Re: Those who can't, teach
Damon wrote: > I tend to agree. I think the problem is exacerbated by the fact IMHO that we have an ethical responsibility to clean up our own mess. I really don't think there is any easy way out of this one... But how do we clean it up? We have failed miserably to this point, what can we do differently that will change things in our favor? Do we reinstate the draft and quadruple the number of troops (and the war budget)? Sometimes you just have to admit you f**ked up and get the hell out. > On a totally unrelated note, the Dems winning congress should work out > to the Repub's advantage when they raise taxes to cover the ballooning > war costs... You mean you think Dibold is going to allow the Dems to win control of the Congress? Doug Cut and run maru ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Goddess status may violate girls' rights, says court
http://tinyurl.com/sdpmo "Isolated from family and friends, the young "living goddesses" of Nepal are revered, their every need accounted for and their every motion interpreted as divine instruction. From the age of four, many girls chosen as "kumaris" live their childhood lives through a series of rituals, having little contact with the outside world. Those most revered are forbidden from letting their feet touch the floor. But the nation took a major step yesterday towards abandoning the centuries-old tradition, after its Supreme Court ordered an inquiry into whether the human rights of the girls are being violated. There are around a dozen living goddesses in the Kathmandu area. While lesser kumaris attend school and lead relatively normal lives, the most important are confined to special "kumari houses" and only allowed out for religious ceremonies. According to tradition, kumaris are selected from the Buddhist community and subjected to rituals, including being left in a room of severed goat and buffalo heads for a night. If they prove their fearlessness, and meet other criteria, they are worshipped as a goddess by both Hindus and Buddhists until they first menstruate, when a replacement is found. Pundevi Mahajan, the child rights lawyer who filed the case, insisted that she aims only to reform the tradition, not abolish it. Nevertheless, conservative activists have lodged their own court case aimed at protecting the tradition unchanged. Chanira Bajracharya, 13, who as the Kumari of Patan is the second most important living goddess, gave a rare interview to The Daily Telegraph. She leaves her house only 18 times a year to officiate at local festivals and has no friends her own age, but said she opposed any dilution of the tradition. "As a kumari, we are not supposed to be touched by dogs or leather shoes or by menstruating women," she said, before asking, "If everything is allowed, and we are allowed to go out, what is the point of being a kumari?" However, she warned: "If such things are done, then people might die. If one pollutes the kumari, then the person might die. So tradition has to be maintained." Although in recent years the most important kumaris have received home tuition to compensate for lost schooling, campaigners say that they are ill equipped to fully reintegrate into society when their years in the kumari house end. "Maybe some people say that a goddess doesn't need human rights," said Anup Singh Suwal, a community leader who supports reform. "But after she is a goddess she has to become a human again."" -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. - Richard Dawkins ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Add elephants to the self-aware club
Deborah Harrell wrote: Ronn!Blankenship wrote: At 09:09 AM Tuesday 10/31/2006, Horn, John wrote: On Behalf Of Deborah Harrell Hmm, I think Uplifted pachyderms will challenge engineers to fit out a spaceship that holds them... It worked for Niven and Pournelle in "Footfall"... Perhaps surprisingly, no one had sent it to the Niven list yet . . . Guess that's another title to add to my ever-expanding list of "books to read - someday!" Debbi who thinks that film shot from underneath swimming elephants is way cool Oooh, speaking of Niven -- Who thinks this is funny: [label on dryer door] If you go through this door, you will dry. Think of it as revolution in action. [/label on dryer door] Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Add elephants to the self-aware club
> Ronn!Blankenship wrote: > > At 09:09 AM Tuesday 10/31/2006, Horn, John wrote: > > > On Behalf Of Deborah Harrell > > > Hmm, I think Uplifted pachyderms will challenge > > >engineers to fit out a spaceship that holds them... > >It worked for Niven and Pournelle in "Footfall"... > Perhaps surprisingly, no one had sent it to the > Niven list yet . . . Guess that's another title to add to my ever-expanding list of "books to read - someday!" Debbi who thinks that film shot from underneath swimming elephants is way cool Access over 1 million songs - Yahoo! Music Unlimited (http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Those who can't, teach
On 11/2/06, jdiebremse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: O.k., Nick - you've been made President of the United States. What's your Iraq policy?To stop teaching the Iraqi police and military? Anything else? Resign, since it is undemocratic to be appointed or made president by magic, hacking voting machines or whatever you have in mind. I'm just a voter and citizen. What seems quite clear is that things are getting worse, so continuing on the current path or training others to do things the same way is not going to make things better. At this point, all we can do is triage our way out of the mess. Just as I wouldn't expect you to make triage decisions in a medical disaster, I wouldn't expect me to make triage decisions in a military/political disaster. When dealing with failure and loss, the healthy response is to change the way you think, not to merely change tactics. Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages: 408-904-7198 ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Those who can't, teach
Nick Arnett wrote: > So... yesterday the administration admitted that we'll have > to stay longer in Iraq so that we have more time to train > more Iraqi police and military to take over what our troops are doing. > > Let's see... we have failed to make the country secure, but > we're teaching Iraqis our methods in hopes that they will > succeed? Don't we have to demonstrate that our methods > actually work before it makes any sense to train others? See, Nick, you are talking about the wrong issues. Staying longer in Iraq is mandatory because any other course of action is a blatant admission that the Iraq adventure flopped. Big Time. Since the defining policy of a President's career is never that wrong [at least not until the historians start], you guys will stay on in Iraq at least until 2008. At that point, things ought to be so very bad that a Democrat ought to be able to run on the 'Get out now!' plank. > Or > are we expecting that when those keeping the country secure > are Iraqis, rather than Americans, all of the sectarian > infighting will stop? Umm, surely even those who dreamed of petal-strewn cakewalks couldn't be *that* naïve? > We have failed to make Iraq secure for Iraqis, so how can it > make sense for us to teach them how to make their country secure? Very few things about this Iraq adventure have made sense. Why should that change now? Ritu ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Those who can't, teach
JDG wrote: > O.k., Nick - you've been made President of the United States. > What's your Iraq policy?To stop teaching the Iraqi police and > military? Anything else? Is this game only for Nick or can anyone play? Ritu ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Those who can't, teach
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Nick Arnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > So... yesterday the administration admitted that we'll have to stay longer > in Iraq so that we have more time to train more Iraqi police and military to > take over what our troops are doing. > > Let's see... we have failed to make the country secure, but we're teaching > Iraqis our methods in hopes that they will succeed? Don't we have to > demonstrate that our methods actually work before it makes any sense to > train others? Or are we expecting that when those keeping the country > secure are Iraqis, rather than Americans, all of the sectarian infighting > will stop? > > We have failed to make Iraq secure for Iraqis, so how can it make sense for > us to teach them how to make their country secure? O.k., Nick - you've been made President of the United States. What's your Iraq policy?To stop teaching the Iraqi police and military? Anything else? JDG ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
