With the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States, many people claim that we are living in a post-racial society.  After all, they say, electing a black man to the country’s highest political position must be indicative of our ability to “see past” the color of someone’s skin.  We are not living in a post-racial society, nor should we strive to be a post-racial society.

And why not?  A popular belief is that in a post-racial society, we will all be “colorblind”.  While on the surface this theory seems affable, a closer look reveals a fundamental problem.  The colorblind theory is hurtful to people of color because it sends the signal that we do not see the unique individual they are or care about their background and culture.  By saying that “we are all the same”, we are really saying, “we are all like me” (Howard, 1999).  This is a perilous way of thinking which drastically diminishes the value of difference and diversity.  It also forces those real differences in culture, experience, and perspectives to be oppressed.  In a post-racial society, people of color would no longer be able to own their identity and find empowerment within it.

College life is still heavily influenced by the social identities and experiences of white men; we talk about diversity and difference but surreptitiously encourage conformity and homogeneity.  Students from marginalized groups have been kept “in their place” by macro- and micro-level educational practices.  Recent research on campus climate (Cress, 2008) has shown that both students of color and white students reported that students on their campus are prejudiced toward students of color.  In addition, a majority of students perceived discrimination against their gay and lesbian student peers.

Diversity efforts should be at the forefront of the struggle to break the grip of homophobia, patriarchy and white dominance on higher education.  We must all be aware, in our daily routines, of how we are treating each other.  Notice the times in which your privilege allowed you to accomplish something, and remember that not everyone had those doors open to them.  Treat one another with respect, and this means the whole person; their heritage, their religion, and their culture.

Sources

On November 16 the local partner from Karlovo has oppened a bazar on the Day of Intercultural Understanding and Tolerance among different ethnos and immigrant groups, living in the municipality. Roma traditional celebrations and cuisines has been exhibited and each visitor had the chance to taste it. The representatives of the Roma community from the town has been prepared posters with pictures, showing the Roma celebrations, the symbols of the Roma community and the celebration of the International Roma Day – 8 April.
The Christmas Eve has been presented on the Bulgarian table where volunteers from the local partner arranged bunch of meatless dishes, all of them home made (cake with coins, pumpkin-pastry, gold-lace, boiled corn, fruits, nuts etc.). The volunteers from the association were wear with beautiful Bulgarian traditional costumes to make the hobbit more representative, while a power point presentation with pictures was going on. To raise the spirit 2 singers from the near village were singing.
At the bazaar representatives from Latvia, Greek, Sweden also took a part presenting their countries with presentations, movies and richness tables with traditional foods, drinks, costumes and souvenirs.

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr11109.html

Secondary schools with a religious foundation contribute significantly and substantially more to the promotion of community cohesion and the provision of equality of opportunity for students than other schools, according to the results of an academic study of recent Ofsted inspection data.

Analysis of the sample of independent inspection reports suggests that secondary-level ‘faith schools’ (of all faiths and denominations, taken as a group) received average grades more than 11 per cent higher than ‘community schools’ for their promotion of community cohesion, and outperformed such schools by almost nine per cent for their effectiveness in tackling inequality.

The research, by a recognised expert on the evaluation of school performance, is published today alongside a set of case studies of Church of England schools which have pioneered programmes that reach out well beyond the school gates to help foster good relations across their local community.

Since September 2008, the schools inspectorate has assessed schools on their effectiveness in promoting community cohesion and the extent to which they support equality of opportunity and tackle discrimination.

A study by Professor David Jesson of the University of York, commissioned by the Church of England, looked at the reports of 400 secondary schools inspected between March and June 2009 and 700 primary schools inspected in June this year.

The data for primary schools, serving relatively small cohorts of pupils, suggested faith schools perform just as well as community schools based on the average grade received for promoting community cohesion. Grades are awarded on a scale of 1 (outstanding) to 4 (inadequate), with both types of school averaging 2.2 at primary level.

However, the data for secondary schools indicates “clear evidence that Faith schools were awarded substantially higher inspection gradings for promoting community cohesion than Community schools,” according to Professor Jesson. The data shows that the mean average of grades given to secondary schools with a religious foundation is 1.86, compared to 2.31 for community schools.

In his research paper, Professor Jesson comments: “This finding is particularly relevant to the debate about schools’ contribution to community cohesion – and runs completely counter to those who have argued that because faith schools have a distinctive culture reflecting their faith orientation and are responsible for their admissions that they are ‘divisive’ and so contribute to greater segregation amongst their communities. This is clearly not supported by this most recent Ofsted inspection evidence.”

In reaching their judgements on a school’s performance in promoting community cohesion, Ofsted’s inspectors look for evidence that schools have undertaken an analysis of their school population and locality and then created an action plan focused on engaging with under-represented groups outside the school and between different groups within the school itself.

Ofsted also looks for evidence that schools have strategies for promoting participation by learners in all the opportunities that the school provides and strategies for tackling any discriminatory behaviour between groups of learners. Comparing the data on grades awarded for this part of the inspection between different types of secondary school, Professor Jesson writes: “Here again the contrast between Faith schools and Community schools is clear. Faith schools achieve higher gradings on this aspect of their contribution to their pupils and their community.” Community schools received a mean average of 2.03, while schools with a religious foundation received a higher average of 1.68.

The Revd Janina Ainsworth, Chief Education Officer for the Church of England, comments in her introduction to the report: “Schools with a religious foundation have a particular role in modelling how faith and belief can be explored and expressed in ways that bring communities together rather than driving them apart. They can minimise the risks of isolating communities for whom religious belief and practice are core parts of their identity and behaviour. In Church of England schools that means taking all faith seriously and placing a high premium on dialogue, seeking the common ground as well as understanding and respecting difference.

“Schools contribute most actively towards nurturing a shared sense of belonging across communities when they are clear about their own distinctive values and how that grounds their engagement with other groups at local, national and global levels. Promoting community cohesion is not about diluting what we believe to create a pallid mush of ‘niceness’.

“Our Christian foundation places the strongest obligation onto Church of England schools to help children form relationships of mutual care and affection with people from every creed and background. For church schools, community cohesion is more than ticking a box for the government. It is about acting out the values articulated in the school’s mission statement in ways that serve and strengthen our human relationship with our neighbours.”

The report, Strong schools for strong communities: Reviewing the impact of Church of England schools in promoting community cohesion, is available for download here.

Society: A group of humans distinguished by mutual interests, shared relationships and shared institutions, unified by a common culture.

Every day, students show up for school from disparate backgrounds and cultures, with a range of personal experiences as varied as the clouds in the sky. They arrive to a common location, to share in an experience of education and community.

As adults, our job is to teach them what they need to learn so they can grow up to be successful, intelligent, reasonably content contributing members of society. And so we set about the task, in our various roles, day in and day out, to the best of our ability.

