Some months of production experience under our belt, the bugs have been handled, we have expanded our workforce, and our reputation is slowly growing as a competent, quality and time conscious, production force.




Cadenza is maturing fast and is ready to try some new compositions!
We are excited by the appreciation of our clients and we have increased our capacity to take on more work.




Here's an invitation to all "out there" - if you know of anyone who needs quality MT work, please do get in touch!

Save them SNAKES

Walking in 'the bush' with my dog Duke and we were going through a patch of elephant grass (about chest high) and couldn't see much. Suddenly, about 5 feet in front of me, a black oblong head appeared over the grass. The tableau froze. It may have been an Egyptian (but there was no white on its throat) or more probably a black spitter (Naja nigricollis nigricollis). I had a hard time getting Duke not to investigate this phenomenon and during that brief struggle, the curious cobra quietly slipped out of sight.

I have too often seen the fear that a snake can generate and the mindless killing rage that accompanies this fear. But snakes do not deserve this at all, they are a precious part of God's creation and play an invaluable part in the world's ecology. Let's face our fear and look beyond to the beauty and absolute uniqueness of our snakes.
the next time you see a snake victim, save that snake and get it back out to the wilds where it belongs...

A New "GARDEN OF EDEN"

Just imagine - in this day and age - science discovers a lost world, full of never before seen species and untouched by humans? Quite incredible yet true!

Wallace independently came to his theory of evolution after studying indonesia's wildlife and in particular the amazing birds of paradise...

The 'rediscovered' six wired bird of paradise


"It's beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest; there's no evidence of human impact or presence up in these mountains," Dr Beehler told the BBC News website.

Let's hope it stays that way.

You Too can help to CONSERVE Wildlife

Finally, our Forest Department has decided to do the annual animal census for Tamil Nadu. There are vast areas to be covered and few volunteers. If you are interested in participating and don't have a clue as to how to get involved then post a comment with your email address and your location under this post and I will get back to you with details. You should be able to spare at least three consecutive days and your transportation to and from the particular forest area. Training will be provided.

This is a 1939 snap of a deer taken during a census,











and below is a diagram of the "line transect" method of counting.

Taking a good census is invaluable to our conservation efforts. So lend a hand and enjoy the forests at the same time. Believe me, it is an unforgettable experience...

The High Seas

As a child, my most exciting travel experiences were undoubtedly on ships. we used to board at Mombasa or Dar es Salaam and cross the Indian Ocean, passing the Seychelles, Mauritius and "Ceylon" too on the way to Madras. Then back again. Weeks of travelling either way - but what glorious fun!

Nowadays, when thinking of the oceans, our concerns are more about el nino, la nina and the global warming that melts ice caps, raising sea levels. The murky depths hide voracious sharks and other unnameable terrors. Vague fears of sudden, devastating tsunamis lurk in the corners of our imagination.

But, if I had my druthers, I would always prefer to sail in search of magical islands and pristine lagoons on the ever mysterious high seas.

LOVE

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not; love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.


And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13 (King James Version, modified by SLC)

Student Suicides

It's getting to be that time of year in my country. The school final exam 'season' starts towards the end of February and the carnage begins. So much pressure, so much hope and for some such a weight of despair that many of these little ones resort to death as the only escape from the hell on earth that we have created for them. We have placed such a terrible burden on our children; by our society, our family, our friends, our classmates, our teachers and our whole rotten "system of education".

Let us pray that each child will have the fortitude to withstand and that each one will find at least a single friend to tell him or her that all is not lost...

But every year we see them fall, plucked from life.
Then follows only the quietest of bewailings and helpless wringings of hands - and for such a little while - lest any should find out that we all share the blame.

See the first bit of
A MODEST PROPOSAL
FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND FROM BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLIC
By Jonathan Swift, 1729
below in the sidebar

ON POETRY

Facsimile reproductions of Emily Dickinson's writings can be found at http://www.emilydickinson.org
My English 101 professor suddenly asked us, just as we were nearing the end of term, "Why poetry?" and we were startled to find that we didn't have a ready answer. I still don't know...it is more than communication, language, beauty, symmetry or feeling.

