Virginity or Death

♠
In knocking against a faith-blind Administration's insistence on 'abstinence only' programs and trying to promote the education and use of condoms, one has to become ever creative. Mr. Kristof takes another shot at it:

Here in Poipet, I met a 27-year-old woman with AIDS, Tem Phok. She had been a prostitute in a brothel, so I assumed that that was how she contracted AIDS. “Oh, no,” she said. “I got AIDS later, from my husband,” who has already died.

“In the brothel, I always used condoms,” she said. “But when I was married, I didn’t use a condom. ... A woman with a husband is in much more danger than a girl in a brothel.”

That’s an exaggeration, but she has a point: It doesn’t do much good for American officials to preach abstinence and fidelity in places where the big risk of contracting H.I.V. comes with marriage. In countries with a high prevalence of AIDS, just about the most dangerous thing a woman can do is to marry.

But you may as well shout at a river to switch course. It is not about facts - those seductive illusions of the Devil. It is about right and wrong, and Bush is firmly on the side of Right, no matter how many it kills.

xXx

Virginity or Death

♠
In knocking against a faith-blind Administration's insistence on 'abstinence only' programs and trying to promote the education and use of condoms, one has to become ever creative. Mr. Kristof takes another shot at it:

Here in Poipet, I met a 27-year-old woman with AIDS, Tem Phok. She had been a prostitute in a brothel, so I assumed that that was how she contracted AIDS. “Oh, no,” she said. “I got AIDS later, from my husband,” who has already died.

“In the brothel, I always used condoms,” she said. “But when I was married, I didn’t use a condom. ... A woman with a husband is in much more danger than a girl in a brothel.”

That’s an exaggeration, but she has a point: It doesn’t do much good for American officials to preach abstinence and fidelity in places where the big risk of contracting H.I.V. comes with marriage. In countries with a high prevalence of AIDS, just about the most dangerous thing a woman can do is to marry.

But you may as well shout at a river to switch course. It is not about facts - those seductive illusions of the Devil. It is about right and wrong, and Bush is firmly on the side of Right, no matter how many it kills.

xXx

The West's Useful Illusion of Freedom

♠
Those of us who cherish liberty hold as part of the rhetoric that it is “written in our heart,” an essential part of our humanity. It is among the first civic lessons that we teach our children. But such legitimizing rhetoric should not blind us to the fact that freedom is neither instinctive nor universally desired, and that most of the world’s peoples have found so little need to express it that their indigenous languages did not even have a word for it before Western contact. It is, instead, a distinctive product of Western civilization, crafted through the centuries from its contingent social and political struggles and secular reflections, as well as its religious doctrines and conflicts.

-- Orlando Patterson for The New York Times

Mr. Patterson is adding his laments to the Iraq War. I am more struck by the proposition about most peoples not having a word for freedom before their contact with Western nations. I wonder if it was from this proposition that President Reagan erred when he said the Russians do not have a word in their language for freedom. It was only a stretch?

Though, the droll thought comes to mind that the peoples of the world might not have had a word for 'freedom' because it is a rather fanciful notion. Why should one have a word for something that does not strictly exist? Freedom is a powerful idea though. A Western dream perhaps.

xXx

The West's Useful Illusion of Freedom

♠
Those of us who cherish liberty hold as part of the rhetoric that it is “written in our heart,” an essential part of our humanity. It is among the first civic lessons that we teach our children. But such legitimizing rhetoric should not blind us to the fact that freedom is neither instinctive nor universally desired, and that most of the world’s peoples have found so little need to express it that their indigenous languages did not even have a word for it before Western contact. It is, instead, a distinctive product of Western civilization, crafted through the centuries from its contingent social and political struggles and secular reflections, as well as its religious doctrines and conflicts.

-- Orlando Patterson for The New York Times

Mr. Patterson is adding his laments to the Iraq War. I am more struck by the proposition about most peoples not having a word for freedom before their contact with Western nations. I wonder if it was from this proposition that President Reagan erred when he said the Russians do not have a word in their language for freedom. It was only a stretch?

Though, the droll thought comes to mind that the peoples of the world might not have had a word for 'freedom' because it is a rather fanciful notion. Why should one have a word for something that does not strictly exist? Freedom is a powerful idea though. A Western dream perhaps.

xXx

The Donald to the Rescue

♠


Donald Trump has decided that Miss Tara Connor can keep her Miss USA crown, after all. That must have been some interview he had with her. One was thinking that if anybody can understand the plight and challenges of hawt little blondes, it would be the Donald. Very Christmas spirity, I think.

xXx

The Donald to the Rescue

♠


Donald Trump has decided that Miss Tara Connor can keep her Miss USA crown, after all. That must have been some interview he had with her. One was thinking that if anybody can understand the plight and challenges of hawt little blondes, it would be the Donald. Very Christmas spirity, I think.

xXx

A Sleepy, Drizzly Afternoon

♠
Monk had a good, restorative nap. At first, he awoke at two-forty-five, after only the normal twenty minutes of nap time, afraid that Pop had returned from his rounds already, but it was only the slucking sounds of a light rain. The next thing he knows, it is three-thirty. What a beautiful feeling!