Yet… something seems to be missing from the equation. Why do so many kids feel left out, unheard and unseen, within the school environment and society in general? And more to the point, what can be done about it?

A community is not simply the gathering of human bodies in a confined space. A community happens when individuals feel a kinship with one another based on mutual respect, empathy and compassion. School is one of the primary ways we experience and form ideas about community.

If we can build school communities that actively celebrate cultural and individual diversity we will create a template for a more inclusive society. A more inclusive society means a stronger community; a stronger community means more support for the individuals within that community.

A supported individual has a greater chance of being a successful, intelligent, reasonably content contributing members of society…

The seeds for positive social change, thus planted in the formative years, can quickly blossom into positive social progress. Being inclusive, everyone benefits.

Therein lies hope for the future. We are never more than one generation away from significant positive change. With all the global and societal challenges we currently face, with more coming down the pike, I find it helpful to keep this in mind.

Just as every person has their story to tell, every culture has stories, art, music, dance, food and positive values to share. Diversity is something we all have in common. Therefore, let us find ways to celebrate those diverse qualities. In so doing, we will rediscover the very qualities that makes for successful individuals, and a more inclusive and supportive community.

- Matthew Giffin

Zeami was the original practitioner of Japanese Noh theatre and wrote a classic book on dramatic theory called Kadensho. He uses images of nature as a constant metaphor, for example hana, or the flower. Kenneth Yasuda, in his book Masterworks of The Noh Theatre claims that ‘This flower is both an aesthetic principle and the soul of the actor or the character or the play, and it is, beyond that, a spiritual quest. Every element of the play, every gesture, must be devoted to the flower.’ Thus we can clearly see the weight of importance given to this one symbol, but why is he so interested in using it as a metaphor, in the context of Noh Theatre?

The title of his book Kadensho can be roughly translated as “Floral Message: How Does the Wind Look?”. Zeami is using the metaphor of a flower to imply that one must possess sophisticated or ‘flowery’ skills to achieve anything in Noh Theatre. Zeami saw the flower as a sophisticated and complicated thing. This is true [see below]. Zeami felt that learning theatrical skills is sophisticated and complex; just like flowers.

Zeami also sees the flower as a metaphor for viewing a performance. The flower sheds its petals and goes through many different stages in what it looks like, starting from a bud, to disappearing completely, and this is a visible process. Similarly, in front of an audience we see a theatrical event before hand as if it didn’t exist, it then bursts into life on the stage before once more disappearing. The flower is important to Zeami as he feels that this allows us to truly understand what the performance is.

Then we come to the concept of Yugen which he defines as ‘a profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe… and the sad beauty of human suffering’. This can be simply related to the flower as a metaphor, the flower is so visually enticing when alive; yet Zeami believed that when a flower begins to die the process is all the more so. Zeami, perhaps somewhat controversially, saw human suffering in the same way. Noh Theatre portrayed human life as it is; so assuming that pain is a process all must undergo, some believe that human suffering in its own way, is beautiful.

Zeami has been known to compare the flower with the idea of omoskiroki or in English, ‘fascination’. Zeami sees the flower as something to be in awe of. In relation to its metaphor within Noh Theatre, we see his encouragement for the audience to be fascinated by the performance, thus he weighs importance on the concept in this case in order to amaze the spectator.

Another key word is mezurashiki which means ‘novelty’ implying that the flower can be something new and exciting. When this metaphor is replicated on stage through interaction actors have with each other and the audience, they see that there is now a certain thrill in experiencing this, just like the joy one finds in viewing a flower. So the metaphor is important in this context because it excites the audience, just like one might feel towards nature.

We can see that this points to another point Zeami makes about the similarity between the way one cultivates flowers and the way the performer seeks to harvest a relationship with his or her audience. Zeami wants to reinforce this link as actor/spectator relationships are central to understanding Theatre, especially Noh Theatre.

Finding beauty in nature is something unique to the human soul. No matter who the person is, there is a certainty that any person from any background will find the flower beautiful. In the same way Zeami seeks to reinforce this concept. If the Theatre is like the flower, it can be loved and appreciated by all.

Finally Zeami reminds the reader of ‘the beauty of the flower of youth, which passes with time.’ This is an important metaphor to him as it reminds his audience of the fragility and fleeting nature of life. Many would argue that this is the most accurate and profound part of Zeami’s thinking, though not all see it as a positive concept, as mankind is left without hope as to what happens after his decease. Christianity was not to reach Japan until 1549,  but Zeami’s sentiments are echoed in the following bible verse,

All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

When creating theatre as well as in life; Zeami held this view in mind, perhaps a view that more modern practitioners should ponder, knowing that soon, our petals will fall and we will perish. However Zeami’s flower metaphor shouldn’t necessarily discourage us, all is not swallowed up into the earth, the roots remain and buds appear once more, so nevertheless, if looked at from the right angle; there is hope for theatre, there is hope humanity.

Happy Thanksgiving.

While the Mainstream press is obsessed to distraction with the couple who crashed Obama’s Hollywood style State Dinner…

I move  on to the star of the show, the turkey.

Over at RealClimate.org, Gavin Schmidt, a modeler for the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has been downplaying the leak. Schmidt wrote: “There is no evidence of any worldwide conspiracy, no mention of George Soros nefariously funding climate research … no admission that global warming is a hoax, no evidence of the falsifying of data, and no ‘marching orders’ from our socialist/communist/vegetarian overlords.”

Now doesn’t this sound like your typical liberal caught with his fingers in the cookie jar. Snarky, snotty, and over-the-top dismissive. And what an interesting mention of George Soros, the Billionaire Socialist behind Moveon.org.

Fascinating. Like it came from a scripted playbook…

Yesterday, Professor Jones (Climatic Research Unit) refused to quit and denied that researchers had altered evidence to bolster the case for man-made climate change.

He added: ‘We absolutely stand by the science we produce here at the University of East Anglia and it has been peer reviewed and published.

‘Some of the emails probably had poorly chosen words and were sent in the heat of the moment, when I was frustrated. I do regret sending some of them. We’ve not deleted any emails or data here at CRU.

‘I would never manipulate the data one bit  -  I would categorically deny that.’

Me think he dost protest too much!

Jan 126,1998: Now, I have to go back to work on my State of the Union speech. And I worked on it until pretty late last night. But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank you.- Pres. Bill Clinton

Yeah, we believed you Bill.

But yet again, a president doesn’t care, Politics and Agenda full steam ahead, damn the torpedoes!

Washington Post: The administration’s decision to identify a series of goals, including cutting emissions over the next decade “in the range of” 17 percent below 2005 levels, is a calculated risk, given that Congress has never set mandatory limits on greenhouse gases.

The figure amounts to a 5.5 percent cut below the 1990 levels that most countries use as a reference point, much less than what most other nations have called for. It is also less than what President Bill Clinton endorsed in the Kyoto talks in 1997 and well below the 25 to 40 percent cut that the European Union has asked of industrialized countries.

