:: Ray's Periodic Rantings ::

:: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 ::

Freedom for the world. Unless we like your king.

On January 20, 2005, George W. Bush made a lofty inaugural address. Here is an interesting passage:

Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:

All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are, the future leaders of your free country.

The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."

One week before, several newspapers and wire services ran short stories concerning 15 people, including 1 woman, who had been sentenced to 250 lashings each for participating in a small anti-monarchy demonstration. I especially like this line from the AP: "Lashing is an unusual punishment for dissidents challenging the monarchy or calling for reforms. They usually just receive prison sentences."

Where did this happen? Where is this brutal regime which, if the president's words are to be believed, ought to be overthrown in favor of a democracy? Was it Iran? South Korea? Try Saudi Arabia. And did the president condem this bullying, this tyranny? Not a peep. 15 people stood for their liberty. George Bush did not stand with them.

I guess his pretty words don't apply to the poor saps who's country's ruling family sells us lots of oil, lets us use their land for military bases, and has business ties with the family of the president (see Farenheit 9/11 and/or House of Bush, House of Saud, for this final allegation). Sorry, Saudis, but an old-fashioned monarchy will simply have to be good enough for you. And if a few of you are lashed or imprisoned once in a while for daring to speak out against it and publicly advocate democracy, he and we will just look the other way.

Excuse me while I vomit.
:: Ray 1:48 PM [+] ::
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Inauguration (not the one you think)

I was inaugurated today at the People's Inaugural, a ceremony initiated by my congresswoman, Jan Schakowsky. Among many others, I took the following oath:

I do solemnly swear that I, Ray Koltys, will faithfully execute the responsibilities and privileges of a patriotic American, and will to the best of my abilities work to move our democracy forward by preserving, not privatiziing, Social Security, making affordable health care available to all Americans, increasing and protecting American jobs that pay living wages, seeking justice and fairness in our courts and in our tax system, ensuring the security of Americans at home, and working for peace and prosperity around the world.

Toward that end, please consider There Is No Crisis.

:: Ray 3:18 PM [+] ::
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Cold Comfort Farm

I just finished watching the 1995 BBC production of Cold Comfort Farm on IFC. I must confess that Kate Beckinsale was the selling point, but I was very glad that I tuned in. There is an apt description at the imdb link, so I won't summarize, but I will say that the film was a surprising delight.

Among the great comedic lines:
Crotchety old Aunt Ada for the umpteenth time: I saw something nasty in the woodshed.
To which Hollywood producer Mr. Neck replies: Sure you did, Baby, but did it see you?
:: Ray 2:38 AM [+] ::
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Psst.

It's not a secret, but I haven't gotten around to telling everyone yet. On December 21, on a flight from Chicago to Orlando, I asked Mary to marry me. We are engaged.

It is a strange odyssey that has brought me here, married to one Mary, widowed, and now engaged to another. There are an awful lot of serendepities (more than I care to mention here due to privacy concerns) involved, enough to make anyone go, "hmmm." Or, if you are like me, they amount to enough evidence to tip the scales from somewhat doubtful to absolutely convinced of the existence of a Creator. Ask me sometime, and I will tell you the story. I guarantee you will be a bit startled.

So now I am once again participating in the planning of a wedding. While I am still technically a widower (will I always be?), and I still occasionally look at pictures of my late wife and miss her and marvel at how things have worked out, my role as fiance is more what my life is about at the moment. This has led to some reflection on my part on what this blog is to be about.

I started writing Ray's Periodic Rantings two and a half years ago because I thought that my experience had given me a fairly unique perspective on life that was worth recording. I am proud of some of what I have written (have you read my religion rant?) and I plan to keep it up, but I am not entirely certain what the guiding theme should be. So please bear with me as I continue to post a melange ranging from cooking successes and failures to spiritual observations and political commentary, hopefully with some humor and poignancy along the way. And I will do my best to post a bit more frequently than I have lately. Sorry for the lapses.
:: Ray 1:43 AM [+] ::
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Not optimistic

Today, a joint session of Congress will officially count the electoral votes for President of the United States. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, a hero of mine since I lived in Michigan long ago, is leading an effort to formally object to the counting of Ohio's electoral votes. At least one senator must join him, or his effort is for naught. If he succeeds and the challenge is upheld, neither candidate has enough electoral votes to win, and the Republican controlled Congress chooses the president, so the effort isn't likely to change the outcome of the election. It would reduce some of President Bush's legitimacy and political capital, however, and I am all for that. My hopes are not high, however, and I fear that a repeat of the opening scenes of Farenheit 9/11, in which representative after representative objected to the 2000 Florida electors but not a single senator stepped forward, is likely.

Sigh.

Lest you get the wrong idea, please know that I do not support the objection to the Ohio electors as a parliamentary way to kick the president. From what I have read and heard, I firmly believe that Ohio's Republican Secretary of State unfairly influenced the outcome of the election there in several ways, most prominently by allocating more voting machines to Republican precincts than Democratic ones, and then had the gall to obstruct the recount as well, violating many election laws in the process. We have no idea who won in Ohio, because countless people never got to vote, and an obscene number of votes were not counted. To accept electors chosen on the basis of such an election would be a travesty, and it saddens me that it could happen in the United States in the 21st century, supposedly a shining beacon of democracy to the world.

Sigh.

Followup: They got their senator. Barbara Boxer of California signed the complaint lodged by Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio. The pessimist would say that the outcome was only a waste of a few hours' time debating, but believe it or not, I look at the bright side: the allegations and evidence of the mishandling of the election in Ohio were entered into the congressional record, and so were the shrill, accusatory falsehoods of the Republicans. Calm-headed historians will look at that record one day, and I don't think they will be very kind to those who spoke out so eagerly against the counting of votes.
:: Ray 1:12 AM [+] ::
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Mabel in Winter

This is Mabel's first winter with us and it's been snowing all day. She wears it well.



I hope everyone that is getting snowed on today is in a position to enjoy it!
:: Ray 12:26 PM [+] ::
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Koyaanisqatsi

If Godfrey Reggio is to be believed, koyaanisqatsi is Hopi for "life out of balance." Living in the suburbs and commuting into Chicago, I see examples of this concept daily. Usually I tune them out or just sigh, but today one of them smacked me in the head.

As I walked past the Tribune Tower, a crew was taking down the Christmas lights. I didn't think much about it until I noticed what they were using: wire cutters. The strings of lights, which had been brand new four weeks ago and worked just fine until hours before, were lying on the sidewalk, hacked to pieces.

I was raised to be at least moderately frugal. One aspect of this was saving our Christmas lights from year to year, only throwing them out when we had jiggled all the lights and replaced the ones that had obviously burned out and the string still wouldn't light. Even then we kept the bulbs for spares.

What occurred to me about the sight of brand new lights being cut down and discarded instead of being taken down and packed away is this: when did a few hours of a maintenance guy's time in a major American city become more expensive than the infrastructure of an oil well, a plastics manufacturer, a metal ore mine, a metal refiner, a wire manufacturer, a sand pit, a glass maker, a factory full of Chinese assemblers, at least one transoceanic cargo shipment and countless truck drivers?

Something is just plain messed up about that. We Americans have become addicted to cheap Chinese stuff. I don't see how it is ultimately sustainable, and unfortunately, it looks like we will make a big mess of this planet before it all comes crashing down.

Happy New Year to you, too!
:: Ray 2:51 PM [+] ::
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