For Thanksgiving: More on The Golden Rule

There is much to be thankful for, because most Americans I know indeed live a charmed life, yours-truly included, in spades; even many whom are considered "lower class" here in the US have a better standard of living than the average person in most 3rd-world nations. We take a lot for granted, and can often forget to be thankful for what we do have. While dissatisfaction at some level must always exist in order for progress to happen in our lives, sometimes being humble can pay off for us, in deeper character. At base value we are no better than another person, regardless of what we have, what we know, or what we believe. We are capable of sharing without suspicion or condition. Looking down your nose at others, creating breaches in compassion for others resulting from differences, does little more than inevitably impair you. Barriers put up against "them" and the "others" are still walls: The more you erect, the more your life becomes a maze of self-perpetuated obstacles.


I received a copy of this video from Paul McKenna at Interfaith, and it is an inspiring and inclusive homage to the "Golden Rule" and the Ethic of Reciprocity.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ci613QcC5E

Although I am agnostic (with my toes dipped into the pool of Buddhist philosophy), most people I know are Christian. Here is a reminder of those passages in the Bible which mandate compassion for others:

Zechariah 7:9. “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Render true judgment, and show kindness and compassion toward each other.”

James 1:27. "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Exodus 22:21”You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. 22You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. 23If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry.”

Luke 6:27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”



Have a happy Thanksgiving!

History Has Been Duly Made

I don't need to mention the impact and gravity of Barack Obama's election as President of the US. Most of you know how to pick up a periodical or tune into the news on your radio or television. I was as relieved and moved as many others whom voted for him.

I will say that there is a great amount of work ahead for Obama's administration, and I don't for a minute envy him for it. Breaking things is easy; fixing them takes more time and effort and even some creativity.

Here are some highlights from the emails I've been receiving from the activist and environmental groups I support...

We look forward with excitement and anticipation to the opportunities ahead to fight for social justice. We are already at work on efforts that will provide positive change for our country.

Thank you,
The Brave New Films team

Come January, we will be granted a fleeting moment of opportunity -- a matter of months -- for turning environmental promise into legislative reality. We must strike swiftly if we are to defuse the twin crises of fossil fuel addiction and global warming -- or the Earth we leave our grandchildren will be unimaginably different than the one we now know and love.

It's a tall order. But the last eight years have prepared us like nothing else could. NRDC is ready. I trust you are, too, because we'll need you there with us more than ever before.

Sincerely,
Frances
Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council

Even as we celebrate, we are gearing up to translate these electoral victories into lasting action to end our dependence on oil, reverse global warming, and chart America's course to a clean, renewable energy economy.

As President-Elect Obama said last night, "This victory alone is not the change we seek – it is only the chance for us to make that change."

Thank you again for your generous support of LCV. We could not have done it without you. We look forward to changing our country’s energy future together!



Sincerely,

Gene Karpinski
League of Conservation Voters

It won’t be easy, and there are plenty of tough fights ahead. But you can be sure that Defenders Action Fund will work with the new Administration -- and conservation champions of all political stripes -- to enact legislation and policies that protect our wildlife.

For now, let’s celebrate this historic day and the hope it holds for our wolves, polar bears and other wildlife -- and please accept my most sincere thanks for helping make it happen!

With Gratitude,
Rodger Schlickeisen, President
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Our immediate imperative is to help set the Obama administration's environmental agenda between now and when he takes office on January 20, and then take advantage of the momentum this administration will have in its first 100 days.

In the meantime, we will continue the effective legal and advocacy work that has kept our nation's environmental legacy and laws intact despite years of relentless assault on them by the current administration. Even now, on their way out of office, Bush and Cheney are laying a trail of environmental land mines. They are trying to gut the Endangered Species Act; allow greater destruction by mountain top removal coal mining; and pave the way for more coal-burning power plants that will accelerate global warming.

Rest assured, we'll keep fighting the Bush legacy for as long as it takes, and we ask you to stand with us as we pursue a more positive agenda that now seems within our reach.

Sincerely,
Trip Van Noppen
President, Earthjustice

Barack Obama said last night, "This victory alone is not the change we seek--it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you."

We have a great opportunity. The world faces overwhelming human rights crises. But with your help, we can turn this country’s policies on human rights back in the direction of alleviating, and not contributing, to these crises.

President-elect Obama has promised to restore the rule of law, to repair America’s damaged perception in the world, to close Guantánamo, and to renounce torture.

These promises bring hope. In the coming days, we will need you to help make those promises a reality.


Sincerely,

Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

The P at the End of a Hunting Rifle: Sarah Palin

I am a member of various wildlife & conservation organizations, such as the League of Conservation Voters, EarthJustice, The Nature Conservancy, The NRDC, and Defenders of Wildlife.

When Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's running mate, I thought, now why does her name sound so familiar? Then the light bulb went on, I looked through my email archive, and there it was: Sarah Palin was one and the same the Alaskan Governor who had made my petitioning life miserable for bringing back aerial hunting:

[paste from email]

I have some sad news. Unfortunately, Alaska voters defeated a ballot initiative yesterday that would have ended the state’s brutal aerial hunting program.

Thousands of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund supporters gave invaluable support to this important campaign, but in the end, deep-pocketed special interests carried the day.

This morning, I spoke with Nick Jans, co-chair of Alaskans for Wildlife, our grassroots partners in The Last Frontier who spearheaded the state ballot initiative to end Alaska’s brutal aerial hunting program. He wanted me to pass on this message to you:

“I want to thank Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund supporters for their help in this hard-fought campaign.

"We faced an approximately $750,000 campaign from our opponents -- including Safari Club International and a $400,000 state-funded campaign approved by Governor Sarah Palin and the Alaska legislature. They used deceptive propaganda and the authority of the Alaska government to defeat the ballot initiative.

"But thanks to the generous support of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund activists and donors, we were able to reach thousands of voters. Yesterday, over 75,000 Alaskans voted to end this barbaric practice.

“Despite this loss, we’re not giving up -- Alaskans for Wildlife will continue to hold the state Board of Game’s feet to the fire and redouble our efforts to end this brutal program.”

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund will continue to partner with groups like Alaskans for Wildlife and our sister organization Defenders of Wildlife to end Alaska’s slaughter from the skies.

[end paste]

From http://www.defendersactionfund.org/

[paste]

Sarah Palin has supported aerial hunting since taking office despite the fact that the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council, the American Society of Mammalogists, and more than 120 other scientists have called for a halt to the program, citing its lack of scientific justification and despite opposition from many hunters who see it as violating the sportsmen's ethic of fair chase. Palin in 2007 even proposed offering a bounty of $150 per wolf, as long as the hunter provided the wolf's foreleg as proof of the kill. And just earlier this year, she introduced legislation to expand the program and derail a scheduled August 2008 citizens' vote on the issue. The bounty was determined to violate the state's constitution and her legislation failed.

[end paste]

The despair I feel is now two-fold: Her actions as Alaska's Governor flew in the face of decades of conservation work, where we were so close to"fixing what we broke," just to throw a wrench into the works, and then to add insult to injury, she may get to be the Vice President of my country? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Don't tell me they're hurting in Alaska and need the economic stimulus from aerial hunting there, either, because Alaska has been #1 in revenue per Capita for years!

I have no compunctions about killing my own food. I'd try to make sure my food was dispatched as quickly, peacefully and unpainfully as possible. However, there are very unethical and unsportsmanlike ways of hunting, and aerial hunting is one of them. Like "canned" hunts, the advantage is tipped so far in favor of the hunter that I fail to see much "sport" in it, and unlike "canned" hunts, the chance of a quick death are much, much slimmer and the chance of prolonged suffering for the prey animal is much greater.

Dog breed and behavior experts say that a German Shepherd, a very wolf-like domestic dog breed, has intelligence similar to a 7 year-old child, and biologists claim that wolves are known to be much more intelligent than domestic dog breeds. These hunters are not shooting down "stupid" animals that aren't coherent about what they're going through. Imagine what might be going through the mind of an 8-10 year old child as they are unsuccessfully attempting to avoid being shot with a rifle by some guy up above in an airplane for an hour or so before it's all over, and you can perhaps have some perspective of the suffering these wolves are experiencing. I wouldn't wish this on someone I didn't like at all, much less an animal in its natural environment, living its life in relative peace.