Richard Somerville of Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Michael Mann of Penn State; and Eric Steig of University of Washington – said that last week’s leaked emails controversy was apparently a part of a “smear campaign,” attempting to wreck the climate summit in Copenhagen next month.

Sounding Familiar yet?

Mann said: “What they’ve done is search through stolen personal emails—confidential between colleagues who often speak in a language they understand and is often foreign to the outside world.” He further added that the skeptics had largely turned “something innocent into something nefarious.”

So what language is that sir, Esperanto?

Classic attempt at diminishing the damage.

UK Telegraph: Met Office scientists called for urgent action on global warming and dismissed calls for a public inquiry into emails which suggest a conspiracy among international scientists to falsify data.

Although final figures will not be known until January, 2009 is likely to be the fifth hottest year on record, reversing a brief three-year “cold snap” caused by natural temperature fluctuations, they said.

So why aren’t the hotter temperatures, a “natural variation”??

Because, then the whole farce would be exposed. So only “cold” is a natural variation. Of Course, in 1975 “Global Cooling” was going to kill us all. So I so man has changed a lot in 35 years!

Temperatures over the next decade will be even higher, Met Office models predict.

But not a “natural variation”…

The organisation estimates that in half of the next 10 years average temperatures will be higher than those seen in 1998, the warmest year on record.

Half?! Oh my GOD!  It’s a Crisis! Save the Women and Children!

Some up, some “variation”, but were all doomed if we don’t do something drastic right now!

It’s a Crisis!

The Sky is Falling!

OH NO!

“It does seem that people are going to extraordinary lengths to discredit the data that shows that global warming is happening and that it is man-made.”-Dr Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office Hadley Centre.

Yeah, were using your OWN WORDS!

Or maybe that’s just a “variation”…

Now that’s just evil.

In one of the emails Prof Phil Jones, director of the unit, refers to a “trick” he used with raw data to “hide the decline” in global temperatures.

Last night he accused those who leaked the emails of a “concerted attempt to put a question mark over the science of climate change in the run up to the Copenhagen talks”.

Really?

Well, The President is off to Copenhagen again, hopefully he’ll be a successful as he as the last time he was there, when he came in last place for the Olympic bid for his boys in the hood in Chicago.

We can only Hope.

On Thursday night, a Children in Need show at The Albert Hall saw performers such as Robbie Williams, Take That, Shirley Bassey, Dizzee Rascal, Sir Paul McCartney and so many more all take to the stage.

Friday hosted our annual Children in Need show and the stars turned out in force to back the charity. Terry Wogan and Tess Daly presented as Alesha Dixon kicked things off with a performance of her single ‘The boy does nothing’, accompanied by dancers from ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. From then on in we saw a series of sketches and routines that we are only ever likely to see when it’s raising money for charity.

Fiona Bruce and a team of newsreaders ditched their usually smart attire for something a little bit easier to dance in…and teamed up with street dance act Diversity to show us what they’re made of.

Throughout the night we saw the cast of ‘Eastenders’ singing and dancing away in a one-off special and performances from Pixie Lott, Paloma Faith, JLS and Westlife.

The show also saw the first airing of the Children in Need charity single featuring classic children’s characters such as ‘Postman Pat’ and ‘Bagpuss’ singing a medley of popular songs and has been put together by Peter Kay. The Official Children In Need Medley by Peter Kay’s Animated All Star Band  is now available to buy in shops or to download online.

 To donate to Children in Need click :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/donate

My boss has invited me to take up the challenge of arranging our department Christmas party, when I say invited I mean ordered, I don’t get a choice – those of you that know me will realise this is about as clever as asking Myra Hindley to baby-sit. This is a ridiculously bad idea for two key reasons, firstly I don’t really like Christmas and secondly I don’t really like the majority of the witless dribbling unwashed masses I am forced to interact with at work, a recipe for festive related disaster me thinks.
The princely sum of £20 per head is available for me to blow on this soirée so an evening at the Ritz is out, incidentally the term ‘per head’ is on the conversational ban list here as it is seen as being derogatory to minorities who were born without heads and also latterly victims of Al Qaeda like that scouse bloke Ken, anyway as usual I digress.
So, I have decided to come at this from a multi faith ethnically diverse and non exclusive approach which for those of you who do not work in directorate three of the thought police (ethnic festival management) means I am going to make it as un Christmassy as humanly possible. Not for the benefit of the PLO sleeper agent in our architecture team although he will be pleased but more because its my party and I don’t like Christmas.
In Bygone years Christmas in an office environment used to be a time of long pub lunches paid for by grateful management, time to bond as a team, to buy each other presents and if your luck is in or you have a spare fiver a ten minute knee trembler in the stationary cupboard with Janet the bike from accounts, all before going home to get ready for the big gratis evening dinner dance, partners welcome.
Christmas isn’t even called Christmas anymore, the ‘Festive period’ is no longer about peace and good will to all men (sexist statement) nor is it about management making that extra effort to make staff feel appreciated and included. It’s all about making sure your dates don’t slip, projects still march inexorably forward and people who know what they are doing are on call over the holidays to assist our offshore friends. As for the knee trembler with Janet well, the stationary cupboard has been rearrnaged into a windowless office with 8 desks crammed into it and even if it wasn’t Janet and her Yule tide duties are now being carried out by someone called Ranjeet in India, at least the post it note ordering part is anyway.
All in all celebrating Corporate Christmas is crap (alliteration mega streak!) its more about making sure work isn’t effected and minority groups aren’t in some way offended, not that any of the ‘minority’ individuals I work with care, the cynical amongst us might say its our paranoid directorate three friends keeping themselves in work and I would have to agree.
All that said at least my boss will be pleased that his year and probably slightly suspicious as I have for once decided to tow the company line, embrace our mission statement and ethos and pull in the same direction as management – in other words I have arranged for our department Christmas to be at our local curry house! Pint of Kingfisher anyone?

At womenintechnology.co.uk we often get asked to participate in new research or comment on particular issues. I was recently contacted by Forrester who were putting together a report on diversity in IT. As a thank you for putting them in touch with the womenintechnology network, they have offered us access to free copies of the report. It is US focused, and you’ll have to register, but it’s a quick (and free!) process and it’s an interesting read that reinforces many of the things that we have been saying.

I especially liked the idea of changing the language of job descriptions to attract more women, and to use more competency based interviewing, which allows interviewees to highlight their soft skills and give examples of how they have tackled a particular situation (allowing employers to separate those who really can walk the walk from those who can just talk the talk.) Both these things would help female candidates who are generally not as good as men at selling their skills and abilities.

To read more, download your free copy of the “Fostering A More Diverse Infrastructure And Operations Department” here: www.forrester.com/womenintechnology.