Here's one by Drayton: "How Many Paltry Foolish Painted Things"

How many paltry foolish painted things,
That now in coaches trouble every street,
Shall be forgotten, whom no poet sings,
Ere they be well wrapped in their winding-sheet!
Where I to thee eternity shall give,
When nothing else remaineth of these days,
And queens hereafter shall be glad to live
Upon the alms of thy superfluous praise.
Virgins and matrons, reading these my rhymes,
Shall be so much delighted with thy story
That they shall grieve they lived not in these times,
To have seen thee, their sex's only glory:
So shalt thou fly above the vulgar throng,
Still to survive in my immortal song.

and one by Chesterton: "The Strange Music"

Other loves may sink and settle, other loves may loose and slack,
But I wander like a minstrel with a harp upon his back,
Though the harp be on my bosom, though I finger and I fret,
Still, my hope is all before me: for I cannot play it yet.

In your strings is hid a music that no hand hath e'er let fall,
In your soul is sealed a pleasure that you have not known at all;
Pleasure subtle as your spirit, strange and slender as your frame,
Fiercer than the pain that folds you, softer than your sorrow's name.

Not as mine, my soul's annointed, not as mine the rude and light
Easy mirth of many faces, swaggering pride of song and fight;
Something stranger, something sweeter, something waiting you afar,
Secret as your stricken senses, magic as your sorrows are.

But on this, God's harp supernal, stretched but to be stricken once,
Hoary time is a beginner, Life a bungler, Death a dunce.
But I will not fear to match them-no, by God, I will not fear,
I will learn you, I will play you and the stars stand still to hear.

As i find time, i will try to add a few more to the sidebar (lower down) but if you really want poetry try visiting http://plagiarist.com/poetry/poets/ it's free online and has a goldmine of stuff. For the wiki fans there is the sister project http://wiki.poetryx.com/Main_Page

ENJOY!

A HAPPY NEW YEAR UNIVERSE

Orion's belt


A close-up of the Crab Nebula



The Horse Head Nebula in Orion (can be seen in tiny perspective in the first pic)


An amazing look at a sunspot on our own little sun!


and Uranus who sports two new belts and moons...









take a look at the title link, click on "interactive" and be amazed...

EVOLUTION

I have been a bit hesitant to jump into the fray on the evolution debate as this issue can become a very emotive one, especially for many of my close friends.

Questions about creation and evolution are rather fundamental and how we handle them does have repurcussions for our worldviews and for our daily lives too. So, all hesitations aside, here we go.

A bit to my sorrow, I have found that it was my assumptions that caused most of my heartache. The first one was that I knew what my bible teaches about how God created. it took me far too long to realise that while the effect of God's creative action is clear enough, the how is conspicuously absent.

Second wrong assumption was to take the latest findings and theories of science as a static thing. Science is in such a fluctuant state that it is foolish to take its findings as fixed.

Third wrong un was to assume that I could convince my friends that this debate is largely misplaced.

The Pennsylvania Federal Court's ruling and rather acerbic comments will serve only to further polarize a debate which is already heading to Mars. In the final analysis, since science tries to figure out the 'hows' while religion seeks answers to 'whys' there is very little likelihood that they will tread the same path.

thanks to lifewithalacrity.com for the pic

Start the CADENZA

"... play my concerto unrehearsed from the score. I myself believed this was impossible. Liszt, however, obviously did not share my view. And so he began to play. After his accomplishment, I must add that further perfection is inconceivable; he played the Cadenza, which technically is exceedingly difficult, perfectly! Afterwards, he handed me the score and said: 'Just stay your course. I tell you truly, you have the ability needed - let nothing frighten you!' I cannot express the importance of his words. It was as though he initiated me. Many times when disappointments or bitterness are about to overwhelm me, my thoughts return to what he told me then, and my remembrance of that moment enables me to keep up my courage." (Grieg, Rome, 9 April 1870)

Saturday was the first day of production for our new medical transcription firm "Cadenza". We did well with our files in spite of a few initial scares due to a missing codec, a slow-to-arrive broadband, and some bobbles with the FTP.

It is exhilerating to start something new and do well right from day one. Good preparation, TEAMWORK, and a fast reaction time are some of the key ingredients. Many thanks to our MT Guru - Shankarji and for the efforts of Ramesh and our 'surprise' editor Pugazh. We will stay the course...

MOONS OF MYSTERY

Dione, Rhea, Enceladus and Lapetus are just four of Saturn's many moons that have been closely studied by the space explorer Cassini in recent close fly-bys.


And here is a rare alignment viewed from within Saturn's rings: