Toys in the Attic

Welcome...I've added a whack of new peeps to the TGIF list...some very lovely and bright folks I've met at the University over the last little while...in fact they are probably way too lovely and bright for me but somehow, hopefully through my winning personality and a healthy amount of hypnotism, I'll convince them of my greatness and we'll be friends for life. Either that or they'll run me over with their car- everyone's a critic. Well as many of you know by now, we had a little unfortunate excitement here in the house last week. It seems my wife decided that it would be a good idea to collapse in the doorway on her way to work, scaring the BeJebus out of us all. I took her to the emergency room and after a thorough examination...they really didn't know what happened exactly. We're still waiting for a follow up with a neurologist to find out all the deatils. But at press time she's doing well and seems to have recovered completely...on the other hand I'm not sure I have. I felt utterly powerless, hopeless, and frightened. *sigh* Compared to that the rest of the time it's been fairly uneventful. I'm waist deep in the semester now, toiling away at my papers and readings. I've got a stack of books in the house on the Iranian Revolution for my paper on the fall of the Shah in 1979- all of which I have to read in the next month or so. I'm also getting ready to start a book on the Scopes Trial. I'm afraid my brain is starting to leak! Tonight I had a great lecture on the ideological challenges of Luther to the Catholic Church (what would become in time of course the Protestant Reformation). The break from nominalism and scholasticism to the principle of salvation through grace is, when broken down and carefully examined, at once an incredible revolution of thought and also a simple act of faith. Luther's challenge, not just to the insitutions of the Church, but the foundations of spiritual versus temporal dynamic, made me even more amazed by what is taking place today with regard to the Muslim protests in Europe (and elsewhere) over the Danish "Mohammed" cartoons. Seeing the images of burning embassies, people carrying placards calling for beheadings and the destruction of Western liberalism...it makes me wonder if for some people much has changed in the 500 years since Luther posted his 95 theses. Tolerance, religious or cultural, is a two way street. For example, if Hamas (and its supporters in the Middle East) wish to be recognized as the legitimate government of the Palestinian people its first step must be to recognize Israel's right to exist. What is happening though should be a clarion call to the continuing need for a healthy separation between Church and State in the West. Fundamentalism of any stripe is dangerous to liberty, and we shouldn't think it can't happen here. The freedom OF religion is also the freedom FROM religion and pluralism is only recipe for a healthy nation. What fundamentalism becomes inevitably is Nazism dressed up in whatever clothes are fashionable for the time- this is where religion, untempered by protection of the rights of others, becomes an all comsuming fire. Allah uber alles as it were. At the moment there is a fundamentalist streak running through North America in recent times, however it doesn't reach the level of the current radical Islamists, despite what some of my more liberal friends may think. In other words...Pat Robertson may shoot his mouth off, but he isn't firebombing the headquarters of NOW. When Republicans lashed out at the French before the Iraq invasion, they just started calling French Fries, 'Freedom Fries'...they didn't torch the French Embassy. See the difference? President Bush's State of the Union message was fairly predictable in what it said and didn't say. There were eloquent moments, notably when he spoke to the hopeful America we all look for, but for the most part it was a rehash of ideas he failed to move last year. More and more it seems clear what 'compassionate conservatism' really means- the artiface of compassion, a wink and a nod to conservatism, but neither coming close to the actual definition of either word. One cannot call compassionate the cutting of Medicaid payments while at the same time protecting precription drug companies from actually facing competitive pricing (remember the free market, Mr. Bush?). One cannot call conservative exploding the federal deficit to a half a trillion dollars. What develops is a political philosophy that attacks the parentalism of The Great Society while at the same time embracing it and shifting the balance of payments in the ledger- the 'mommy government' of LBJ becomes the 'daddy government' of the religious right. What President Bush has done is take all of the best ideals of Democratic presidents of the past and masqueraded them with the symbols of Republican ones. He has melded the Wilsonian Doctrine of liberal political intervention, with the Truman Doctrine of military led nation-building- yet still cloaks himself in the legacy of Ronald Reagan as the great tax-cutting libertarian. It's so easy to see the illogic of the equation. Meanwhile, as a New York Times editorial put it succintly, he creates a "dizzying array of misleading analogies, propaganda slogans and false choices: Congress authorized the president to spy on Americans and knew all about it ... 9/11 could have been prevented by warrantless spying ... you can't fight terrorism and also obey the law ... and Democrats are not just soft on national defense, they actually don't want to beat Al Qaeda". These are the things that you have to read about when my brain is leaking! A cool thing happened (twice actually) last week. I got two emails read on the air by my hero Tony Kornheiser. They were both related to the show 24 which has now pretty much become the only show I watch on TV. They are killing my West Wing, they've pretty much killed Alias, and I missed so many of the early Lost this year I'm waiting for the DVDs...so its Jack Bauer all the way!!! I also take pictures though...and here are some. Wearing a sweater that Auntie Morghan made for her, and a smile Mommy made for her...

Making a funny face....

Having fun with bath time toys...

I've heard of having a monkey on your back but this is new...

Look at my toes...

Sleep little baby...

I have bunnies for hands...aaaieeeeee....

Best face ever...

Dressing up to go with Daddy to school...

Holding her glowy baby...

I think we have to stop letting the baby watch 24 with us...here she tortures glowy baby to get information on the whereabouts of a terrorist cell leader...oh the horror. (but spot on for recognizing that the glowy baby is glowy because it must have come in contact with radioactive material...bonus points)...