When I was around five or six years old in Germany,

my mother would take a rest on the couch and I picked out her white hairs. She showed me how to put my index finger in the “hizeda”–in the ashtray–where my father’s Camel cigarette ashes where and rub the ash on my finger to take the “slippery oil” away to pull out the hairs without my fingers slipping.

She felt around on top of her head for the white hair. I reach down into her long, black hair like a horses tail, find white hairs, and pull them out. While doing this, I asked for a story. “Which one?” she always asked. “The Cave Story, my favorite!” I’d say. I always asked for my favorite story….

‘We were in the cave nine days,
I already roll my mother up in a blanket – she not quite dead yet. She was hit in forehead, on side, big hole. Later on, I left her under a tree, we had to run, cannot carry her. After war I go back in jeep with GI potato canister for her bones.

I find tree, easy to recanize which ones her bones because hole in forehead and she only have two her own teeth left on top in front on each side, motioning to her eye teeth or canines. The rest all gold before but somebody take away. After war, people no have anything they take what they can to survive. I put her bones in canister, take them to the family’s cave.

I oldest one at home, eleven keeds. I middle one, seventeen years old. I take care of my younger brothers and sisters. At night I use bamboo poles, carry two buckets, I run get water, bring back. I run through shooting, bullets go through my legs. See, that’s how I get scars around my knees, and my side.

When bombs go off; I happy – blow up potatoes. I run go get food, bring back. My brothers and sisters so hungry. Everybody hungry. My hand shot up, hanging down like this: (and gestures where her right thumb and forefinger, half a hand used to be hanging down). I no feel – that time – we so scared – have no time pay tention to hurt.

Later, she used that hand as a beauty lesson: After war there were many hurt people, American doctors no have time, cut off quick. They say cut off to here (touching her right elbow). One hakujin (white) doctor like my face, he take time. He take time only take off hanging down part, only take “hambun te” (half hand). It’su important you take care you looks.’

“Then what happened?” I’d say, feeling successful pulling out white hairs. They were easy to see in all that shinny blackness. “Then on the ninth day, the noise came closer and closer, and one Japanese soldier came inside. He said “Americans are coming, we must suicide before they get us”.

We think Americans very bad. The Japanese soldier had a hand grenade. We lay down, make circle, he sits in middle. I hold one brother one sister hand, close eyes. I hear the grenade go off, open eye. First I think I’m dead now, then I hold head up, see my body. I think I am worse than dead because I thought I have only half body but it’s the soldiers trunk on top me.

What happen is grenade have a pin, he pull pin but his body bend over grenade, and he only one blow up. I thought I lost legs but his body on top me blow out his legs. The noise from grenade brought American soldiers. They come inside. They point many things, many weapons at us. Guns, machine guns, bayonets, even they take pictures.

We scared, very scared. We don’t know what to do. We never see hakujin before. They point us with bayonets and point us to put hand up, go outside. We go outside. We never see Americans before. They stand all around us, point at us with weapons, camera, they take picture. We thought they kill us because Japanese soldiers say they kill us.

They hand me canteen, they show me: drink. I tell my brothers and sisters, ‘This must be poison. If something happu to me, don’t drink. The mizu -the water- tastu good, clean. I no have misu like this long time. I wait for poison, nothing happu, I no die.

I give to my brothers and sisters, they thirsty. They happy to drink. Then soldier give me something very dark, very brown, they show me: eat. I say to brothers and sisters, ‘This must be the poison, if something happen to me, you no eat.’ I teach them how be strong. I put in mouth, I eat, tastu very sweet, very sticky sweet. Nothing happen, I give to keeds.”

When I grew older, I decided I didn’t want to hear these stories any more because I thought they really were all just endless made in Japan fairy tales for endless made in Japan children. I wanted to play farther away from my brothers and sisters. But one day, “Uncle Wally” (Walter Cronkite) told the same story.

In 1964 when we returned from Japan, and stayed for two weeks in Menlo Park California, we were outside playing a game of seven-up, bouncing a ball against the house when we heard our mother scream. We ran inside. She was watching Walter Cronkite’s 2Oth Century, a Sunday TV program.

She had watched herself come out of the cave…drink the water … eat the dark sticky sweet stuff… Turning to my mother, I asked, “Gee Ma, did they really make Hershey bars back then?”

Sunday, April 3,1999: At 6:30 am, I started watching the History Channel and an announcement was made that the upcoming program was about WWII, Japan. Five minutes into the episode, I decided to record, and toward the end of the film, was a description of the war on Okinawa.

I saw a woman tell a story that reminded me of my favorite story (The Cave Story) my mother told me as a child in Germany. In between the woman’s story, was a film of people coming out of a shelter. One figure coming from the left foreground moving to the right, was clearly a focus of the camera.

That one person looked like my mother, had several children with her, and had an injured right hand. I showed the tape to Lee, my husband. He played it in slow motion, then in pause mode so we could get a good look at the hand because in regular motion, the hand spun around like a pinwheel in a blur.

I considered calling my mother who is visiting my sister Linda in Finley, Ohio but I didn’t want to risk upsetting her.

This story reminds me that we all come from different experiences with different stories and centers of reference. On the Multicentric Journey, we’re going to move to a sensory based model of identity for processing perceptual layers, social context and the changing human identities of today. You will encounter reality from a new perspective. You will receive perceptual exercises by going through the layers and building a human database of information. This perceptual practice becomes a steady state for going into a realm where you’re not overlooking any information and you see the interdependence that was hidden, because you are seeing ecologically. These stories are to take you, us, everyone out of the box, to where we see ecologically/interdependently.
done

On Nov. 7 and 8, Drebu participated in the annual Road to Asia Festival hosted by and at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto.

Kalsang introduces the Tibetan monks at the Road to Asia festival

The festival featured a wide range of Asian cultural performances, artifacts and food: Japan, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Pakistan and Tibet.

Drebu introduced the Tibetan acts for the two-day festival. On Saturday, Nov. 7, Mingmar Tsering performed Tibetan traditional folk songs singing, and playing the dranyen (Tibetan guitar) and flute on two different stage times.

Mingmar performs with the dranyen

The following Sunday, Nov. 8, we featured Tibetan monks on two separate acts. The first act featured three monks reciting “Kyamdro (refuge), Nyense (invitation) and Ngowa (dedication)”. The second act involved a monk invoking Padmasambhava for world peace.

Tibetan monks at the Road to Asia festival 2009

The monks are: Lobsang Gawa, Jampa Tsering and Ngawang Rabjor Lama.

Throughout the two-day Road to Asia festival Drebu featured a Tibetan painter at the children’s area. Tenpa, who studied in India, painted traditional Tibetan sketches which many children and adults delightfully coloured and filled. He guided them along the process and enjoyed the experience of presenting Tibetan art at the festival.

Tenpa with a young budding artist

All of the festival participants were offered an honorarium by Drebu as a recognition and appreciation for their contribution in helping promote Tibetan arts and culture in Toronto.

