tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9378145392383063932024-03-13T13:43:27.648-07:00Masri ZoneA journal of facts and opinions about the world and the people in itAllanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.comBlogger302125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-11697801888063605852020-04-22T12:41:00.000-07:002020-04-22T12:41:58.735-07:00No, not me<span class="inline_editor_value"></span><br />
<div class="" id="__w2_wMOz0qNr19_expanded">
<div class="ui_qtext_expanded">
<span class="ui_qtext_rendered_qtext"><div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
I
believe that Republicans are members of a death cult. Sounds extreme, I
know, but what else would you call it? They are trying to take health
care away from Americans which has already caused deaths due to
inadequate medical care. There’s only one reason they would do that:
They believe that the profits of insurance companies are more important
than the lives of Americans.</div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
<br /></div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
But
to actually be considered members of a death cult, Republicans would
have to do more than just let a few sick people die. They would need to
let a whole shitload of sick people die. And they are doing just that.</div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
<br /></div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
During
the COVID crisis, Republicans are holding rallies to open the economy
immediately, consequences be damned. Some of them even say this
explicitly. Dan Patrick, Lt. Governor of Texas, said that he’d be
willing to die if the economy could be reopened. And of course Donald
Trump has said repeatedly, as is his wont, not to let the remedy be
worse than the problem. He didn’t explicitly say he wanted people to die
alone in nursing homes, but that is certainly what would happen.</div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
<br /></div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
Not
content with having American citizens die, the Republicans and Trump
also have instituted policies that will lead to Mexicans and Central
Americans dying in the desert while they are walking to the border or
waiting in camps for their court dates. I have heard that some people
are even picking up food and water caches placed in the desert to aid
refugees.</div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
<br /></div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
Republicans
have also worked diligently to deny women the right to safe abortions,
instead forcing them to use illegal abortionists who in the past have
proven careless about the welfare of their patients.</div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
<br /></div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
There
are other actions taken by Trump and the Republicans, many of which
result in death or disease. Trump removed some protections from the
Clean Water Act that will permit companies to dump raw waste into our
rivers. He also made changes that will permit auto makers and importers
to let their cars pollute our air more by raising the legal limit of CO2
emissions and lowering the legal miles per gallon for each new car.</div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
<br /></div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
Republicans
justify these things by saying that regulations are harming business
profits, thereby explicitly stating that the deaths of our citizens must
be exchanged for corporate profits.</div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
<br /></div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
If
that’s not the description of a death cult, I don’t know what would be,
unless it’s putting people into concentration camps and starving them
to death. But the net result of these Republican policies, and others
that I could name, is the deaths of thousands, perhaps even millions of
people who were not given the choice or whether they wanted to sacrifice
their lives for corporate profits or not.</div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
<br /></div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
I’m
going to be among the first to say it, no, Mr. President, I do not
agree to die so that corporations can enjoy higher profits.</div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
<br /></div>
<div class="ui_qtext_para u-ltr u-text-align--start">
No, not me.</div>
</span></div>
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Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-32735884359405560792020-04-17T22:13:00.004-07:002020-04-17T22:13:50.768-07:00Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze-Lavoisier
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
MARIE-ANNE PIERRETTE
PAULZE-LAVOISIER,</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
COMTESSE DE RUMFORD
(1758-1836)</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A BEACON EMERGING
FROM THE SHADOWS</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
(translated by Allan Masri) </div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I know what I was, I
know what I am,</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I want what I
should, I do what I can.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
-Bouscal, La Mort de
Cleomene </div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The history of the
sciences presents, more than any other discipline, a constellation of
portraits of great people whose character, intelligence, works, and
influence inspire admiration. Behind these well-known figures,
however, other beings, ignored by nearly all the conoscenti,
patiently wait to be placed in the spotlight. In the 18<sup>th</sup>
century, many wives performed this modest role, kept themselves in
the shadow of their husbands, guided their careers, encouraged almost
anonymously the development of the sciences, began the inevitable
movement toward women’s emancipation, and without fanfare
contributed to the progress of the human spirit and the happiness of
the human race. Others, less shy, brightened history with their
courage and exceptional strength of character. Although little known
to the historians of science, Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze belongs to
this last category of women, glowing in their midst, a beacon
emerging from the shadows.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The daughter of
Jacques Paulze de Chastenolles (1719-1794) and Claudine Thoynet (d.
1761), Marie-Anne was born at Montbrisson (Loire) on 20 January 1958.
She had three brothers. Her father, a well-known parliamentary judge
and manager of the French East India Company, was the general manager
of the Ferme Generale, a private company entrusted by the king with
collecting, for a compensation, indirect taxes: the gabelle (salt
tax), taxes on tobacco, licensing rights, and the aides (taxes on
alcohol). His function as tax collector brought him very substantial
revenues. For her part, her mother, married to Jacques Paulze in
1752, was the niece of Abb<span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">é</span></span>
Joseph-Marie Terray (1715-1778), one of the most powerful ministers
of the day. Thanks to family connections, Marie-Anne should have
enjoyed an easy and happy life. But she lost her mother when she was
only three. Her father decided she should be educated in a convent,
where she could receive the classical education typical of a young
woman of the haute bourgeoisie. It was there that she forged her
character, becoming interested especially in the sciences and
drawing, maturing more rapidly than children pampered by their
parents. At the age of twelve, she was already an accomplished young
lady, sure of herself, with a lively intelligence and blossoming and
filled with talents. At the receptions that the Paulze family
organized regularly, she sparkled through her wit and her charm, and
she attracted numerous admirers.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In 1770, the
baroness of la Garde decided that her brother, the count of Amerval,
should remarry. Penniless, 50 years old, this person had nothing that
might attract a young and intelligent girl who happened to be heiress
of an enviable fortune. Marie-Anne resisted this marriage as best she
could. Taking advantage of the influence of Abb<span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">é</span></span>
Terray, the Baroness threatened Jacques Paulze with the loss of his
lucrative position at the heart of the Ferme G<span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">é</span></span>n<span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">é</span></span>rale
if the union was not accomplished. Outraged by the exxpress
intentions of the Baroness, Paulze disapproved of this union and,
moreover, did not wish to allow his daughter to suffer such an
imposition; he therefore decided to marry her quickly to a brilliant
young man who was much more compatible, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier
(1743-1794), who regularly attended his salon, and who had often
played music with Marie-Anne and conversed with her about geology,
chemistry, and astronomy.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The two young
people, who had already liked each other for some time, readily
assented to the plan. The betrothal took place in November, 1771, the
marriage contract was signed on December 4, 1771, and the marriage
took place on the 16th. Resigned to his defeat, Abbe Terray performed
the marriage in his private chapel, with himself and his brother
acting as witnesses. Two hundred guests from among the most
illustrious in France attended the banquet. The couple established
their residence in rue Neuve-des-Bons-Enfants, near the Palais-Royal,
in a house that the father of the groom had bought when his declining
health had necessitated the sale of his office as Solicitor General
of Parlement.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Antoine-Laurent
Lavoisier was born August 26, 1743, in Paris. He was the son of
Emilie Punctis (d. 23 March 1746). He belonged to a rich and
influential family. He attended classes at College Mazarin (or
College des Quatre-Nations, now Institut de France) where the faculty
of the sciences enjoyed an exalted reputation. His professor of
mathematics and astronomy was Abbe de La Caille; he also followed the
botany course of Bernard de Jussieu, and that of the academician
Jean-Etienne Guettard in geology and mineralogie, and of Rouelle in
Chemistry. When he was 18, he abandoned his secondary studies. On the
advice of his father, he began studying law and earned his licence
three years later (1764). He could have started a practice, but
continued to study botany, mineralogy, meteorology, and medicine. He
was eager to learn everything. He loved mathematics, natural
sciences, strictly controlled experiments. He analysed criticized,
and compared theories concurrently. He also loved the tangible and
experiments having positive results.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
At the age of 21, he
started research that were submitted to the Academy of Science. At
the age of 23, he presented his work on the analysis of gypsum and
plaster of Paris, and, in a contest, a paper on “the best way to
illuminate the streets of a large city at night,” a work which
earned him a gold medal from the Academy of Sciences. At 24, he
accompanied Guettard in a trip to the East of France, to prepare an
inventory of the mineral resources of the kingdom. In 1768, he was 25
years old; he purchased a half-share in the Ferme Generale and became
assistant to the general manager of the ferme, Baudon. At the same
time, having received the support of Jussieu, Lelande, and Macquer,
he applied for the post of assistant-chemist at the Academy after the
death of Theodore Baron; he became a full-fledged member at the age
of 29. when he married, a year later, Marie-Anne, he already had
impressive successes to his credit and his career was among the most
promising.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Antoine had also
lost his mother when he was three years old and found himself in his
infancy, in the same position as his young wife. He had been raised
by his aunt, Constance Punctis. Both Marie-Anne and Antoine belonged
to families with many childless relatives.The couple was likewise
childless. Perhaps this circumstance explains the exclusive devotion
that they mutually shared during the twenty-three years of their
happy union. They were never the object of scandalous rumors in the
Gazette, however anxious it was for such stories. It was above all
