As the wheel of karma turns

When disaster strikes, we want to understand and we seek explanations why. But there are those who experience the losses, then there are those who make uninformed commentary based on their world view. Katrina was a big one, with Christian apologists arguing that it was God's wrath upon the wicked Gomorrah of New Orleans, a view that sparked appropriate outrage. But this sort of calculation is hardly exclusive to Christianity. Sharon Stone, a convert to Buddhism, made a similar statement when she equated the recent earthquake in China with bad karma over it's treatment of Tibet. She apologized and her image has been removed from Christian Dior's Chinese advertising.

There are two basic kinds of evil, natural and moral. Both are a consequence of imperfect, finite beings living in an imperfect, finite world. Karma is concerned with moral evil, though direct cause and effect isn't as easy to diagram as a sentence. Indeed, the Buddha explained that two causes of earthquakes were the loss of a Buddha and the return of a Buddha.

The bigger problem in both cases is the equation of divine vengeance and acts of natural evil, as though the victims deserved their suffering because of divine book balancing. This ignores the basic requirement of compassion that forms the foundation of every religion. And when that happens, it that's a disaster for everyone.

Best laid plans of kings and people

It was a bad day to be king, both literally and figuratively. Israeli Prime MInister Ehud Olmert was called to resign over corruption charges and his partner in parliament, Ehud Barak is threatening to pull his band of merry men out of their coalition if he doesn't. Olmert is circling the drain because of campaign finance questions. Meanwhile, India may be saddling it's elephants because Nepal has declared itself a republic. Apparently, only four voted against the idea. The king has been given 15 days to pack up and leave the Narayanhiti palace, which is slated to become museum space. The new government will now be democratic, secular and have two years to create a constitution.

And, finally, it was left to Madam Perino and Mr. Rove to respond to former White House spokesman Scott McClellan's new 341-page doorstop of a memoir that essentially says what many either already knew or suspected of King George. Perino called it "sad." Rove went so far as to accuse McClellan of being a pod person saying "it sounds like somebody else. It sounds like a left wing blogger." Not that Rove would know from personal experience mind you. With the sun pulling away from America's imperial shore, and Team Bush's boat sinking slowly over the horizon, it wasn't exactly the best of days to be king.

Bait and switch

The astronauts will just have to hold it. MSNBC

I'm a judge, and you're a deceiving PC. CNN

The Six MIllion Dollar Monkey. NYTimes

On June 12, do your part. But bring your own beer. Via USATODAY

NASA's Order of the Phoenix

It was a frosty -58 F degrees when the newest $557 million probe to land on Martian soil arrived without a hitch. The manner of its landing was both a throwback to previous methods and a dress rehearsal for future human missions to the Red Planet. The Phoenix probe, while capable of transmitting directly to Earth, is sending much of its data though the series of tubes that is the still buggy Martian Internets. Its thin-pipe connection left scientists out of contact with the probe for more than an hour after landing was confirmed. While it's sending terrain porn to researchers -- along with news, weather and traffic information -- it's primary function is to snort Martian arctic regolith for signs of life, past or present.

Phoenix was a product of NASA's since mostly discredited "smaller, faster, cheaper" philosophy. It was resurrected from the 1999 mission that ended in tears and took 10 months to travel to Mars and landed without an airbag. The probe is a stationary robot with a scoper arm designed to grab soil and inject it into the probe's innards of instruments. They are hoping to accomplish some real science before the -200 F Martian winter kills the probe. Mars is a tough gig though. Out of 42 missions since 1960, half of the probes sent there have died on arrival, though NASA has a better than average success rate of 71 percent. Phoenix brings the number of operational Mars probes to six, three orbiters and three on the surface.

Taking a moment to remember

As gas grills light up around the country and Danica Patrick takes center stage at the Brickyard, approximately 150,000 U.S. service personnel are standing the watch in Iraq and another approximately 40,500 in Afghanistan. Casualties in Iraq since March 2008 are 4,081 Americans dead. Casualties in Afghanistan are 432.

Just be sure to offer a moment silence before passing that cheeseburger.

Manuel Marulanda may be dead

Pedro Antonio Marín, the mastermind behind the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia insurgent group, also known as FARC, is reported to have died March 26 of a heart attack. His band of revolutionaries is hardly the Rebel Alliance. FARC was born in 1964 and holds hostages and runs drugs to pay for its activities. But his organization may be dying with him with rebels willing to surrender to the Colombian government but who fear for their safety, and with a gap at the leadership level as the government makes gains against the group. "He must be in hell" said Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos. He was believed to be 76.