Defenders of Wildlife put out this video ad about her:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGPFPBmzRrQ

Sarah Palin has been uplifted by the religious right for her religious and family values. At least where the hunting of wolves is concerned, she is not as moral as she pretends to be.

Oh, I almost forgot about the GOOD NEWS for wolves:

The NRDC, Defenders of Wildlife, and EarthJustice all sent me email about gray wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies remaining on the Endangered Species list!

From the NRDC:

"The Bush Administration has just announced it intends to withdraw its plan to strip gray wolves of their endangered species protection in the Northern Rockies. "

From Defenders of Wildlife:

"Officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) say that they plan to rescind the agency's plan to delist gray wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies sometime soon and place them back under federal protections."

From EarthJustice:

"...the Bush administration announced that it will drop its legal defense of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule that declares these wolves fully recovered and removes them from the endangered species list."

I am so relieved that these wolves will still be protected!

Randy Pausch Lived at 47

"He hurried to the place from where others were fleeing." -Pliny the Younger (on the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius).

Randy Pausch, former Computer Science Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, husband to Jai and father to Dylan, Logan and Chloe, succumbed to pancreatic cancer July 25, 2008 in Virginia.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08207/899511-100.stm

http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/beyond/2008/summer/an-enduring-legacy.shtml


He was famous for his "Last Lecture" speech. He also wrote a book about it, which his wife describes as a "manual" for their family.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

However, it will not be the last we see of him yet; he has a walk-on role in the upcoming Star Trek movie. It should be out in May 2009.

I will take a moment to highlight some of his words to live by:

"You cannot change the cards you are dealt. Just how you play the hand."

"Don't complain. Just work harder."

"Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity."

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."

"It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way ... the dreams will come to you."

"Be good at something; it makes you valuable…. Have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome."

"To be cliché, death is a part of life and it’s going to happen to all of us. I have the blessing of getting a little bit of advance notice and I am able to optimize my use of time down the home stretch."

"We don't beat the [Grim] Reaper by living longer; we beat the Reaper by living well, and living fully, for the Reaper will come for all of us. The question is: What do we do between the time we're born, and the time he shows up? -Because when he shows up, it's too late to do all the things that you're always 'gonna kinda get around to.'"

"I’ve never understood pity and self-pity as an emotion. We have a finite amount of time. Whether short or long, it doesn’t matter. Life is to be lived."


This conviction to appreciate his life in the face of death is why the title, instead of saying that he died, states that he lived.

Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot

October 13, 1994, while at Cornell University, Carl Sagan presented this photo taken by Voyager at the edge of our solar system. Quite accidentally, it managed to catch an image of the Earth shining in the distance because its camera was taking the image at such a sharp angle in relation to the sun, which was close enough to the field of view to cause these scattered light rays. The Earth is in between to two white lines:



The Earth is so small in the image it is smaller than a single pixel:



This moved Carl Sagan so much, that he said this:

"We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.

The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

I'm glad these images came back in time for him to present them and have his profound say about them, because he died two years later in 1996.

I decided to add the film clip:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M

Love Danny, Coddle Knives, Adore Onion Sandwiches

Danny Kaye, James Beard and me - Salon.com



I'd always been a little in love with Danny Kaye. So what if he was old enough to be my grandfather at the time I became enamored. I thought he was a comical genius. He married Sylvia Fine, who worked with him on many of his movies. It seemed like such a wonderful romance between them! I still chuckle when I think about his movie, "The Court Jester" (the chalice from the palace, the vessel with the pestle, the flagon with the dragon - and you thought Abbot & Costello's "who's on first" skit was funny). I actually dated someone who looked a lot like him (he turned out not to pass snuff, though). He died the year I graduated from high school.

I happened to read this article in Saveur originally, hot off the newsstand. I loved hearing about this side of Danny, full of passion about - of all things - care for cutlery. I also love the recipe for the onion sandwiches he apparently adored. I'm also kind to my knives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS75NtlH3gI