their common passion for science that bound them together forever,
even after the death of the scientist in 1794.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Marie-Anne quickly
became an indispensable assistant for her husband, in a role that far
surpassed that of a mere devoted spouse. The pair arose at 5 o’clock
and worked in the laboratory from 6 to 9 and from 7 to 9 in the
evening. The afternoon was reserved for business of the Ferme
Generale and numerous administrative tasks of Antoine, such as
preparing powder; twice during the week, Marie-Anne held a salon,
entertaining the most illustrious scientists of the epoch from France
and other countries: Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Pierre Samuel
Dupont de Nemours (1739-1817), sir Charles Blagden (1748-1820), the
English author Arthur Young, Gouverneur Morris, etc.During the course
of these dinners, Marie-Anne sparkled by her wit, her grace, and her
wisdom. After a visit that he made to Lavoisier in October 1787,
Arthur Young wrote: “Madame Lavoisier, a person full of animation,
of science and knowledge, had prepared an English breakfast with tea
and coffee, but the best part of that breakfast, was, without
contradiction, her conversation, either on the essay on phlogiston by
Monsieur Kirwan that she was in the process of translating from the
English, or on other subjects that an intelligent woman working in
the laboratory of her husband knows how to make interesting”.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In the evening,
Antoine conducted experiments, often in the company of his guests
while Marie-Anne drew or took notes touching the experiments
undertaken by her husband. Her writings often appeared in the
registers of the laboratory, mixed with those of Antoine and his
collaborators. We know by her correspondence that Marie-Anne
accompanied Antoine on his numerous journeys. Beginning in 1772, she
took notes in notebooks on their travels, describing at each halte
the temperature and pressure on the thermometers and barometers
carried in their baggage ; she also described remarks on the terrain,
the crops, the work of the men and everything of interest to
Lavoisier.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In 1775, the
scientist was named director of Powder and Salpeter. The couple
decamped to the Arsenal and Antoine set up his laboratory in it: it
was there that he carried out most of his important experiments.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Lavoisier had no
gift for languages. Marie-Anne asked her brother, Balthazar Paulze,
for lessons in Latin. She also learned English and Italian and so was
able to translate the works of Priestley, Cavendish, Henry, and other
European chemists. She also commenced studies in chemistry with
Jean-Baptiste Bucquet and Philippe Gingembre, colleagues of her
husband. In 1788, her translation of the <i>Essay on Phlogiston</i>
of the Irish chemist Richard Kirwan (Essay on Phlogiston, London,
1787), permitted Lavoisier, assisted by Guyton de Morveau, Laplace,
Monge, Berthollet and Fourcroy, to refute each of the arguments in
the <i>Essay</i> and to publish his Elementary Treatise on Chemistry
in 1789. Marie-Anne translated as well, in 1790, <i>Strength of Acids
and the Proportion of Ingredients in Neutral Salts</i>, by Kirwan,
and published her translation in the Annals of Chemistry. The first
French edition of Kirwan gave her no credit, her name not even being
mentioned. However, the marginal notes added by Marie-Anne prove that
she has all the qualifications of an excellent translator as well as
a knowledge of chemistry sufficient to comment intelligently on the
work of a specialist such as Kirwan.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A talented
illustrator, she drew her self-portrait at the beginning of their
marriage. In this drawing, she appears rather slight of build, with
very fine blue eyes, a small mouth, a slightly turned up nose, clear
skin, and chestnut hair. In the course of the 1780s, she improved her
skill under the tutelage of Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825), who
presented the couple, in December 1788, with the celebrated portrait
of the married pair that today is on display at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York City. A portrait that she painted of
Benjamin Franklin, which the subject mentioned in an unusual
thank-you note, dated 23 October 1788: “Those who have viewed this
painting have declared that it has great merit and is worthy of
consideration; but what makes it particularly precious to me is the
hand that held the brush”.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The pictorial output
of Marie-Anne demonstrates definitively that the arts and the
sciences are inextricably linked and that it is important to
understand this fact. The thirteen engravings on copper modestly
signed, “Paulze Sculptis” that illustrated the <i>Treatise of
Elementary Chemistry, </i>were made by her hand, as were all the
sketches that preceded the final proof. Each design exists in at
least four different versions, with various details and corrections
made.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Marie-Anne first
drew the instruments freehand, then filled in the outlines with
watercolors. She recopied this mixture on graph paper to match the
dimensions of the copper negatives. It is probable that she herself
had drawn the fine grid of her tracing paper. This design was copied
onto wax paper, then, with a stylus, onto the copper plate. The
letters were added by hand to the negative. The final proof of the
negative included the word “good”, followed by her signature. In
some of these illustrations, she engraved at least two scenes taken
from life in the laboratory of the Arsenal, showing the experiments
that Lavoisier performed on respiration in company with Pierre Simon
de Laplace and Armand Seguin. In these two scenes, “The man at
work” and “The man at rest”-- “astonishing foretelling the
actual experiments of measuring work in the real situation of the
workroom” --, Marie-Anne depicted herself, in the background, as a
secretary recording notes in the laboratory registers.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The frequent
receptions that the couple organized attracted numerous admirers to
Marie-Anne. One of them, P. S. Dupont de Nemours, sent her,
beginning in 1781. numerous letters where he declared tender feeling
to her. It was still probables that Marie-Anne had no relationship
with him, neither before nor after Antoine’s execution.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Antoine and his
father-in-law, Jacques Paulze, were arrested November 28, 1793, with
twenty-six other members of the Ferme General. They were judged and
executed on 8 May 1794. The third head to fall was that of Paulze.
Antoine followed him immediately under the guillotine ; he was 51
years old.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The condamnation and
execution of her father and her husband on the same day was for
Marie-Anne an extraordinary shock that changed her forever. Stunned,
she protested vociferously against their arrest ; then, in a virulent
pamphlet, signed by many widows and children of the condemned, she
denounced Antoine Dupin (1758-1820), the member of the Convention
responsible for executions.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Unjustly arrested on
24 June 1794, she was imprisoned. She revealed herself thus “full
of courage, audacious, sometimes daring and not afraid to hold her
head with composure”. After letters of protest that she sent in
August to the Bureau of Piques, to the Committee of Public Safety and
to the Committee of General Security, she was released on 17 August,
after 65 days of detention. Her arrest was probably due to the
correspondence found when her papers were seized along with her
family effects. Rendered helpless by the seizure of all her
belongings, she could do nothing but plead to her most faithful
servant for assistance.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
At the end of
September, Marie-Anne left secretly to take refuge near
Lons-le-Saunier, in the Jura Mountains, where the modest community of
Moutonne hastily made its report: “35 years old; 5 feet, 1 inch
tall; hair and eyebrows black; eyes blue; nose well made; mouth small
and chin round.” She was not so much fleeing her situation as the
urgent, almost obsessive, advances of P. S. Dupont de Nemours, who
bitterly resented her repeated rejections. Meanwhile, the inventory
of Lavoisier’s property dragged on until the end of November.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In August 1795, she
was finally able to reclaim the estate of Freschines. Her goods, the
instruments, and the scientific notes of her husband, but not the
money, were returned to her in April 1796. The years that followed
this tragedy were not easy. She had to confront another ticklish
problem: P. S. Dupont, who had proposed in 1791 to create a printing
shop, had gotten a loan from Lavoisier, backed by a mortgage of
71,000 francs on the estate of the Duponts at Bois-des-Fosses. As he
himself had been ruined by the Revolution, P. S. Dupont was unable to
reimburse Marie-Anne. It wasn’t until 1805 that the problem was
resolved, primarily thanks to his son, Eleuthere Irenee Dupont de
Nemours (1771-1834) who had emigrated to the United States and opened
a very successful gunpowder factory there in 1802. At that time,
Marie-Anne asked P. S. Dupont to finance the publication of the first
two volumes of <i>Memoirs of Chemistry </i>by lavoisier. In the
vitriolic preface that she wrote for this edition, she denounced all
those who should have been able to help her husband and did not have
the courage to do so: Fourcroy, Guyton de Morveau, Monge, etc.
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Ten years after her
husband’s execution, she dedicated to the inventor a veritable cult
where she revealed his masonic ideals: “A soul so just,” she
wrote in the preface ”with a talent so pure, with a genius so
elevated. It was in his conversations that the beauty of his
character could be assessed and the depth of his morale principles.
If some of the people those who attend these reunions would ever read
these memoirs, their memory could not be recalled without
emotion...If the laws which he was compelled to execute [in his
function as a magistrate] had been occasionally too harsh, his
efforts always tended to ameliorate them. One had to see him in the
midst of his renters, acting as justice of the peace to repair the
friendship of two neighbors, to reconcile a son with his father,
giving an example of all the patriarchal virtues, caring for the
sick, not only using of his own funds but also with visits, his own
attentions, and his urging them to have patience and hope”.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Between 1796 and
1800, Marie-Anne led a relatively withdrawn life. She had fewer
receptions, traveled widely in Italy, in Germany, and England. Every
return became the occasion for joyous reunions. She continued to hold
a salon in the image of former times, where people met together and
exchanged ideas freely. The character of Marie-Anne changed also,
insensibly. She became brusque, authoritarian, ill-tempered. After
1801, she could be seen surrounded by many suitors, when her social
life regained some of its former exuberance. Among these were, of
course, P. S. Dupont de Nemours, but also sir Charles Blagden, who
made discreet inquiries. Among the regular visitors to her salon
could be noticed Benjamin Thompson, Count of Rumford (1763-1814), a
famous physicist.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Born in Woburn
(Massachusetts), Thompson was self-taught. At the age of 18, he was
appointed as schoolmaster in Rumford (Massachusetts). He married a
wealthy 31-year old widow. He spied for the British during the
American Revolution. Exposed as a spy, he left America immediately in
1776, abandoning his wife and his young daughter, Sarah, and found
refuge in England, where he was ennobled. Received into society, he
met often with Maximilien, Elector of Bavaria, who appointed him to a
ministerial post at the court in Munich. His life then took another
orientation. In Bavaria, he cleverly used his technical knowledge to
propose very avant-garde social reforms. He organized the public
works, military and social reforms (notably a system of social
security) and the construction of lodgings for the poor ; he equipped
houses with modern kitchens and effective systems of heating and
light ; he invented new artillery pieces and new boats. He also
established public gardens at Munich, the Park of the People, which
still exists, and the English Garden.