We thank all our sponsors for their support, and to JCCC for inviting us to participate in this wonderful and fun festival. Our sponsors are listed in the previous blog post.

Please enjoy the photographs of the event displayed on the right.

Notice the Tibetan flag on the far left (one of four flags featured at the festival!)

President Obama issued a Eid-al-Adha greeting today…

I gotta say, I appreciate it. The guy’s got his hands full no doubt… jobless rate is still high (it’ll certainly take some time to fix)… Afghanistan, heathcare, Iraq… It’s a nice gesture that he took the time to acknowledge a fifth of the world’s population.

I respect for the way he acknowledges different groups around the world with openness and understanding. He’s certainly set a new tone and a sense of community and shared responsibility.

While some say that he’s just full of fancy words, I say phooey – what’s wrong with someone sending well wishes or a warm greeting? Couldn’t we use a little more of that?

Heck, I even admit that I appreciated George W. Bush’s Eid greetings (even though I disagreed with most of his policies towards the Muslim world).

Earlier this year Obama also recorded a Nowruz (Persian New Year) youtube video message an a Divali message (Indian festival of lights). Most Americans probably don’t know very much about Nowruz, Divali, or Eid for that matter… maybe even… Hanukkah?

I say it’s a step in the right direction… the first step in a marathon.

Here’s the message:

Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year, and to Muslims in America and around the world who are celebrating Eid-ul-Adha.  The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major religions.

During Hajj, the world’s largest and most diverse gathering, three million Muslims from all walks of life – including thousands of American Muslims – will stand in prayer on Mount Arafat.  The following day, Muslims around the world will celebrate Eid-ul-Adha and distribute food to the less fortunate to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son out of obedience to God.

This year, I am pleased that the Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with the Saudi Health Ministry to prevent and limit the spread of H1N1 during Hajj.  Cooperating on combating H1N1 is one of the ways we are implementing my administration’s commitment to partnership in areas of mutual interest.

On behalf of the American people, we would like to extend our greetings during this Hajj season – Eid Mubarak.

After devouring large portions of turkey, potatoes and stuffing, get out and get some exercise. Football is fun but does nothing for the waistline.
Fresh air and some hand-eye coordination practice is good for one’s health.

Here are a couple of ideas that can be enjoyed in the backyard, particularly if the neighbors are habitual pests.

and

Your neighborhood sporting goods store should have most items, the rest can be had at the local armory. They’re yours, your tax dollars paid for them, so go borrow them.
Just return them when finished so others can have some fun too!

Practice Diversity!

Can we agree on this? Diversity is good. Representation of lower socioeconomic voices is good. Giving editorial positions to Latinos and African-Americans is good.

Next, ask yourself how many senior positions (or junior positions for that matter) at major publishers like Random House, Simon & Schuster, Harper, Penguin Putnam, Hatchette, etc., are currently filled by minorities.

The editorial and publishing staff at most major American publishers is overwhelmingly white, upper-middle class. When such a small degree of diversity represents a business founded on the principle of selecting books that connect writers to readers, I think that business is in trouble. After all, who are the readers in America?

Are they not Mexican-American, African-American, or working class folks struggling to keep their home mortgages paid or the rent on their apartments from becoming past due?

We are the folks who love Steve King, Dean Koontz, and Junot Diaz.

Can we agree on this? Change is good.

The business model that predominated publishing throughout the 20th Century doesn’t work well. Each year publishers struggle to stay a percentage or two ahead of losing money. Meanwhile companies that have adopted business models based on new economic principles like Long Tail theory have seen unprecedented growth (e.g., Amazon, Netflix, Lulu.com).

I would argue that publishers need to adopt sound economic principles more in line with the 21st century and the consumer culture that expects user-created content.

Long Tail economic business principles provide the greatest amount of freedom to consumers, in that companies sell “less of more” and “more of less.” They make their money from a mass audience of creators who may only sell, for example, 75 or 100 books each, but do so in large enough en masse numbers to surpass businesses that rely on little diversity in products but push those products out in high volume.

Consumer freedom is the future. The more freedom a company can give its customers, the more loyalty that company will have from its customers. Choice is good.

Can we agree on this? Progress is good.

This past week, Harlequin Enterprises (North America’s #1 Romance book publisher) attempted to launch a new self-publishing venture called Harlequin Horizons. The venture was immediately attacked by writers’ organizations RWA, MWA, and SFWA.

Let me state very clearly: I support Harlequin Enterprises in their bold new move.

The arguments against Harlequin launching a self-publishing imprint are based on: 1) the manner in which Harlequin will direct aspiring authors to their self-publishing imprint and 2) that credible traditional titles will become diluted with self-published titles and that this will hurt the traditionally published authors.

Both are valid criticisms. The former, however, assumes an ignorance on the part of aspiring authors that is demeaning. It assumes that they (RWA, MWA, and SFWA) know what’s best for the rest of us. Ironically, even though these organizations claim to have my interest in mind, I can not join as an “Active Member” MWA or SFWA.

Let me state that again. Two of the organizations that are “acting on behalf of self-published authors” will not let self-published authors into their organizations as “Active Members,” nor can we serve on their boards. We are not welcome in that aspect of their decision-making processes, yet their decision making is purportedly on our behalf.

That is hypocrisy.

The second stated reason listed above that they give is closer to the truth. They don’t want their traditionally published titles slumming with the likes of the rest of us. A self-publishing imprint at Harlequin would make the traditionally published titles look bad.

If that isn’t “elitist,” then what the hell is, people?

Furthermore, none of the opposition to Harlequin Horizons offers any suggestions for improvement. Their arguments are built upon defining HH as “vanity publishing” and then concluding that that is bad, and saying we should not change anything with the current publishing model.

My challenge to those authors is this: speak up for greater diversity at your publisher.

You have the power to suggest that your publisher represent the broadest cultural diversity possible. Stop for a second and ask yourself how many Latino or African-American editors your publisher has on staff in acquisitions.

How many minorities have a voice where you publish your book? How many lower socioeconomic voices have a hand in selecting what defines us as American?

I support Harlequin Enterprises wholeheartedly in their attempt to adopt a new business model based on granting access to publication to anyone who wants it. I trust aspiring writers’ intelligence and respect their freedom to choose whether that’s the best option for them.

And I challenge opponents to stop this petty bickering, take a higher road, and work to improve the diversity in American publishing.

In closing, I urge readers of this blog to consider boycotting RWA, MWA, and SFWA unless these organizations take a deliberate and clear stance to increase diversity at major publishers. I would like nothing more than to see these organizations hosting a “Best Self-Published Book” category in their annual awards, as well as “Best Minority Voice” Award.

Can we agree that that would be wise and a clear sign of truly looking out for the interests of the rest of us?

