Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax
From the Land of the Lost Blunderbuss
Month: September 2004
Community Standards
Posted on September 26, 2004 in Gender Morals & Ethics Social Justice
They want to gang up on those who raise no hand against them, pull their hair, push them, or beat them for a sacrifice to the cold, empty peripheries.
The Burn
Posted on September 26, 2004 in Neighborhood
The ground looks like the part of my groin that they shaved for my angiogram. The terrain looks like an offended shoulder, stripped of its chaparral.
Red Flares
Posted on September 25, 2004 in Encounters Neighborhood
A line of red flares wedged traffic at the intersection of Santiago Canyon Road and the Silverado cutoff to the left.
God’s Court: Bush Found Guilty of UnChristlike Policies
Posted on September 25, 2004 in Campaign 2004 Liberals & Progressives Travels - So Cal
Outside of God’s Court, we met a handful of angry liberal Catholics who condemned the actions of the Bush Adminstration as the most anti-Christian of any in recent memory.
The Beat Goes On
Posted on September 24, 2004 in Health Poetry
I noticed something while my leg was chained to the bed at Mission Hospital last week. When I took out my notebook and wrote, my blood pressure went down. Fifteen points. It was at 134 over 88 when my doctor checked in. After he left, I jotted down some thoughts. The blood pressure cuff soughed and thickened. It dropped to 119 over 80.
The latest Scientific American (October 2004, pp. 30-32) thinks there might be a connection, too:
Reciting the Illiad could have epic effects on your health. German physiologists have recently shown that such poetry can get your heart beating in time with your breaths. This synchronization may improve gas exchange as well as the body’s sensitivity and responsiveness to blood pressure changes.
The researchers chose German translations of Homer written in hexameter:
[Dirk] Cysatz says that one of his collaborators, speech therapist Petric Von Bonin, had extensive experience with this poetry form and felt it would yield the most promising results. Cysarz also cites historical accounts of Greek choruses and audiences gathering to recite more than 10,000 lines of hexameter without pausing. The verse must have produced feel-good effects, Cysarz surmises, “otherwise no one would want to listen to this poetry.”
They haven’t checked the connection with hypertension yet, but it’s the next step. I’m off to a poetry reading tonight. It should be good for my heart.
Cheap Shots, Cheapening Democracy
Posted on September 24, 2004 in Blogging Campaign 2004 Journalists & Pundits
Instead of worrying about cheap shots, we should be more concerned with the cheapening of our political process .
Project Censored List
Posted on September 23, 2004 in Journalists & Pundits
I like the new feature that prints a short list of entries that I had written on this date in past years. Clicking through one of these brought me to a story about Project Censored’s suppressed stories of 2003-2004. The item that most disturbs me is entitled “#11: The Media Can Legally Lie”. An appeals court affirmed the right of Fox News to distort the news if it wishes and to fire employees who refuse to go along. But what is worse is this:
the Fox station then filed a series of motions in a Tampa Circuit Court seeking more than $1.7 million in trial fees and costs from both Akre and Wilson. The motions were filed on March 30 and April 16 by Fox attorney, William McDaniels—who bills his client at $525 to $550 an hour. The costs are to cover legal fees and trial costs incurred by FOX in defending itself at the first trial.
The whole purpose, of course, is to put the screws on any other employee who might be tormented by conscience as they toe the iron line of Fox News. One hopes that the motion is thrown out of court.
Hematoma
Posted on September 23, 2004 in Health Poems
I found myself combining recent journal entries about Christian mythology and the process of healing
Winds of Change
Posted on September 22, 2004 in Campaign 2004 Poems
The reactions to the manipulated polls of the last week are sadly predictable.
A Letter to Some Atheists and False Christians
Posted on September 21, 2004 in Agnosticism Campaign 2004 Morals & Ethics Reading
The rational human being must learn not to generalize too broadly.
Michael Moore Makes A Reality Check
Posted on September 21, 2004 in Campaign 2004
I’ve seen more than a few friends suddenly fall to pieces at the latest polls, without asking themselves critical questions such as who conducted them, how, and what spin are they trying to promote. Remember this: polls are driven by the media giants and they have no interest in seeing John Kerry elected president because it will mean a return to real fair and balanced reporting as well as the curbing of the toy poodles who run our corporations. These are the people who have repeatedly failed to ask the tough questions when it counted. These are the people who bought the stop of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. These are the people who called the year 2000 election “fair” and rubberstamped the report which failed to tell the truth about the dereliction of duty which led to 9-11.
Michael Moore has a few things to say about the polls and other myths being spun by main stream media:
The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead — and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling “likely voters.” “Likely” means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means they are not talking to young people. Finally, most of the polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby revealed last week. You are being snookered if you believe any of these polls.
Stand up. Look straight. Call Moveon or the Democratic Party. Volunteer to get out the vote on Election Day. Get the word out. Tell the truth about George W. Bush and John Kerry. It was Bush who misled the nation, deliberately and unrepentant. John Kerry went on the information that he had at hand. Some of us knew better, but what is past is past — provided that those who erred are willing to correct their ways. Kerry is. Bush is not.
Do not give up. That’s what they are counting on you to do.
For those of faith, check out “God is not a Republican — Or a Democrat“
Check out this flash video.
Kerry sets the record straight on Iraq.
How Kerry Might Beat Bush
Posted on September 21, 2004 in Campaign 2004
The key is to Ignore the RNC.