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As recompense for
his work, the Duke of Bavaria named him a Count of the Holy Roman
Empire, but Thomson chose for himself the name of the town whence he
had fled: Rumford (today Concord, capital of New Hampshire). The
Count of Rumford also won some renown by a discovery that overthrew
the Physics of the epoch : while working on a firing range, he
noticed that when a cannon that had just been bored was plunged into
a basin it made the water therein boil and even kept hot for awhile.
Proposing thus the foundation of the first law of thermodynamics, he
refuted the Aristotelian theory holding that heat, like the other
essences (earth, water, air, fire) could neither be created nor
destroyed. [The caloric theory was born].</div>
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In Scientific
circles, he was recognized as a talented physicist. He founded the
Royal Institute of Great Britain and also endowed a professorship at
Harvard University. The Royal Society and American Academy of Arts
and Sciences both named medals after him. Many institutions owe their
survival to his generosity.</div>
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In 1801, while he
was basking in his glory, he proposed marriage to Madame Lavoisier.
Legal complications prolonged their engagement. In 1804, Marie-Anne
left the apartment that she had occupied in the Boulevard de la
Madeleine since 1792, when she was required, with Antoine, to leave
the Arsenal. The marriage was performed at the Hotel de Ville in
Paris on 24 October 1805. The Rumford couple lived at 39, rue
d’Anjou-Saint-Honoré, property of Anne-Marie. During this time,
she received annually 6,000 livres (US$ <a href="https://www.historicalstatistics.org/Currencyconverter.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;"><u>2
million</u></span></a> in 2010 dollars) in rents from her properties.
She also deposited 125,000 livres (US$ 40 million ) at 5% to an
account in the name of Rumford. This money was supposed to be paid to
the last survivor of the Rumford family -- Marie-Anne, the Count of
Rumford, or his daughter, Sarah. Maximilien of Bavaria approved the
marriage and added 4,000 florins (US$ 885,800) per year to the
pension of the Count. The marriage of Marie-Anne and Rumford was a
good deal for Rumford…</div>
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The new husband had
a difficult personality, rather different from that of Lavoisier.
Arrogant, irascible, unpredictable, egoistic, and condescending
toward women, he could also be very generous, altruistic, and
charming. For her part, Marie-Anne ws torn between her devotion to
the memory of Antoine (hadn’t she insisted on declaring her new
married name, written on the marriage contract, as “Marie-Anne
Lavoisier de Rumford”, a demand that strongly offended the Count?)
and her unspoken desire to “turn the page”. On the one hand, she
endeavored to publish “Memoirs of Chemistry”, but on the other
she left the estate of Freschines and her apartment in Rue de la
Madeleine--places that held memories of Antoine for her.</div>
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After January 1806,
The marriage showed signs of weakness. Marie-Anne realized that the
Count had married her primarily for her money. Alarmed by the
extravagance of Marie-Anne, Rumford forbade the admittance of guests
who came each week to her salon to talk about science and recall the
memory of the deceased Antoine--which did not fail to arouse the
jealousy of the Count. Marie-Anne responded by pouring boiling water
on the flowers which her husband cultivated with loving care in their
garden. Their frequent arguments now aroused public notoriety. The
couple separated in 1806 ; the divorce was finalized on 30 June 1809.
Rumford died in Paris on 21 August 1814 of a “nervous fever.” He
was 51 years old, just as Lavoisier was when he was executed.</div>
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After this
unfortunate experience, nothing further troubled the life of
Marie-Anne. She continued to entertain her friends. But nothing was
ever the same again. Later in life, her interests turned more toward
charity than science. Nevertheless, she had participated in one of
the greatest scientific accomplishments in history. Her husband’s
work succeeded in overturning the theory of chemistry that had been
accepted since it was propounded by Aristotle, 2500 years earlier.
The edifice of ignorance was certainly ready to fall, but Lavoisier
was there when it did. Marie-Anne Paulze was there as well.</div>
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a:link { so-language: zxx }</style>Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-89832373612845498202019-09-01T14:21:00.000-07:002019-09-01T14:21:02.756-07:00Escape IIEscape From the System (Part II)<br />
Scene One: Banquet Hall of the Archons.<br />
(Dyanolo is discovered, prostrate, in the foreground. A raised dais extends across the back of<br />
the stage. The scene resembles the stage at the beginning of the play, except that this is a<br />
dimly lit interior. The Gate, as throughout the play, looms in the background.<br />
(CLOWN enters cavorting and laughing. Perhaps he is rehearsing a new act. He is a happy<br />
clown.)<br />
Clown: Picking up rocks with his toes,<br />
Tossing them into the air<br />
Singing wherever he goes<br />
Fools have never a care<br />
Mortals he meets give him food<br />
He dines on Propian’s meat<br />
Jumpers in merciful mood<br />
Give him the soles of their feet,<br />
(laughs at his own joke)<br />
Though they may treat him like dirt<br />
Exor’s fool never will frown<br />
But when he feels very hurt<br />
His smile’s a frown upside down<br />
(he laughs again)<br />
Dyan: (groans)<br />
Clown:What have we here? A corpse that’s still alive?<br />
Or else a body that’s not yet quite dead.<br />
How strange! And lying here, inside the hall<br />
Where Exor and the immortals feast each time<br />
They’re tired out by torture or by sex.<br />
Although, the way they go about the two,<br />
It makes no sense to give them different names.<br />
(nudges Dyanolo with his foot)<br />
Wake up, human, and tell me who you are,<br />
Or what you are and what you’re doing here.<br />
Dyan (looking around in a daze): What is this place? Who, or what, are you?<br />
Clown: A fancy question, that. A fool can see<br />
What I am. That’s just what I am, a fool.<br />
As for this place, it’s just as obviously<br />
A slop-hall, and one of the best at that.<br />
But when it comes to you, one might well ask:<br />
What is it? Above all, what does it do? [Wed 38]<br />
Dyan: If I remember rightly, there were folks<br />
Scurrying back and forth and all around<br />
Within a great, cavernous hall of brass<br />
Where music floated from behind the walls<br />
In melodies that made me want to move.<br />
Clown: It’s clear now what you are, you’re raving mad.<br />
But don’t let anybody know the truth,<br />
For once they do, they’ll put you in a cage<br />
And pump all sorts of poisons in your head,<br />
To cure you, so they say. I have my doubts,<br />
Unless they mean to cure you of your life.<br />
But have no fear, your secret’s safe with me.<br />
I’m mad as well, you see, I’m one of you--<br />
Or should I say, instead, you’re one of me?<br />
Dyan (still somewhat dazed): There was a purple fountain in the room<br />
Whose waters tasted sweet and made me faint.<br />
I wanted to stay there and drink my fill<br />
But I was pulled along by crowds of folk<br />
Into another, more beautiful, room,<br />
A silver room, where silver music played.<br />
Cascading down the walls were watery sheets,<br />
Reflecting light and sound from everywhere.<br />
There seemed a million people in the room,<br />
Who pushed and pulled me through it as before.<br />
Another room enthralled me, all in gold,<br />
And still the people swept me on again,<br />
Though this time I was pulled around and back<br />
Toward the place through which I’d come inside.<br />
Once more I drank the purple fountain’s brew<br />
And heard the music from within the walls.<br />
Once more I faced the jumpers at the Gate…<br />
Then, my memory fails. [wed 70]<br />
Clown: Let me fill in<br />
What you cannot: you faced the jumper’s gate,<br />
Pushed by the crowd, you could not stop yourself<br />
When the direction of the gate was changed<br />
From out to in. The jumper barred the way<br />
Against you with his stick. He struck, you fell.<br />
As for the rest, the people dragged you off.<br />
The jumpers would have left you there to die.<br />
They brought you here because they were confused:<br />
You bear no burden, hence you have no place,<br />
Except perhaps to entertain the gods,<br />
And so they left you in the banquet hall.<br />
Dyan: Will I see Exor here?<br />
Clown: Most probably.<br />
But if you have no skill that you can use<br />
To entertain him, Exor’s face may be<br />
The last your hapless eyes will look upon. [wed 87]<br />
Clown: That's dangerous. it always frightens them<br />
Dyan: What sort of skill might come to my defense?<br />
Clown:Well, that depends. If you can tell a joke--<br />
(scrutinizes Dyanolo’s face)<br />
Forgive me, humor’s plainly not your style.<br />
Perhaps you tumble, roll, and leap about--<br />
No, I can tell that you fall down a lot.<br />
Which might suffice, if you could make them laugh.<br />
They love to laugh. Immortals always have.<br />
Your looks are kind of funny, real bizarre.<br />
If there was only something you could do...<br />
Dyan: There is one thing that I’ve been working on:<br />
I’ve had some success at reading people’s minds.<br />
Clown: That’s dangerous. It always frightens them<br />
To learn that one of us can think at all.<br />
Their lives are threatened by intelligence.<br />
They hate to fear, just as they love to laugh.<br />
An entertainer is expendable.<br />
If you fail to amuse, you fail to live.<br />
If you’re too good, the same fate awaits you.<br />
Oh well, as long as there's no hope, relax.<br />
You can't be much worse off and be alive!<br />
Besides, if they appreciate your art,<br />
You might get to the Garden of Delights.<br />
Dyan: I've heard that name before— is Exor there?<br />
Clown: Sometimes he is we; can't be very sure.<br />
He comes and goes as he alone sees fit.<br />
For all I know he might even be you.<br />
You could be testing my fidelity--<br />
By giving you these facts and helping you,<br />