I spent over 25 years as an active research scientist in natural history and ecology in forest, shrub steppe, subarctic, desert, coastal, and agricultural settings. Today I am an independent author as well as an international lecturer, facilitator in resolving environmental conflicts, vision statements, and sustainable community development. I am also an international consultant in forest ecology and sustainable forestry practices.

I Have Lived, Worked, Consulted, And/Or Lectured In: Austria • Canada • Chile • Egypt • France • Germany • Japan • Malaysia • Mexico • Nepal • Slovakia • Switzerland • and various settings in the United States.

If you want to contact me, visit my website: http://chrismaser.com/index.htm

I spent over 25 years as an active research scientist in natural history and ecology in forest, shrub steppe, subarctic, desert, coastal, and agricultural settings. Today I am an independent author as well as an international lecturer, facilitator in resolving environmental conflicts, vision statements, and sustainable community development. I am also an international consultant in forest ecology and sustainable forestry practices.

I Have Lived, Worked, Consulted, And/Or Lectured In: Austria • Canada • Chile • Egypt • France • Germany • Japan • Malaysia • Mexico • Nepal • Slovakia • Switzerland • and various settings in the United States.

If you want to contact me, visit my website: http://chrismaser.com/index.htm

Not surprisingly, critics and viewers have blasted Adam Lambert’s raunchy and tasteless stage act.  Even less surprising is that Lambert has been uttering the words “double standard” and “discrimination”, in an attempt to veil his performance as some kind of social message.  Homosexual activists have worked tirelessly for the past 30 years to place homosexuality as a sacred cow in American culture.  Unfortunately, what has resulted is that stupid performances such as Lambert’s can be dragged to a politically correct safe zone when faced with criticism.

Despite my strong opinions, I try to remain somewhat diplomatic in my writing.  This time, I’m going to let out the lines and allow them to swim a bit.  I’m sick of the gay agenda.  I’m sick of homosexuals parading their perversion in my face.  I’m sick of watching limp-wristed perverts in tutus dance in the streets.  I’m sick of watching men tongue kiss.  I’m sick of watching an entire generation act as if homosexuality is completely normal, and treat heterosexual men as “dogs”.  I’m sick of homosexual activists pushing laws that only serve to confuse and oppress a generation of what would have otherwise been healthy children, and watching their parents line up to vote for them.

Wake up and smell the santorum.  This country is falling to pieces, and you’re concerned with prop 8?  American citizens are being slaughtered by Muslims in our own country, and you’re wishing that your boyfriend was more metrosexual?  Who the hell do you think stabbed, shot and bombed our enemies in order for you to enjoy freedom, gay baristas?  You’re being taxed into poverty by a corrupt government, and you’re giving money to Code Pink?  America is turning into a third world with rampant illegal immigration, and you’re more concerned with the sanctity of the rainbow flag?

As I have said before, wake up and abandon your sick fetish for diversity or die.  It’s as simple as that.

Here’s an article about the backlash against Lambert’s flaming idiocy:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091124/D9C64U9O0.html

I can’t tell you all the stories I’ve heard, even stuff that I’ve seen with my very own eyes about Negroes in swimming pools, or out of them. I don’t care one bit if you think it’s all racist or not, but I’d never, EVER swim in a pool used by Negroes, knowing what I know. After reading this, I doubt you will either.

I remember this one time I was walking down a busy city street during the middle of the day. Something caught my eye off to the left, between two parked cars. At first, I thought it was somebody needing help, so I stopped to render assistance (how White of me). Looking closer, I realized it was a middle-aged, fat Negro woman squatting down, doing her vile business in unbelievably loud and nasty way. She looked up at me and smiled smugly.

I’ll never forget that expression nor that stupid feathered hat she wore and I promise you that I did not stick around long enough to find out how she cleaned herself off, or even if she did. I’m still highly traumatized by what I witnessed that day.

Please do NOT read the following if: You have a weak stomach and just ate, suffer from some Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involving cleanliness, or you’re one totally braindead Multicult!

It’s just like that scene in “Caddyshack,” but disgustingly all too real!

This White older lady friend of mine used to manage a city-owned, public recreation facility with exercise rooms, table tennis and a indoor swimming pool. For many years things were cool, until this one neighborhood nearby slid downhill fast, after bands of Negroes started moving in.

She said that the Blacks started to come by in the morning to drop off the kids while they went on to work, the welfare office or shopping. They figured out the loophole that allowed them to use the place just like a day care — Negroes know how to work the system!

Once the Negroes started arriving in force, all the White patrons steered clear of the place, for some reason.

My lady friend told me she used to be a big-time hippie liberal girl back in the sixties, but since all this “crap” went down, she’s had second thoughts about the whole deal. I could see she was pained to admit it. Of course, I explained that she had nothing to be ashamed of (biting my tongue) and that once you put away the falsely-instilled White Guilt, everything will be so much easier. She’s even hip to the Jewish role in all this now.

Anyways, she was telling me that almost every single day, not just occasionally now, they would have to fish out human feces from the pool. That’s right, the little Negroes (many in their teens) would take a dump while swimming!

As a public health measure, she had to run tests every so often on the water and chlorine levels, sometimes having to replace the water. Even 24 hour filtration and chemical warfare weren’t always enough. What most people don’t realize is that urine eats up chlorine — the more peeing, the less effective chlorine becomes and the more you have to add.

It was a never-ending struggle for her and her staff. The city health inspector, taking pity on her, would call her at home to warn her of any impending “drop-in” visits, just so she had time to draw the pool water down 50% and refill with clean water to pass the tests.

The main problem that kept recurring was something called cryptosporidium, or “Crypto,” a hardy protozoan that lives in the intestines, usually of animals — how appropriate. The defecated cysts (yuck) can readily survive chlorinated pools and if you swallow some water, the bug will make you sick as a dog, or worse, for two weeks or longer. She never once saw it in tests when mostly Whites used the pool, but it became a frequent discovery after Negroes turned the place into a Congolese watering hole.

It’s really not too surprising when you consider some uncomfortable facts about Negroes and diseases. A survey in the early nineties discovered that 48% of Blacks overall and 56% of young Negro women have Genital Herpes. Nearly half of all AIDS-afflicted are Negro, but that’s now rising fast to over 60% of all new AIDS cases (back in 2006). Black babies are 3 times more likely to have strep than Whites. Blacks often don’t take antibiotic prescriptions for the proscribed period, with the result of harboring medicine-resistant diseases.

But the miscreants were not just microscopic — no way. Even keeping lifeguards on staff was a constant battle for her. They were turned into not only babysitters, but rodeo cowboys too. Naturally, they would do whatever they could to stay out of the water when on duty and would never swim during off-hours. And the girl lifeguards were in living hell, constantly having to fend off the sexual gropings from little Negro boys trying to be “playas,” just like their rarely-seen daddies.