More pain at the pump

Big Oil went up against Big Brother yet again for the best 7 out of 9 over the cost of gasoline. Seems that legislators are looking to keep their jobs while grilling the CEOs about their's. The CEOS hid behind the markets. Meanwhile crude closed at a record high of $133 on May 21 with the expectation that they'll only go higher. Congress is also turning it's wrath on the Wall Street speculators with an eye toward greater regulation of energy trading. But if you're thinking of laying any of the blame on the people who own the gas stations, think again. They're also being squeezed by Big Oil for every dime. In the end, the problem is demand. As long as Americans want it, and until viable alternatives come to market, the cost of gasoline will remain high and Big Oil will continue laughing all the way to the bank.

The kinda-sorta war on Venezuela, maybe

The only U.S. aircraft carrier not seemingly presently deployed in the Persian Gulf region landed in hot waters as one of its pilots declared war on Hugo Chavez by accidentally flying over island of La Orchila. According to whom you believe, either the plane experienced "intermittent navigation problems" while on a "on a training mission," or it was "the latest step in a series of provocations" that will only result in the Latin American war starring the U.S. and its willing ally Columbia. Chavez, after all, is yet another problematic leader of an oil producing country despised by Team Bush. Besides, this late in their game, Team Bush couldn't be considering another war. Right? Maybe?

Your focus determines your reality

Examining the first time machine: NatGeo

Soldier finds an ingenious way to get out of Iraq: Time

What exactly constitutes 'a stupid question': ChiTrib

U.S. now outsourcing its vices to India: Times of India

Failing our children, and ourselves

The Atlantic’s June 2008 issue includes an essay by an adjunct professor of English at a Northeastern community college. He outlines a very real problem, that most of his students are not college material. Indeed, he points out that his students barely possess very basic skills with some being borderline illiterate.

Professor X is right to bemoan the level of student ability. He points out a problem that seems prevalent among his older students. The real problems actually run much deeper and he avoids them even as he exposes them. The problems are that we do not value teachers and education at the primary level; the way we approach education; the system of learning we’ve constructed and the way we approach our students. This is a consequence of the system of education we have created.

Teachers at the college level enjoy a different classroom environment than those at the primary and secondary level. Teachers at the college level have assistant instructors and usually only teach two days a week. It is true that they do work beyond the scope of their classes that adds value back into their teaching, but at the most formative levels, primary and secondary instructors are slammed with a teaching load with a minimum eight hours and day, seven days a week with little support -- not counting the hours spent outside of class. We don’t offer teachers sufficient proper rewards or support.

Second, even though our system of education may be the envy of the world (at least at the college level), we treat education as a task to be performed, not as something to be loved and embraced. We approach education the same way we approach medicines, something that tastes bad that must be swallowed if we're going to get better.

Third, we don’t encourage a system of learning for the sake of learning. We don’t build into students the ability, or the desire, to keep learning long after the class is over. And as a society we don’t reward and don’t reinforce the benefits of continual learning.

Fourth, we don’t do a good job of learning our students’ strengths and weaknesses and offering them positive direction and feedback. Talented students are sometimes identified. It’s the tiers between the best and the worst that get shorted. Our teachers at every level simply don’t have the time and resources.

Since the foundation of the republic, the required years of education has expanded from three to sixteen years. The integrating, flattening world is increasing the demand for a quality education. For Professor X’s students, the American system of education has clearly failed. If we don’t fundamentally rethink and reinvent our approach to education, America may not be able to compete and, as a consequence, may not have a future.

Tonight's EdWord: Obama

John Edward came out in support of Barack Obama at a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Mich. This takes some of the sting out of his 'crushing defeat' by Hillary Clinton in the flyover state of West Virginia. It could have a significant impact on the race, though Edward's pledged delegates may or may not be willing to follow his lead. And apparently, the Mrs. isn't convinced. The endorsement will make Clinton's case for the candidacy even harder to press at the upcoming Democratic National convention. Whether the EdWord will prove to be an analogy for victory, remains to be seen.

The U.N.I.T. files

The U.S. Air Force had its Project Blue Book. And we were not alone in wondering if we were alone. Turns out that U.N.I.T., under the auspices of the British Ministry of Defence, has recently released its research into UFO activities. The BBC piece, which was not reported by Sarah Jane Smith, is appropriately tart, though there is neither mention of U.N.I.T. nor Torchwood. But continue to watch the skies, just to be safe.

The Summer of the Superhero

If it’s May, it must be blockbuster season, and there’s a reoccurring theme. Summer has become of the season of the superhero. This season, which will include a reboot of The Hulk and another installment of Batman, has opened with Iron Man, which has made $177,134,000 since opening. It’s not a great film, it’s not Casablanca or Citizen Cane. But it’s not Battlefield Earth either.