I could be sending myself to the labs<br />
Or giving up my blood for Exor’s games. [Fri 32]<br />
Dyan: Then you hate the archons?<br />
Clown: I love them all!<br />
Dyan: You'd like to see them overthrown?<br />
Clown: But that never be, so long as Exor lives,<br />
And Exor is immortal.<br />
Dyan: So he says…<br />
Clown: Enough of these treasonable speeches!<br />
I’m simply Exor’s nimble-witted clown<br />
and neither judge nor executioner.<br />
You'd be wise to follow in my footsteps--<br />
Be silent now! Immortals are arriving.<br />
[As the two have been speaking, the guests have been arriving and seating themselves at low<br />
tables. A Herald enters with a large staff and knocks against the floor with it. There’s a hollow<br />
thump as he does so.]]<br />
Herald: Attention and respect from all of you!<br />
Your Lords and Masters enter in your midst.<br />
Be thankful that they honor you this way,<br />
Be mindful that you honor them as well.<br />
[ Exor, Amar, and others enter and seat themselves on the dais ]<br />
All: All hail Exor King of the Gods!<br />
Let us see him now and forever!<br />
Exor gives us lightning and life!<br />
Without Exor, nothing is safe!<br />
[ Amar rises and takes the staff from the Herald ]<br />
Amar: The archons have good news to tell you all! [Fri 54]<br />
Exor has announced to us his findings<br />
Which he himself is taken with great care<br />
Using instruments of his invention.<br />
But who am I? I would not dare profane<br />
With my base words Exor’s wonderful news.<br />
first voice: Praised be the Gods !<br />
Second voice: Praise Almighty Exor !<br />
[ Exor rises slowly and is helped forward. Amar hands him the staff and Exor makes his speech<br />
leaning on it ]<br />
Exor: My children, I have news great news for you!<br />
Our journey to the stars is almost past.<br />
Not yours but each succeeding generation<br />
Shall see the Stars high in the firmament.<br />
Their hearts shall feel the glory of the gods,<br />
Whose love has given them this miracle.<br />
First voice: Praised be the Gods!<br />
Second voice: Praise Almighty Exor!<br />
Exor: Thank you, my children, yours is generous praise.<br />
I will repay Faith you’ve had in me;<br />
I won't betray the hopes of all mankind!<br />
[ Exor is led back to his seat. Applause ]<br />
Amar: You've heard the archon Exor's wondrous words,<br />
He promised never to betray your trust.<br />
What need was there for him to pledge himself?<br />
Exor has never failed the faithful ones.<br />
[ Applause ]<br />
But there are those who would betray our Lord,<br />
Whose treason knows no moral boundary,<br />
Whose madness feeds on other, impure gods<br />
Whose ultimate objective is the death,<br />
Not only of our leader, but the death<br />
Of Earth itself! Beware the treacherous ones!<br />
Report their actions to our brave jumpers,<br />
Remove the evil cancer of revolt. [Sat.34]<br />
[More ecstatic applause. Shouts of “Kill them all!,” etc. ]<br />
But now, be happy, join the Archons’ feast,<br />
Bring on the entertainment, serve the food!<br />
[ There is a commotion, with tables and chairs scraping the floor and platters being set down,<br />
as the orders are carried out ]<br />
[ Dyanolo tries to remain inconspicuous as the clown entertains. He is soon accosted by a<br />
young lady who has assumed him to be a prostitute. He rejects the lady's advances, but this<br />
only makes her more insistent. The Clown, on seeing his friend’s plight comes between the two<br />
and attempts to make the whole matter into a joke without notable success. Dyanolo finally<br />
breaks loose. ]<br />
Lady: Seize that slave! He's a worthless malcontent,<br />
a traitor.<br />
Amar: What's he done?<br />
Lady: Assaulted me—<br />
That's right, that idiot assaulted me.<br />
Amar: Your charge is grave but unbelievable.<br />
Had he rejected you, you'd have a case<br />
Against him; not a strong one, but a case<br />
(The Lady turns away from Amar, dejected.).<br />
Dyan: My Lord Archon, I beg an audience...<br />
Amar: You have my ear.<br />
Dyan: I need to speak with Exor. [Sat. 54]<br />
Amar: Our Leader wouldn't waste his time on you.<br />
Dyan: He seems to waste it on nothing at all.<br />
Amar: I forget myself sometimes when I believe<br />
Simply because your kind possesses eyes,<br />
You have a mind behind them and can think.<br />
But since you have no mind and cannot think<br />
You aren't aware that others can and do.<br />
So what may seem loafing to your crude mind<br />
Lets me deduce that Exor’s lost in thought.<br />
Speak to me now or never speak again.<br />
Dyan: your words are harsh, what's worse they make no sense.<br />
They might apply to others in the room<br />
But not to me. Your mental faculties,<br />
Perhaps those of the great Exor himself,<br />
Must take second place behind my own,<br />
For I can read the thoughts of both your minds.<br />
[crowd murmurs indignantly]<br />
First voice: He's talking treason.<br />
Second voice: It's a blatant lie.<br />
Amar: We waste no love or time on charlatans.<br />
[ Speaking to guards ]<br />
Remove this babbling imbecile at once!<br />
Dyan: You're wondering where I've come from, who I am.<br />
I read your thoughts as plainly as my own.<br />
Amar: You're right, I do, but what unusual power<br />
Is needed to reveal the common thought<br />
That runs through every mind within this room.<br />
And yet, your arrogance amuses me.<br />
Exert your mental prowess on my thoughts<br />
And tell me what I'm thinking about now.<br />
Dyan: Your thoughts are fixed upon the golden door<br />
That separates this Palace from the world<br />
Of ordinary folk with simple lives.<br />
Amar: Again, true, although your feat falls short<br />
Of making me believe your heady claims<br />
Why should I not be thinking of the door<br />
That symbolizes Exor’s love for us<br />
And tells us of the wonders of his quest.<br />
Repeat your efforts once again and say<br />
What shape you find my thoughts are taking now.<br />
Dyan: Examine them yourself. I won’t reveal<br />
The total content of your conscious mind.<br />
But if you wish me to reveal that thing<br />
Which dominates your dreams and waking thoughts,<br />
Why then, it is the Sun, the source of life,<br />
Whose place the Archon Exor now usurps.<br />
Amar: Exor represents but not usurps,<br />
For Gods are made by men, but light made man.<br />
Unless we find another source of light,<br />
Our doom is written on these cavern walls.<br />
Our tunnels are dug deeper than before<br />
As inner warmth recedes beneath our picks,<br />
And every shovel full of gravel leads<br />
Us closer to the center of the earth.<br />
[ Addresses the audience ]<br />
Propian Exor is our only hope—<br />
Our world is fashioned by his wondrous plan ,<br />
His skill and knowledge shape our destiny! [Tues 57]<br />
All: All hail Exor, King of the Gods!<br />
Let us see him, Now and forever!<br />
Exor gives us lightning and life<br />
Without our guide, no one is safe!<br />
[ Exor awakes with a start and stands up to begin a speech. ]<br />
Exor: My children, I have news, great news for you!<br />
Our journey to the stars is almost past--<br />
Amar: His thoughts are always for his children’s health.<br />
(To Slave) Tell him to relax, his speech is over.<br />
(to Dyanolo) You've guessed my mind three times and that's enough.<br />
I can't tell whether by trickery or by chance<br />
Or if you do possess the powers you claim.<br />
Nevertheless you have been entertaining,<br />
And so have earned the highest of rewards<br />
The Archons can bestow upon their slaves:<br />
Some time within the garden of delights.<br />
And if your fortune there remains as good<br />
As you have found it here within this hall,<br />
You may receive a closer glimpse of Exor<br />
when he arrives to keep his nightly tryst.<br />
For now, begone! Your presence has become<br />
Inimical. You weigh our Spirits down,<br />
We wish them to be lifted up again.<br />
Bring on the dancers, food and wine,<br />
Help us forget the whining of this fool. [Tues 82]<br />
Scene Two: a darkened passageway with alcoves facing the audience.<br />
(Dyanolo enters tentatively. As he walks along the passageway, the lights in an alcove go on,<br />
revealing its occupant, an attractive female. He takes another couple of steps and the lights go<br />
out.)<br />
Dyan: I've reached the end and still not quite the end.<br />
I've found the garden of delights, it's true,<br />
But not a single glimpse of Exor’s robe.<br />
[ The lights goes on in one of the alcoves. A figure within beckons to Dyanolo. ]<br />
Another one, I fear I've come too far.<br />
If my intentions were just innocent,<br />
I would have halted long before this room<br />
And probably been better served as well.<br />
[ light goes off ]<br />
This place’s usefulness escapes my ken<br />
But then again, I have no flesh to yield<br />
Even if my emotions were inclined.<br />
[ light goes on in another alcove. Dyanolo stops suddenly. ]<br />
What's this? It has Semalia’s face and form…<br />
She must have beckoned someone else like that<br />
When she resided in this awful place.<br />
Voice: Dyanolo! I've been waiting here so long.<br />
Dyan: This shadow has the same familiar voice—<br />
It's not so strange or worth wondering at…<br />
They make their shades to order, 10 or more,<br />
Although they lose individuality<br />
By making ten humans in the same mold.<br />
Voice: Your time is past, my son, return to me!<br />
Dyan: It is my mother! They've brought her here<br />
And shackled her to that couch again!<br />
My obligation clearly lies with her.<br />
Wait —it's not possible, she can't be real—<br />
[The light goes out and Semalia’s image vanishes in darkness]<br />
Dyan: She's gone. But was it my imagination<br />
Or is this part of some fantastic game<br />
And I a catspaw for a lunatic?<br />
I hear a noise. I'd better hide somewhere.<br />
I've come too far to let my plans be spoiled<br />
By some sadistic jumper’s deadly blow.<br />
(Dyanolo hides in the shadows.)<br />
[ Exor comes onstage accompanied by slaves who carry lamps and support him. He appears<br />
drunk or drugged. An alcove lights up. The slaves deposit Exor on the floor and depart. Dyanolo<br />
steps into the light. ]<br />
Dyan: They locked us in. My only chance is lost.<br />
Right now I'll sleep, confined with a drunkard.<br />
When I wake up, I'll be discovered here<br />
And all my good intentions count for none.<br />