One day this young girl lifeguard came running into the office all worked-up into a frenzy and wanting to quit right then and there. When asked what happened, the girl said she caught some Negro kid peeing on another Negro’s head from the diving board!

And these kids were always stealing stuff, breaking into offices and rummaging around, going through women’s purses and the like. If they got caught, and they did, the first thing out of their mouths was “RACISTS!” Then the staff would have to find the parents, arrange to have them to come pick-up the kid and the first thing out of their mouths was “RACISTS!”

You just can’t win with these people!

Even the parking lot was a scene of constant trouble. She witnessed several physical altercations, sometimes the parents of the children went at it over the stupidest things. After a couple of gun-related events (a shooting or two), the city decided to dedicate a police officer to the place.

It was such a day-to-day nightmare that the poor woman eventually took early retirement.

If I’m at a motel on a blisteringly hot day and I see Negroes swimming in the pool (usually they come in giant tribal masses), I’ll just stay the hell out. I can’t even hang out nearby, because they’ll run around screaming and yelling like wild hip-hop banshees. The children too, I might add.
I always like it when you go to a pool with Whites who act all liberal and multicult. They’ll leave the pool when Negroes show up, just like me. You ask them why and they’ll give you some line of bull: “I don’t feel like swimming anymore” or some such excuse. If you press them, they’ll get very defensive. I love it!

I just don’t bother with keeping up pretenses. I’ll tell liberals point-blank, yeah, I can’t stomach the idea of swimming in a pool where Negroes swim, either. Too nasty and I prefer not to come down with typhus, cholera or some disgusting, new Haitian flesh-eating bacteria, thank you please. That kind of open talk might shock them, but hell, they need some shock therapy.

Damned if I want to see some mutated, protoplasmic organism, grown fat on a steady diet of Afro-Sheen hair oil, cast adrift suddenly in a weak chlorine sea and then find harbor in the crotch area of my Birdwell Beach Britches!

Nasty!

— Jonathan Hunt – ATU President Portland

Two days ’till Thanksgiving! There’s lots to love about this holiday, and some of it doesn’t even have to do with food (although…pies! stuffing! MORE PIES!).

Thanksgiving is also a great opportunity for teaching and discussion. I know sometimes people have an adverse reaction to that–something like “Stop trying to make my holiday traditions politically correct!”–but so much of the Thanksgiving story is still relevant today. I like thinking about Thanksgiving as a celebration of a history that is still being written, a history that we can take an active part in.

On that note, Love Isn’t Enough points to a new teaching resource for Thanksgiving developed by a teacher and historian whose ancestors happen to be Quebeque French, Metis, Ojibwa, and Iroquois. He suggests that it’s time to move past some of the myths surrounding Thanksgiving towards historical accuracy, and insists that this will make the holiday more, not less, meaningful. I especially like some of the discussion questions, like this one:

Imagine for a moment that people from different cultures have come to your neighborhood. How will you make them feel welcome? How might you share your possessions with them? What kinds of things could you do to build feelings of friendship and harmony with them?

I think kids in a lot of neighborhoods won’t have to stretch their imaginations very far, and it’s nice to frame the Thanksgiving story in this context.

Thanksgiving is also, of course, about food. And so I end with this recipe, straight from our book Sweet Potato Pie:

Mama’s Sweet Potato Pie

• 1 Extra-flaky Pie Crust (see below)
• 1  1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (approx. 3 large)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter or margarine at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into chunks. Boil until tender, about 30 minutes.
2. Drain off water and put hot potatoes into large bowl. Mash potatoes.
4. Add all remaining ingredients except cinnamon and beat sweet potato mixture until smooth.
5. Pour warm filling into pie crust and sprinkle top with cinnamon.
6. Bake for about 1 hour, until filling is firm and crust is golden brown. Let cool on rack.

Extra-Flaky Pie Crust

• 1 cup all-purpose flower
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons solid vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup cold milk

1. Combine flour and salt in bowl.
2.Add shortening and use pastry blender or fork to cut shortening into flour mixture until crumbly.
3. Add milk and knead dough until soft ball forms.
4. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to form large circle.
5. Place circle of dough into 9-inch pie pan and press dough into corners.
6. Trim off excess dough with knife. Use fork to press down around rim of pan to create decorative edge.

I haven’t tried it yet myself, so if anyone does, let me know how it turns out!

“Officials at the University of East Anglia confirmed in a statement on Friday that files had been stolen from a university server and that the police had been brought in to investigate the breach,” the New York Times reports.

But that, and the vast majority of the Mainstream “Ministry of Truth” Media, is about all they want to report. They don’t want to talk about it.

Because, it’s a heresy against their faith.

Their Religion- Global Warming.

Kevin Trenberth, who heads the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.,”It is incontrovertible” that the world is warming as a result of human actions, Trenberth said. “The question to me is what to do.”

Dr. Kevin Trenberth, the head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and prominent man-made global warming advocate, wrote in an e-mail: “The fact is we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t.”

Ah, the Faithful and a “scientist” to boot….He is one of the people in the emails contained in “Climategate” by the way.

Climategate being the leaking onto the internet of data and emails that shows that Man-Made Global Warming is a farce.

I have said in past blogs what a crock I think Global Warming is and have provided evidence. But as the British author and satirist Douglas Adams once said, “Proof denies faith” and the two last things the Global Warming faithful want is to be wrong, and to have to defend their faith against the proof that they are wrong.

If you try looking for the story of the files and emails that show a major cover-up of information from the faithful to preserve their faith at all costs you’ll not see much of anything on the Mainstream Media. Because, like Van Jones, ACORN,  and other stories that the Liberal Elite don’t want to to talk about they want to just crush it and hope it goes away.

That “Journalism” today. It’s all Politics. All agenda all the time.

Washington Post:

While few U.S. politicians bother to question whether humans are changing the world’s climate — nearly three years ago the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded the evidence was unequivocal — public debate persists. And the newly disclosed private exchanges among climate scientists at Britain’s Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia reveal an intellectual circle that appears to feel very much under attack, and eager to punish its enemies.

In one e-mail, the center’s director, Phil Jones, writes Pennsylvania State University’s Michael E. Mann and questions whether the work of academics that question the link between human activities and global warming deserve to make it into the prestigious IPCC report, which represents the global consensus view on climate science.

“I can’t see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report,” Jones writes. “Kevin and I will keep them out somehow — even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!”

In another, Jones and Mann discuss how they can pressure an academic journal not to accept the work of climate skeptics with whom they disagree. “Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal,” Mann writes.

“I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor,” Jones replies.

Your typical liberal response to any disagreeing with them, intimidate them, then if that doesn’t work, censor them.

WSJ:

This is downright Orwellian. What the Post describes is not a vigorous debate but an attempt to suppress debate–to politicize the process of scientific inquiry so that it yields a predetermined result. This does not, in itself, prove the global warmists wrong. But it raises a glaring question: If they have the facts on their side, why do they need to resort to tactics of suppression and intimidation?