One cultural critic laments the rise of the superhero film, while another points out our fascination with superheroes. It seems what ought to be lamented is the glut and the formulaic nature of these films. It’s gotten to a point where, even before going into the theater, you know what to expect. It’ll open with a flawed human; it’ll move on to a life-changing narrative hook that contains within it the seeds of the climatic battle with the bad guy; then it’ll move onto the sudden change in the hero’s nature; the discovery and exploration of his new powers and their short comings; the emergence of the bad guy; the moment of truth; and the final, violent resolution of the struggle between the good and bad guys; then the closer which inevitably leads to the sequel if the movie does well. This is especially true in ‘origin’ movies, which Iron Man is.

The genre has already been lampooned twice, with Superhero Movie (and no, Tom Cruise cannot fly) and My Super Ex-Girlfriend. But the genre is drawing better acting talent, even if it is only slowly drawing better writers and directors. What may be necessary now is for the genre to move beyond its conventions. Heroes is a good example of this (when its writers are firing in all thrusters). Indeed, when it came up short in its second season its creator, Tim Kring, actually apologized!

But the genre is here to stay, and what should happen next is that like Tony Stark, it needs to shed its limiting shell and evolve to something new and better.

China, Myanmar and Pakistan, oh my

It's been some hard days in Asia. Between China's earthquake and the cyclone that hit Myanmar, there's a lot of people hurting in Asia. Myanmar's secretive government has claimed that 31,938 people were killed. The U.N. puts the estimated dead between 62,000 and 100,000. Though it did finally admit an American relief plane within the nation's borders, there is discussion that perhaps coercive humanitarian efforts may be necessary. In China the death toll has been placed at a preliminary figure of 8,533 after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. Add to that the collapse of the Pakistani government only a few weeks after taking office and you have a lot of instability in the region. Though it does appear that Pakistan has been readmitted into the Commonwealth. And even though UK Prime Minister Gorden Brown is kowtowing to the dragon by not receiving him at 10 Downing, the only bright spot in all of this disaster is the dim hope that China may resume talks with the Dalai Lama. Whether this will be a good faith effort or just a publicity stunt to try to satisfy world opinion remains to be seen.

Coming home to roost

At least is wasn't in the Trailer One: CNN

Pelicans - mad, bad and dangerous: BBC

Bowling for Texas: ChiTrib

Stamp prices going up ... again: USA Today

Only in Indiana

Senator Evan Bayh opened for Hillary Clinton as he had all day long, even at a stop in Merrillville, earlier in the day. So it was no small irony that it was Lake County that was a burr in her saddle at the end of the evening. At 10:30 p.m., BBC World News America was reporting that Lake County had yet to report its primary election results, taking the spotlight off of Hillary Clinton for critical spin doctoring hours leaving her to proclaim her Chicagoan bonifieds ... in Indianapolis. At 10:45 p.m., CNN was reporting that Indiana was still up for grabs with 85 percent of the delegates counted, the results showing a 52 to 48 percent Clinton / Obama split. For one night, Indiana mattered to the presidential race. And Bayh hadn't exactly delivered.

BTW: The Gentleman from Arizona achieved a clear victory in Indiana. Not that it mattered.

Five little words

No one would ever have expected to see these five little words in print by a major news network: “crucial primary state of Indiana.” Will Republicans and independents make merry mischief in the Hoosier primary? We'll see. At least the New York Times finally made more nuanced observations about Indiana in recent days than it had before. Indeed, the Times has even taken note about how local races are being overshadowed by presidential politics. Not that most people in Indiana are even paying attention to the Gray Lady. But a Hoosier ex-pat living in Michigan seems to have gotten it just about right for the Washington Post is a short about the Hoosier state. Off course, it'll all be over Tuesday night when the results come in and the media spotlight will move on. But for a few short weeks, Indiana will have gotten its crucial close up, whether it was ready for it or not.

Because they could

Global Warming, Oceans Dying: NatGeo

Judge terminates Gov. Schwarzenegger's Indian casino fee plan: KGTV

China launching mortars over the Great Firewall: Times of India

A Rolling Stone gathers an honorary doctorate: ChiTrib

Because pork requires lubrication: Time

Passing of a Madam

Because the media and Washington can't get enough of a good sex scandal, the chatter has been focused on the passing of the D.C. Madam who rather dramatically kept her promise that she'd rather kill herself than go to jail. Deborah Jeane Palfrey was convicted of money laundering, racketeering and mail fraud on April 15 and was expected to be sentenced on July 24. Apparently she left notes about her intentions. And, it seems, she told her would be coauthor, Dan Moldea. Palfrey's escort service, which she was running out of her California residence, had a number of high level clients. One of her employees was a former professor at the University of Maryland who committed suicide before going to trial on prostitution charges. Palfrey was found dead by her 76 year old mother in the storage shed behind her mother's Florida trailer. She was 52.