Exor: My friends and fellow citizens of Earth—<br />
Dyan: I spoke too soon. This groggy bag of guts<br />
Is Exor himself, drunken and helpless.<br />
Could it be worth my while to kill this man?<br />
Would his murder be an assassination?<br />
Exor: They've brought me back again— but who are you?<br />
And why are you looking at me that way?<br />
Dyan: Can't you recognize your oldest friend?<br />
Exor: I'm sure I've never seen your face before.<br />
Dyan: Mine is the face of your death, mighty Exor.<br />
Exor: You've come to torment me. You are not the first<br />
Whom my friend Amar has sent to mock me.<br />
You might as well go back and say you've failed,<br />
Although your failure may cost you your life.<br />
I can't help that. All I want is to sleep.<br />
Dyan: And sleep I'll give you willingly—with this!<br />
(He draws a knife and brandishes it menacingly)<br />
Exor: Oho, he means to back his words with deeds.<br />
If I were you I'd leave while I still could.<br />
Dyan: You'll find that I'm more difficult to bluff<br />
Than those fools who believe your promise<br />
Of new beginnings and a different Sun.<br />
Don't move--I'll kill you if you call for help.<br />
I'd like to see you begging for your life,<br />
Although I will not leave before you're dead.<br />
Exor: Your life is in more danger here than mine.<br />
You can only make them feel more secure,<br />
Since they've deceived their enemies as well<br />
As they deceived their admiring slaves.<br />
So kill me if you can—my heart is here.<br />
I've no excuse for living any more.<br />
Dyan: You can't escape your rightful punishment.<br />
You showed the way that mankind follows now,<br />
Your crimes are numerous as the grains of dust<br />
That lie upon the staircase leaving hell.<br />
Your IOU is grasped inside my fist;<br />
I'm the collector of overdue bills.<br />
Exor: You're right, I am to blame most of it,<br />
The suffering, broken promises, lost hopes.<br />
But my power is gone now, and others rule.<br />
They keep me in this room against my will,<br />
They give me drugs to wake me, drugs for sleep,<br />
Another drug to make me give a speech.<br />
Among my subjects, I alone am sleeping,<br />
I see the faces crowding around me<br />
As if they were but images in dreams.<br />
The faces fade, their features become blurred,<br />
They separate, expand, then reunite,<br />
Then reassemble to a single face,<br />
A face that stares at me with hollow eyes<br />
That laughs insanely hat my impotence,<br />
Until they send me back to my prison,<br />
Where I seek sleep again but dare not dream.<br />
What guilt was mine has long since washed away<br />
Eternities of suffering still await me<br />
Unless you kill me right now—which is why<br />
I know your mission here cannot succeed.<br />
Someone has killed your victim already--<br />
It's impossible to murder a ghost.<br />
Dyan: This gives me more grief than it brings to you.<br />
There's not a fragment of resistance left<br />
Inside your mind. Your willingness to die<br />
Substantiates the unbelievable.<br />
You want to die—it's more than you deserve.<br />
Your punishment should long outlast the crime.<br />
The sentence they've imposed upon you here<br />
Is a most fitting one. Your servitude<br />
Is both eternal and extremely harsh.<br />
How difficult for one so powerful<br />
To endure slavery and impotence!<br />
But your tormentors, too, are criminals.<br />
You educated and nurtured your successors<br />
The strength they exercise was forged by you,<br />
The evil deeds they perpetrate are yours.<br />
You share their guilt and therefore you must die.<br />
This is the sentence I decree, Exor,<br />
Your time of execution is at hand.<br />
Exor: Yes, yes but do it quickly!<br />
( Two jumpers emerge from the darkness. One touches Dyanolo with a stick and he collapses.<br />
They drag him off as Amar enters with a bodyguard.)<br />
Exor: He spoke well<br />
But hesitated when he should have struck.<br />
Amar: Imprisonment has not improved your wits,<br />
Old fool, if you consider me so weak<br />
That he could find you without my knowing.<br />
This little scene was played out as a farce<br />
For my amusement. Did you find it droll,<br />
The way he stumbled onto your prison<br />
Without suspecting I had helped him there?<br />
And wasn't that a charming speech he made?<br />
I hope you found it pleasant—I was pleased.<br />
I'm only sorry it couldn't last longer,<br />
It's difficult to entertain myself,<br />
I've seen it all and done it all before.<br />
But it's impossible to make you laugh.<br />
You mangy drunkard. Why do I even try?<br />
You've lost your humor along with your wits!<br />
Exor: Amar, my friend and colleague, bear with me.<br />
My senses are all gone it's true, save one:<br />
The sense I have of my degradation.<br />
You're winning now but soon will come a change.<br />
I, perhaps, would help you avert your fate<br />
If you would just restore my youth and strength<br />
And give me back my dignity.<br />
Not my rank--you may keep what you've earned<br />
I don't want much—<br />
Amar: And you will get even less<br />
You simpering imbecile. You take me for a mark<br />
That you can con like all those other fools<br />
Who bow and scrape before your god-like feet,<br />
Who eat the dust of Aeons through your crimes?<br />
Exor: My crimes are old, about to die, like me.<br />
Your sins are fresh, increasing all the time.<br />
You need not hold me here to keep your throne.<br />
The great are known by their merciful acts...<br />
Amar: ...Or by their cruelty. you taught me well,<br />
Exor, you only made a single slip<br />
By trusting me oh, and I will not forget<br />
and give someone a chance to betray me.<br />
[ Amar gives a sign and Exor is tranquilized by a slave. Another slave helps him to his bed and<br />
lays him down upon it. ]<br />
I would continue but my pleasure calls<br />
I wish you could assist me when I go.<br />
There seems to be a singular affair,<br />
A creature who's all mind and nothing else<br />
Awaits my skillful touch and sharp scalpel.<br />
Goodbye and pleasant dreams, Divine Exor.<br />
I will need your help again before too long.<br />
[Amar leaves. Fade out]<br />
Scene three: an empty place,<br />
( Argus Wohl enters, accompanied by others. )<br />
Wohl: Here we approach outer boundary<br />
Of Exor's Palace. Take care not to speak,<br />
Trust no one we may meet along the way.<br />
The Archon's spies are lurking everywhere.<br />
They may be paid or unwittingly used,<br />
But what we do not know as certainty<br />
Is best supposed as hostile to our cause.<br />
Voice: What is this cause you speak of?<br />
Wohl: The rescue<br />
Of Dyanolo from the Archon's hands.<br />
Voice: But might we not encounter men,<br />
the jumpers, who will seek to repel us?<br />
Wohl: Of course, there is that chance, but I have prepared<br />
This weapon, far superior to their sticks—<br />
If I had had more time, there would be more,<br />
But one should be enough to reach our goal.<br />
Voice: I do not fear we might lose to them<br />
But rather that we might succeed too well.<br />
If Exor should be killed who would rule us?<br />
Wohl: You'd rule yourselves.<br />
Voice: But we don't have the skill—<br />
Some folk believe that we are not humans<br />
But mutants on some lower plane than them.<br />
Wohl: And if you were, should he usurp your rights<br />
To make decisions for yourselves alone?<br />
Voice: We are ill-prepared for that. If we make<br />
The wrong decisions out of ignorance,<br />
We could destroy Earth as well as ourselves.<br />
Voice: you go beyond our knowledge Wohl,<br />
We asked for nothing save your leadership.<br />
If you are satisfied our cause is just,<br />
We will stand beside you though it means our death.<br />
Wohl: I do not ask obedience like this,<br />
Only a fool would turn his back on it.<br />
Come with me then, be quiet, stay alert.<br />
With luck we'll rescue Dyanolo soon<br />
And not alert the powers that captured him.<br />
[ Scene 4: the brightly lit hall of the Archons ]<br />
All: All praise be given to Propian Exor,<br />
Archon of Earth, Ruler Sublime<br />
May this sentence be given to all traitors:<br />
Exile from light till the end of time.<br />
Amar: Assemble, Immortals, our Archon arrives.<br />
Listen intently to all he will say;<br />
His message is vital to each of our lives,<br />
He is guiding us through to a wonderful day!<br />
Voices: What information has Exor received?<br />
All that he tells us will be believed!<br />
Have his experiments shown us the way?<br />
Can he announce the appointed day?<br />
Amar: Your questions won't stay unanswered for long,<br />
Your leader's about to appear!<br />
So raise up your voices in worshipful song<br />
To please His Majesty's ear!<br />
All: Has ever a ruler been granted to folk<br />
who so far exceeded their desires?<br />
Propian Exor has saved us again<br />
Our thanks are all he requires.<br />
Amar: Numberless megaseconds ago<br />
We lost our way in space.<br />
Our sun exists no more.<br />
We had but a moment's Grace;<br />
We called on science to save the lives<br />
Of generations Unborn<br />
Earth's nations erupted in civil strife.<br />
Though they treated their Leaders with scorn<br />
To one man alone Humanity turned<br />
To him we entrusted our cause<br />
For his achievements that man earned<br />
Everlasting Applause<br />
All: Enter, Exor speak, dispense, and prosper!<br />
Exor: I come before you, my beloved folk<br />
On special worldwide video-vision band<br />
To tell you, all the remnants of mankind<br />
the state of our Interstellar Crusade--<br />
[ tumult without ]<br />
[ aside ] Make them stop that noise! we're broadcasting live!<br />
My friends and fellow imbeciles—silence!<br />
What's going on outside the palace gate?<br />
Voices: down with Exor! Down with the tyrant!<br />
Exor: Amar, what's this? you told me I'd be safe<br />
You have betrayed me. She is your traitor, there!<br />
Amar: You're a fat, silly, senile man<br />
And not a god as you proclaim yourself.<br />
Tell that to those poor fools who worship you!<br />
Exor: I am not a god— immortal, yes, perhaps—<br />
I'm not so certain now how long I'll live<br />
Now that you have no further use for me.<br />
It was that boy's fault, that I'm sure about.<br />
He made you change your plans for me,<br />
He wanted me to die, you needed me—<br />