The weather has been drizzly on and off today. It is comfy, but it threw off Monk's plans to get Bo's shower out of the way. Monk was hoping to beat a wet spell, but he missed it by a day and got overtaken. But it is no biggie. Bo could go another week or two, it seems. Not wearing that collar helps, which would blacken the eskie's coat.

xXx

A Sleepy, Drizzly Afternoon

♠
Monk had a good, restorative nap. At first, he awoke at two-forty-five, after only the normal twenty minutes of nap time, afraid that Pop had returned from his rounds already, but it was only the slucking sounds of a light rain. The next thing he knows, it is three-thirty. What a beautiful feeling!

The weather has been drizzly on and off today. It is comfy, but it threw off Monk's plans to get Bo's shower out of the way. Monk was hoping to beat a wet spell, but he missed it by a day and got overtaken. But it is no biggie. Bo could go another week or two, it seems. Not wearing that collar helps, which would blacken the eskie's coat.

xXx

On Second Thought...

♠
Another change in reading plans. Actually, it is a reversal of a few changes.

Monk is finding Perkell to be rather slow going. He is not tempted to cast it aside, but, for instance, he closed it early this afternoon in favor of spending some more time with "O." Monk enjoyed this ready option so much that he realized this is what he needs his hit-and-run reading to be: ready pleasure on command.

That means his narrative histories cannot be taken into the hit-and-run rotation. However, he is not dropping the histories. He wants to go back to the idea of taking them up as part of his weekend readings.

What about the "Aeneid"? In conjunction with how slow the exegetic text is going, Monk also wants to go back to his practice of reading them together by turns. And there you have it! I think this is where we were a couple of plans ago, and now we are back, for the time being.

This weekend might be a little awkward. If we get Fagles' "Aeneid" as expected, on Friday, then it will be a little hard holding off until Monday. But Monk may be able to content himself with a good taste of the poem on the afternoon before the weekend.

xXx

On Second Thought...

♠
Another change in reading plans. Actually, it is a reversal of a few changes.

Monk is finding Perkell to be rather slow going. He is not tempted to cast it aside, but, for instance, he closed it early this afternoon in favor of spending some more time with "O." Monk enjoyed this ready option so much that he realized this is what he needs his hit-and-run reading to be: ready pleasure on command.

That means his narrative histories cannot be taken into the hit-and-run rotation. However, he is not dropping the histories. He wants to go back to the idea of taking them up as part of his weekend readings.

What about the "Aeneid"? In conjunction with how slow the exegetic text is going, Monk also wants to go back to his practice of reading them together by turns. And there you have it! I think this is where we were a couple of plans ago, and now we are back, for the time being.

This weekend might be a little awkward. If we get Fagles' "Aeneid" as expected, on Friday, then it will be a little hard holding off until Monday. But Monk may be able to content himself with a good taste of the poem on the afternoon before the weekend.

xXx

The Generals' Balk

♠
On cable news tonight, there is much excited discussion about the Joint Chiefs of Staff balking at President Bush's call for another 30,000 troops. The generals argue that those troops will only invite more jihadists and attacks than the troops would be worth. They also say they are worried that the army is being broken. One suspects that the almost universal public opinion against Bush's call for more troops helps.

The $64,000 question: What is Bush going to do?

Meanwhile, Bush is loading the Persian Gulf with more firepower to face Tehran.

Things look like they are going wild.

xXx

The Generals' Balk

♠
On cable news tonight, there is much excited discussion about the Joint Chiefs of Staff balking at President Bush's call for another 30,000 troops. The generals argue that those troops will only invite more jihadists and attacks than the troops would be worth. They also say they are worried that the army is being broken. One suspects that the almost universal public opinion against Bush's call for more troops helps.

The $64,000 question: What is Bush going to do?

Meanwhile, Bush is loading the Persian Gulf with more firepower to face Tehran.

Things look like they are going wild.

xXx

A Little Chilly Again

♠
Making his bed tonight, Monk feels just enough of a chilly nip in the air that he breaks out the blue blanket again. Not only did Monk fail to beat the wet spell, it looks like a cold front may be overtaking him as well. Now he really regrets not getting around to Bo's shower.

xXx

A Little Chilly Again

♠
Making his bed tonight, Monk feels just enough of a chilly nip in the air that he breaks out the blue blanket again. Not only did Monk fail to beat the wet spell, it looks like a cold front may be overtaking him as well. Now he really regrets not getting around to Bo's shower.

xXx