It is hard to see how this is anything less than a definitive refutation of the popular press’s contention that global warmism is settled science–a contention that both the <LONDON>Times and the Post repeat in their articles on the revelations: “The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument,” the Times claims. The Post leads its story by observing that “few U.S. politicians bother to question whether humans are changing the world’s climate,” and that “nearly three years ago the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded the evidence was unequivocal.”

But don’t expect much more from the faithful than there usual scorn, contempt and disrespect.

This should be considered not merely a scientific scandal but an enormous journalistic scandal. The elite press treats skepticism about global warming as a mental defect. It uses a form of the No True Scotsman fallacy to delegitimize people who dissent from the (manufactured) “consensus.” Dissent is scientifically unserious, therefore dissenting scientist A is unserious. There’s no way to break in. The moment someone disagrees with the “consensus” they disqualify themselves from criticizing the consensus. That’s not how science is supposed to work. Skeptics who’ve received a tote bag from some oil company (me: or insurance company in the Health Care debate) are branded as shills, but scientists who live off of climate-change-obsessed foundations or congressional fiefdoms are objective, call-it-like-they-see-it truth seekers. Question these folks and you get a Bill Murrayesque, “Back off, man. We’re scientists.” (NRO)

Well said.

An even larger reason this is a journalistic scandal is that governments want to spend — literally — trillions of dollars on climate change.

Cap & Trade anyone? anyone?

Industries want to make billions off it.

And so will some of it’s biggest Prophets (Profits, that’s a funny ) , Like Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi.

James Taranto of Best of the Web Today reminds us of Al Gore’s statement in an interview with Grist, “I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.” In plain English, the former Vice President and Presidential candidate supports lying in favor of the causes he believes in and supports.

Taranto even manages to turn up a Stanford University professor, Stephen H. Schneider, who explained to Discover that in order to make the world a better place scientists sometimes have to “offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have.”

Interject FOXNews: Professor Phil Jones, the head of the Climate Research Unit, and Professor Michael Mann at Pennsylvania State University, who has been an important scientist in the climate debate, have come under particular scrutiny. Among his e-mails, Professor Jones talks to Professor Mann about the “trick of adding in the real temps to each series…to hide the decline [in temperature].”

The poor will be hurt. Economies wrenched apart. And journalistic skepticism is almost nowhere to be found. If you know people in the “skeptic community” (for want of a better term) or even just normal, honest scientists, the observation that federal and foundation funding and groupthink is driving, or at least distorting, the climate debate is commonplace. But it’s given almost no oxygen in the elite press, because they are in on it. (NRO)

So, yeah,  ABC,NBC,CBS, etc are really going to cover this story in detail and depth.

Hey, is that pig Flying!!!!

A few More nuggets:

And there is a lot more. In another exchange, Professor Jones tells Professor Mann: “If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I’ll delete the file rather than send to anyone” and “We also have a data protection act, which I will hide behind.” Professor Jones further urges Professor Mann to join him in deleting e-mail exchanges about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s controversial assessment report: “Can you delete any e-mails you may have had with Keith re: [the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report]?” In another e-mail, Professor Jones told Professor Mann and Professor Malcolm Hughes at the University of Arizona and Raymond S. “Ray” Bradley at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst: “I’m getting hassled by a couple of people to release the CRU station temperature data. Don’t any of you three tell anybody that the UK has a Freedom of Information Act!”

Professor Jones complains to another academic: “I did get an e-mail from the FOI person here early yesterday to tell me I shouldn’t be deleting e-mails” and “IPCC is an international organization, so is above any national FOI. Even if UEA holds anything about IPCC, we are not obliged to pass it on.” We only have e-mails from Professor Jones’ institution, and, with his obvious approach to delete files; we have no idea what damaging information has been lost.

London Telegraph:

But perhaps the most damaging revelations  – the scientific equivalent of the Telegraph’s MPs’ expenses scandal – are those concerning the way Warmist scientists may variously have manipulated or suppressed evidence in order to support their cause.

Here are a few tasters.

Manipulation of evidence:

I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.

Private doubts about whether the world really is heating up:

The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t. The CERES data published in the August BAMS 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are surely wrong. Our observing system is inadequate.

Suppression of evidence:

Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4?

Keith will do likewise. He’s not in at the moment – minor family crisis.

Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? I don’t have his new email address.

We will be getting Caspar to do likewise.

Fantasies of violence against prominent Climate Sceptic scientists:

Next
time I see Pat Michaels at a scientific meeting, I’ll be tempted to beat
the crap out of him. Very tempted.

Attempts to disguise the inconvenient truth of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP):

……Phil and I have recently submitted a paper using about a dozen NH records that fit this category, and many of which are available nearly 2K back–I think that trying to adopt a timeframe of 2K, rather than the usual 1K, addresses a good earlier point that Peck made w/ regard to the memo, that it would be nice to try to “contain” the putative “MWP”, even if we don’t yet have a hemispheric mean reconstruction available that far back….

And, perhaps most reprehensibly, a long series of communications discussing how best to squeeze dissenting scientists out of the peer review process. How, in other words, to create a scientific climate in which anyone who disagrees with AGW can be written off as a crank, whose views do not have a scrap of authority.

“This was the danger of always criticising the skeptics for not publishing in the “peer-reviewed literature”. Obviously, they found a solution to that–take over a journal! So what do we do about this? I think we have to stop considering “Climate Research” as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal. We would also need to consider what we tell or request of our more reasonable colleagues who currently sit on the editorial board…What do others think?”

“I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor.”“It results from this journal having a number of editors. The responsible one for this is a well-known skeptic in NZ. He has let a few papers through by Michaels and Gray in the past. I’ve had words with Hans von Storch about this, but got nowhere. Another thing to discuss in Nice !”

Pat Michaels, a climate scientist at the Cato Institute, told The Wall Street Journal: “This is what everyone feared. Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult for anyone who does not view global warming as an end-of-the-world issue to publish papers. This isn’t questionable practice, this is unethical.”

Unfortunately, we’ve a long, long way to go before the public mood (and scientific truth) is reflected by our policy makers. There are too many vested interests in AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming myth), with far too much to lose either in terms of reputation or money, for this to end without a bitter fight.

The New York Times argues: “The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won’t be posted here.” – This from the same news organization that regularly publishes classified government documents!

As long as they were related to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld that is. I used to call the New York Times, Al-Jazerra East because they were so gung-ho for the propaganda victories and damn the consequences.

US President Barack Obama said Tuesday the world has moved “one step closer” to a “strong operational agreement” on climate change at next month’s Copenhagen summit after his talks with Indian and Chinese leaders.

And the Mainstream Media is going to do everything Orwellianly possible to not talk about it. EVER.

You, the public, just can’t handle the Truth.