I am Promian Exor, archon of the Earth.<br />
Guards, arrest the traitor Rozlit Amar!<br />
( Wohl enters, accompanied by others. He brandishes a handgun )<br />
Wohl: Ignore that order! Listen carefully:<br />
This new weapon I hold makes me your God<br />
As all those who tried to stop us found out.<br />
You, Exor, keep your place, don't try to leave.<br />
There is nowhere left in this world to hide,<br />
No one to lie to, no one to protect.<br />
You stand alone, unaided, unallied.<br />
Now answer, if you wish to breathe again,<br />
Before I end your worthless existence,<br />
Where is the mutant called Dyanolo? 510<br />
If he no longer lives, neither will you!<br />
Amar: You only make the old man suffer more;<br />
He doesn't know and no one knows but me:<br />
I am that Dyanolo whom you seek.<br />
Wohl: What do you mean? Can no one speak the truth?<br />
Can someone tell me the answer right now?<br />
Harbor no doubt: This weapon I have made<br />
Will work as well on women as on men!<br />
Amar: A point well taken and one often missed:<br />
The line between the two is rather vague 520<br />
And is sometimes just as hard to describe<br />
As the line that separates truth from lies.<br />
I did not always occupy the shape<br />
And spirit that you see before you now.<br />
I once appeared in the form of a man<br />
Though even then my appearance was false.<br />
Before then, I was a genderless mass<br />
Who you, dear doctor, did not think alive<br />
Until I learned how to communicate<br />
With creatures like yourself and Patra Slev. 530<br />
Wohl: But then you are Dyanolo himself?<br />
Amar: I’m also Rozlit Amar. I took her form<br />
Almost by accident, when she began<br />
To separate my body from my mind.<br />
In fear, I fled before the knife and found<br />
Myself observing her, observing me.<br />
For in my haste I left behind the shell<br />
My soul had looked on as its only home,<br />
I hovered over them, to watch my fate.<br />
But even as I watched, I felt an urge<br />
To stop the perpetration of that deed<br />
Which Amar hoped to practice my corpse.<br />
My thoughts outran my will and stopped the hand<br />
As she was raising it to make the cut.<br />
I stopped the hand, but also somehow I<br />
Entered Amar’s mind and controlled her thoughts,<br />
In fact, my will became Amar’s master,<br />
And remains master of her body and mind.<br />
( Amar stops speaking and looks around the room. )<br />
I do not see Semalia she safe?<br />
Wohl: Within two times of when we found your corpse,<br />
The body I had made to house your mind,<br />
She decided she could not bear standing by<br />
When you might need her help so she went out..<br />
She hoped to save you, but I fear she's lost.<br />
Amar: And on the brink of our deliverance.<br />
Let me inform you, Wohl, of what I've learned<br />
Imprisoned in this fleshly residence,<br />
Whose office I retain, whose thoughts I know.<br />
Our Earth is not adrift in trackless space<br />
As we had feared. Exor plotted its path<br />
Before the lure of power corrupted him<br />
And once his mind was warped he couldn't change<br />
What once he had done without hope of reward.<br />
Rozlit Amar did try to change the course<br />
When she had wrested power from her Lord,<br />
But this one deed remained beyond her scope.<br />
She could, however, keep secret the news<br />
That we have arrived at our destination.<br />
Wohl: You do not take me by surprise my friend.<br />
I’ve long suspected that we've reached our goal.<br />
When Patra and I had tried to grow plants<br />
By gravity lantern light, we always failed:<br />
The light they cast was too feeble for that.<br />
But when Samilia planted seeds, they grew<br />
And bloomed as well, fruited and cast their seeds.<br />
I reasoned then that something must have changed<br />
Since the last time we had tried to sow seeds,<br />
And if the force of gravity had grown<br />
It must have been because we reached a star<br />
Whose gravity had augmented our own.<br />
One further fact I know that you don't:<br />
Before we entered into this Palace<br />
Because not know we would succeed,<br />
Or rather, that success was ours already,<br />
Although it may turn out to be a mistake,<br />
We found the engines that propelled the Earth<br />
On her pilgrimage through the universe.<br />
We shattered the mechanisms there<br />
So the trek could no longer continue.<br />
We thought we weighed every alternative<br />
Then made the proper choice, but we were wrong.<br />
We may yet have to pay for our mistake.<br />
Amar: You never had a choice, you acted well,<br />
Your shrewdness in keeping with your goal,<br />
To save the people of Earth from slavery,<br />
The people needed you to wake them up.<br />
They had let their mental faculties decay<br />
And sold their bodies into servitude.<br />
Their idle intellects had atrophied;<br />
They sold their bodies into servitude.<br />
But now, you've forced the people to rebel,<br />
No longer can they huddle together<br />
Behind the walls of false security.<br />
They must break out. The surface awaits them.<br />
Wohl: Then let us go ahead and lead them there.<br />
Exor: But what of me--have I a role to play?<br />
I led them once before and can again.<br />
You tell me I'm not that much to blame,<br />
A victim of the time and circumstance—<br />
I need another opportunity<br />
To make some restitution for my crimes.<br />
Amar: You may follow. You can still play that role.<br />
Exor: No, no, I can't! My subjects need me here,<br />
My Throne is here, my Palace, and my place.<br />
I'll stay behind, I'll be the ruler here.<br />
You fools, you think you're going to lead the way,<br />
But leaders are cut down, they move too fast.<br />
Rulers are the ones who remain behind.<br />
Call out the guards, remove these mendicants,<br />
Who intend to beg themselves a kingdom!<br />
Amar: You need not order us to leave this place;<br />
This soon will be your final Monument.<br />
You plundered all the treasures of the Earth,<br />
To fill the catacombs of your tomb!<br />
Hail, mighty Exor, your long rule is done,<br />
You can take your well-earned retirement,<br />
Your diligence earned you eternal rest.<br />
Wohl: On to the surface rise to greet the Sun! [ they all leave together.]<br />
[ scene 5: Before the Gate ].<br />
(the lights, which have been increasing in intensity throughout the entire action of Part II, have<br />
almost reached their level of the first scene. The Gate becomes the focal point of attention once<br />
again, although this time the opposite side of the gate is exposed to view. Rocks and gravity<br />
lanterns reveal the locale as the Earth's interior.)<br />
[ Slev enters ]<br />
Slev: There's no one here but me—am I the one<br />
To find the surface of the Earth again?<br />
How was it lost, why did we go below?<br />
Were we so certain that the sun was dead?<br />
There must have been some other way to live,<br />
We chose the easy path too hurriedly,<br />
Before our minds recovered from the shock.<br />
We should not live from second to second<br />
Without a chance to use our gift for thought.<br />
There will be time for thought again up there,<br />
The time from which we all had hoped to flee,<br />
In endless flight that lead us from the truth,<br />
That we meant to die like all things living,<br />
Our Dreams cannot become reality.<br />
Reality mocks them, plays with our hopes,<br />
Toys with our feelings, and turns them to dust,<br />
Along with ourselves.<br />
Amar: Hola, Slev, you came back!<br />
Slev: Only you two? where are all the others?<br />
Wohl: Gone, they're all gone. They left some things behind,<br />
In all their dreams they never planned on this,<br />
To return to the surface, to see the sun.<br />
What are we waiting for? Let's go on up...<br />
Slev: I'm going up before you and alone!<br />
Wohl: You have no right!<br />
Slev: ( brandishing a jumper’s prod ) This stick gives me the right.<br />
Amar: She earned the right to go.<br />
Wohl: The honor is great,<br />
She may have that but she runs a risk too.<br />
Amar: Our friend earned the risk, but not the honor.<br />
Long ago I talked to her with Exor.<br />
Exor was still innocent at that time<br />
Though weak, he’d saved the Earth from oblivion.<br />
You had a mind that probed life's secret store,<br />
And used the lamp of science like a torch.<br />
But you were also weak; you wanted life,<br />
An everlasting life. I wanted more,<br />
I wanted power forever; I used Slev<br />
To reach my goal. I feared that you would change,<br />
Grow stronger, turn your genius against me.<br />
I used Slev to keep you from succeeding.<br />
She kept me informed of your intentions<br />
And kept you occupied with your work.<br />
When at last, despite her efforts, she failed,<br />
And Your creation, Dyanolo, came<br />
To put an end to my corrupt regime,<br />
She even told me that, to save herself--<br />
Wohl: Can this be true? Please tell me she's lying!<br />
Slev: It's true. You would have known it long ago<br />
If you yourself were not so arrogant<br />
When you had made me immortal as well.<br />
You were so sure. You went before the Gods<br />
And bargained for your own life, making them<br />
Able to live beyond the reach of time.<br />
A powerful bribe! What did I have to match<br />
That might persuade them to keep me alive?<br />
Only our friendship, which I willingly<br />
Betrayed. It would have died anyway<br />
For the friendships of a corpse are worthless.<br />
Wohl: What do you hope to gain by treachery<br />
Now that your days of servitude are past?<br />
Give me your weapon, let us end this war.<br />
Slev: But, don't you see, I have the chance at last<br />
To atone for my former cowardice?<br />
It may be dangerous beyond the gate,<br />
Better were for one to go on ahead.<br />
That way if death should await us outside<br />
The rest of us might live to find a way<br />
To rescue Earth folk from fate another time.<br />
Wohl: Then go, bring back news of our salvation<br />
As you have brought our friendship back to life.<br />
[Slev leaves through the back portal]<br />
So leaves the first out of this labyrinth<br />
In which mankind has languished for so long.<br />
Let's hope she's not the last to walk that path.<br />
Amar: You're mistaken. Patra is not the first<br />
Semalia must have gone outside before.<br />
She left after looking for me in vain<br />
Or else she heard that I had been captured<br />
And when she lost all hope of saving me,<br />
She had to turn to helping someone else.<br />
My mother often dreamed of seeing the sun<br />
Spreading its light throughout her songs and dreams:<br />
[Semalia's song of the Sun]<br />
I wander through the dusty corridors<br />
Through tunnels leading ever steeply up<br />
I fear what may be waiting t the top<br />
Beyond the last of all the unlocked doors<br />
My feet grow wearier with every step<br />
And every step inclines more upwardly<br />
The gravel, fine and round, opposes me<br />
I trip, I fall, I creep, I stand, even though I slip<br />
The blood pounds through my temples to my brain<br />
The thudding robs my ears of other sound<br />
The darkness seems to thicken all around<br />
At last I find a passage leading down<br />
The downward path relieves my growing fear<br />
Restores my breath, if not my sight<br />
But soon the swelling ground dims my delight<br />
And with the rising path discomforts reappear<br />
My insufficient strength is nearly gone<br />
I stop and stare into the solid black<br />
And then as if a curtain is pulled back<br />
I see a hole and through that hole the sun!<br />
Wohl: This was Semalia's song? She never saw the day<br />
And yet she dreamed what it was like so well<br />
She must have had some hint of what would come.<br />
But if you're right, and she's been at this place,<br />
Why has she not returned to guide us here?<br />
Amar: Perhaps she could not find the gate again,<br />
Or if she could, she could not bring herself<br />
To leave the wonders of the Earth behind,<br />
To tread once more the dark descending stair.<br />
Wohl: A scientist can hardly realize<br />
With what great difficulty others strive<br />
To leave behind their pleasures and their joys<br />
For Slev and me it's a simple matter:<br />
We're trained to sacrifice our selfish goals<br />
In pursuit of truth and increased knowledge<br />
Amar: So we've sent the right person ahead,<br />
[Slev enters]<br />
Look, here comes Patra Slev back to report<br />
Although from her looks the news must be bad.<br />
What news do you bring us of Earth above?<br />
Is there a sun, an atmosphere to breathe,<br />
Are the skies as blue as they were before?<br />
Slev: The skies are black, the sun is black also.<br />
Our hopes have been destroyed, the play is done.<br />
When we destroyed the engines down below,<br />
We ended life on Earth. We had a chance,<br />
We might have fled the star that draws us,<br />
Pulling us closer even as we speak.<br />
Wohl: What evidence did you find of that star?<br />
It may be in eclipse, it may be night,<br />
Another star may be about to rise.<br />
Slev: Night it undoubtedly is and shall remain.<br />
I saw another companion object<br />
But what few shreds of light it still emits<br />
Are sucked into the black hole beside it<br />
As surely as gravity sucks water<br />
Swirling down a drain. We are all lost,<br />
In the end the black hole will doom us in.<br />
Amar: I've read about these objects that give off light<br />
Only to reabsorb their own emissions.<br />
Our time in space is surely ended now.<br />
Wohl: No, never yield until the battle's fought.<br />
Who could have dreamt that man would vanquish death<br />
And yet I did that very thing myself?<br />
Amar: Your optimism is a bit premature--<br />
What seemed to be accomplished yesterday<br />
Is far from certain now.<br />
Wohl: That I can't accept.<br />
A scientist knows no limitations.<br />
The simple thought of failure does us harm.<br />
We shall survive!<br />
Amar: There may be other worlds<br />
That you've already robbed of colonists.<br />
Light can't escape a singularity;<br />
How will we escape once we've come this close?<br />
Slev: She's right. We've finally encountered a force<br />
Beyond our power to temper or to flee.<br />
Wouldn't it be better if we faced our end<br />
With true courage rather than with false hopes?<br />
Formerly, people called on deities<br />
To lend them strength when theirs had been exhausted;<br />
Oh, would that some such power remained to us!<br />
Wohl: Our God was always Science, yours and mine,<br />
But now She seems to have abandoned us.<br />
Of what further use is our knowledge now?<br />
Amar: There may be a different kind of knowledge<br />
A knowledge of ourselves. For if it's true<br />
That gravity will accelerate our speed<br />
Until we reach the speed of energy,<br />
Then time itself will slow down to the same degree<br />
Until it finally stops altogether.<br />
That point will be the instant of our death.<br />
Dictation 42<br />
The thought we hold in mind at that instant<br />
Is frozen into all eternity.<br />
So concentrate on happiness and peace<br />
So death itself will bring you peace and joy.<br />
Wohl: But I just said we should not give up hope<br />
And you disagreed. Now you seem to say<br />
Along with me that we should keep our faith.<br />
Amar: Your so-called faith may lift your spirits up<br />
Just so long as your will is still awake<br />
But death is not so easily deceived.<br />
False hopes are like a shifting foundation<br />
Above which happiness will never rise.<br />
Slev: When the end arrives, the light will increase<br />
A thousand-fold and shine ever after.<br />
Amar: For those who set their minds on truth and bliss<br />
But for the others, the light will fade away,<br />
Darkness will snatch the vision from their eyes.<br />
The light will disperse and the world will end<br />
In the midst of a breath…<br />
[Semalia enters, carrying a large bouquet of flowers]<br />
Sem: What’s taking so long?<br />
Come on outside. There’s a soft Spring breeze<br />
Fresh and clean, just before the dawn breaks through<br />
The dark of night. There’s a golden lining<br />
Along the horizon. I’ve never felt<br />
Something so astonishing in my life!<br />
You’re all wasting time. Where’s Dyanolo?<br />
Amar: He’s here! I borrowed Rozlit Amar’s form<br />
After she sought to extinguish my life force;<br />
Now she may never recover her mind.<br />
Slev: But it’s dark outside! And a deadly black hole<br />
Is consuming the new sun in its maw.<br />
Sem: Breathtakingly beautiful but dreadful.<br />
Slev: There’s no hope left; the Earth will soon be dust.<br />
Sem: Soon? But Patra, we can’t tell how long a time<br />
It will take for the Earth’s end to arrive.<br />
We don’t know how far away the black hole lurks.<br />
Eighty million miles and a few years left?<br />
Or three times that and a billion years left?<br />
Slev: The sky is black, there’s a frost in the air.<br />
The cause of humankind is lost on Earth...<br />
Sem: Yes, the sky is dark and the air is cold.<br />
It’s the hour before dawn when stars blink out.<br />
There is a singularity above<br />
But another star is about to rise,<br />
A friendly sun that has nurtured plant life<br />
Like the flowers I brought with me as proof.<br />
There’s a wonderful opportunity here<br />
To study plants grown under a new sun<br />
And learn all the secrets of a black hole.<br />
What are we waiting for here? Let’s go up<br />
And greet the new sunrise for the first time!<br />
(They all leave through the great gate in the back of the stage. It closes behind them<br />
with a resounding clang.)<br />
BlackoutAllanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-71947724527700143552019-09-01T14:19:00.001-07:002021-06-07T18:03:17.254-07:00Escape IPart One: Before the Gate<br />
The stage is set as a speaker's dais. There are nine seats on the dais and a rostrum. The stage<br />
is decked out in red. white, blue, and gold bunting with green garlands. As the stage lights come<br />
on PROPIAN EXOR rises to speak. Applause is heard. Exor acknowledges the applause,<br />
smiling, his hands are raised above his head. He wears a long white robe with an academic<br />
cowl of gold. Exor is a portly venerable man. Affixed to the front of the rostrum is a circular disk<br />
with the emblem of the committee for mankind's salvation emblazoned upon it, a golden<br />
Phoenix rising from Red Flames against the star-flecked canopy of night. Directly behind the<br />
rostrum is a large round steel door like the entrance to a bank vault. Applause dies down.<br />
Sporadic shouts of “Hail Exor” and similar cries punctuate the following speech.<br />
EXOR: My friends and fellow dwellers of the Earth,<br />
I come before you today, last of all<br />
The days which will be measured by the sun.<br />
I look upon your faces, thousands strong,<br />
And read the future history of humankind.<br />
I grieve because we leave behind our homes,<br />
Our cities, countries, and continents<br />
To face ages of trouble, labor, and gloom<br />
Before we see our cherished homes again.<br />
I humble myself before your eyes today<br />
Because I am not worthy of the charge<br />
That implacable fate has handed me.<br />
You, the people, have chosen me to lead<br />
Through the fearful night that looms ahead.<br />
Despite my age in body and in mind,<br />
If chance permits, I won't deceive your trust.<br />
[ Applause ]<br />
Apart from slight humility and regret<br />
I feel an unadulterated joy<br />
Welling up from deep within my heart,<br />
And ravishing my poor intelligence:<br />
For humankind has today outwitted fate!<br />
[ Applause ]<br />
There were a few who despaired of our success,<br />
Who feared that science would not deliver them<br />
They said Technology was a mere sham,<br />
Those neo-luddites called scientists frauds.<br />
Preaching wildly that our demise was near,<br />
Heathens, doubters, they scoffed at our knowledge.<br />
When we predicted Earth’s death in deep space<br />
They gladly welcomed science to the fold<br />
And then preached repent your sins and be saved!:<br />
We said, Trust in science, we will succeed!<br />
They said All Is Lost! We said All is won!<br />
Tthey reveled on the hillsides and passed away.<br />
They feasted on the bounties of planet Earth;<br />
They frolicked, capered, copulated, drank.<br />
Their decadence became an abomination.<br />
They hindered our work, seduced our workers<br />
I look around and ask, “Where are they now?”<br />
Voices: Dead! Gone! Buried and forgotten!!<br />
[ A Chorus of shouts prevails and subsides ]<br />
Exor: One hundred twenty years ago today<br />
When we verified our worst suspicions<br />
And knew for certain the sun would die,<br />
We formed the Committee to Save Humankind,<br />
We called together greatest Minds of Science,<br />
Together we deliberated at length<br />
Eleven years elapsed before we found<br />
The solution to our predicament.<br />
We turned the earth into a moving ship,<br />
And plotted a course through the galaxy.<br />
To replenish life forms when we arrived,<br />
We froze the chromosomes of each species<br />
Known to science and stored them underground.<br />
We implemented strict control over<br />
Population to reduce the numbers<br />
Of children being born until today<br />
Only we few are left of all humans<br />
So look around you...We are humankind,<br />
Those who still remain alive, but fear not!<br />
Every single human trait is preserved,<br />
Frozen in time and stored inside this gate<br />
Ready to spring to life like Dragon's Teeth,<br />
Sown once in the soil by our ancestors,<br />
When at last we reach our ultimate goal,<br />
Our new solar system, Our second Sun!<br />
[ tumultuous applause ]<br />
The great committee to save mankind<br />
Provided space beneath the Earth for us,<br />
A subterranean world where we can<br />
Live and work until the time arrives<br />
That our sons and daughters could rise again<br />
Like the Great Phoenix from its ashes<br />
The symbol of our hopes and journey’s end.<br />
[ Exor indicates disc ]<br />
The golden bird that represents our flight.<br />
Finally everything has been prepared<br />
Our new spaceship Earth lies in readiness<br />
We must accept the challenge, lift the load,<br />
The time has come to leave our former home<br />
[Exor turns toward the gate, raising his arms above his head]<br />
Open the gates Let The Retreat begin<br />
Our slogan expresses our noble goal:<br />
“Labor, Friendship, and the New Planet Earth!”<br />
[Applause. As the gate opens slowly, people begin moving toward it]<br />
[Song of the Pilgrims]<br />
All: Gone is the sun from the skies<br />
Banished the breeze from our face<br />
Nature has failed to embrace<br />
Humankind’s fatal demise.<br />
Propian Exor remains<br />
Infinite trust he retains<br />
Intergalactic expanse<br />
Countless milennia’s space<br />
Hinder our hopes to replace<br />
Homelands bereft us by chance<br />
Propian Exor will lead<br />
Us through the darkness ahead<br />
Ancestral homelands are gone<br />
So is ancestral belief<br />
Centuries crowded with grief<br />
We turn around and move on<br />
Now the Committee will rule<br />
With science as reliable tool<br />
United under the sign<br />
Earth and the Phoenix will rise<br />
born-again under new skies<br />
find a new Sun Let It Shine!<br />
Let all our critics be amazed<br />
Propian Exor be praised!<br />
EXOR: Henceforth the sun is gone, the starry skies<br />
Are memories now preserved in textbooks.<br />
Although the path ahead leads through darkness,<br />
We will guard celestial light in our hearts.<br />
The Phoenix from this graveyard Earth will rise.<br />
[ The crowd walks slowly through the central door ]<br />
[Argus Wohl and Patra Slev are discovered in the rear of the audience. They are carrying<br />
burdens and wearing humble clothing.]<br />
Wohl: Hola, Slev! Thank goodness I found you again!<br />
I thought I'd never find you in the crowd…<br />
Slev: Perhaps it would be best to go on alone.<br />
If they discover either you or me,<br />
The other would be free to carry out<br />
The great experiments begun by both,<br />
Whereby, though one might die, our work would live.<br />
Wohl: Your words are laudable, yet meaningless,<br />
For what am I without my Patra Slev?<br />
My life would lose its savor, my work its worth,<br />
Since your friendship is the only joy I know<br />
And my plans would fail without your assistance.<br />
In our harsh Times these attributes, once rare,<br />
Now seem, sadly, altogether extinct.<br />
So let us two continue bravely on,<br />
Knowing that anything we find together<br />
Cannot be worse finding ourselves apart.<br />
Slev: You flatter me much too highly, my friend,<br />
And overestimate my worth by half.<br />
You alone have made me all that I am<br />
By teaching me scientific process<br />
And letting me assist in your great work.<br />
Rather than see you die...<br />
Wohl: Enough of death!<br />
These Mutual eulogies infect my mind.<br />
Besides, there may be spies about this place<br />
Look around you; there's not an honest face<br />
Among the group.<br />
Slev: I can’t see a person<br />
In the crowd I’d trust to draw the numbers<br />
In a lottery.<br />
Wohl: If one were drawn by lot,<br />
You'd find it hard to tell one from the next.<br />
Exor: Guards! Detain those two immediately!<br />
[guard stops Wohl and Slev and brings them before Exor]<br />
I want to interview this fraud alone.<br />
Take that one with you and see we’re undisturbed.<br />
I don't know who you are or what you sheme<br />
But if you plan to live beyond today<br />
You'd better tell me all there is to tell<br />
Wohl: My name is Argus Wohl...<br />
Exor: What good are names?<br />
Your visa claims that you are someone else.<br />
Your friend may add still another as well.<br />
I assure you your grave will be unmarked.<br />
Wohl: I am a Scientist. My name is Wohl.<br />
Exor: It could be true and would explain your ruse.<br />
But tell me how you could earn a degree?<br />
What university gave you your degree?<br />
Our records show no missing physicist<br />
Wohl: My degree’s in Microbiology.<br />
Exor: Your clothes exposed you as a renegade.<br />
Make no mistake, I've been watching you two<br />
For a long time I thought you were married<br />
Defying the law against having sex.<br />
This is another, more heinous crime:<br />
You're not a man of mere depravity<br />
But a monster who pursued selfish goals<br />
While all the world was struggling to survive.<br />
Now the battle’s won, you want to enjoy<br />
What others earned by their harsh sacrifice;<br />
What were you concerned with while others strove<br />
To discover a course through trackless space,<br />
Avoiding neutron stars and poison gas,<br />
And barren wastes that surround dying suns?<br />
Their planets, asteroids, gravity holes?<br />
Whatever it may have been you valued<br />
Above the survival of human life,<br />
You will pay for your research with your life.<br />
Wohl: It was my life itself which I researched.<br />
Exor: I have no time for riddles, Mr. Wohl...<br />
Wohl: Doctor Wohl.<br />
Exor: As you wish.<br />
Wohl: As I insist.<br />
Exor: The subject of your work…?<br />
Wohl: Was life itself.<br />
Exor: The result of your work...:?<br />
Wohl: Unparalleled success.<br />
I found what others only dreamed about<br />
While you and thousands like you endeavored<br />
To save the Earth from one catastrophe,<br />
I found the secret of eternal life.<br />
Don’t make a rash decision you’ll regret.<br />
Though you can take one life away from me,<br />
Yet I can give you thousands in return.<br />
Exor: An everlasting life? You must be mad<br />
Or think that I have lost my sanity.<br />
If such a thing we're true...?<br />
Wohl: It is.<br />
Exor: If you could really make me live…?<br />
Wohl: I can.<br />
Exor: What proof could you provide me here and now?<br />
Wohl: None. But my life will still be in your hands<br />
Below the surface as it is above.<br />
Exor: If you are neither a fool nor insane,<br />
Then I may find a way to help us both.<br />
But you must keep our compact to yourself<br />
For such discoveries can be hazardous<br />
When evil-minded men pervert their use.<br />
Wohl: You’re right, of course, but my assistant knows<br />
And she must also be set free to work<br />
As I have further plans that require her.<br />
Exor: As far as freedom goes, there will be none<br />
For her or any under the surface.<br />
The stakes are far too high to take a chance<br />
And let one person wreck our precious plan<br />
By permitting them to keep their free will--<br />
Now go! I waste my time with idle talk.<br />
For the moment you may follow the rest;<br />
Your friend will follow later, if I wish.<br />
[ Wohl appears ready to protest, but gives in with a shrug. He has made his best argument.]<br />
[ Rozlit Amar, who has been listening unseen, steps out from behind a screen.]<br />
Amar: No doubt you plan to kill him later on?<br />
Exor: When he has given us his formula.<br />
His arrogance amuses me, Amar.<br />
A man like that may have some usefulness.<br />
Amar: His kind could undo all our strategies<br />
And undermine the power of the state.<br />
Exor: You overestimate the man, Amar--<br />
He’s clever, true, but only in his field.<br />
He has no interest in other things.<br />
The discipline of science makes him look<br />
Nor left, nor right, but always straight ahead.<br />
Amar: He’s sleeping now, but time may wake him up.<br />
Experience may cure stupidity.<br />
Exor: He won’t have time to change, for I intend<br />
To distract him with toys and amuse him.<br />
I’ll make a tiny kingdom for his home,<br />
I’ll give him subjects for experiments<br />
And let him play the subject for my own.<br />
I’ll let him think he’s free and unobserved,<br />
Although I’ll watch his moves and thwart his plans<br />
By setting down a traitor by his side.<br />
Whom he, the brilliant fool, will not suspect.<br />
For now, we must attend to our affairs.<br />
The world depends on me, and I on you.<br />
[Exor leaves]<br />
Amar: I think you rate your own intelligence<br />
Too highly, Exor: Power you may have,<br />
But not so great it might not slip away.<br />
He may be stupid, he whom you despise,<br />
But both of you possess a common flaw:<br />
On distant elements you set your gaze--<br />
On those you exercise your judgment well.<br />
But close to home you cannot see at all<br />
Thus bosom friends may become your downfall.<br />
[Amar leaves]<br />
Scene two: Deep within the Earth<br />
Immeasurable time has passed. Here are rocky caverns, dimly lit, in contrast to the brilliant light<br />
of the previous scene. Patra Slev opens a door and appears silhouetted against a slightly lighter<br />
interior. She listens to something.<br />
Voices (softly, as if far off): Over fields of stone<br />
Heaps of dust appear<br />
Dimly through the light<br />
Gravity lanterns cast.<br />
Forward, earthly thralls<br />
Over fields of stone<br />
Weary pilgrims leave<br />
Footprints in the dust.<br />
Slev (to Wohl, within): Another mob of people has arrived.<br />
They appear just as useless as the last.<br />
Voices (closer than before): Gravity lanterns cast<br />
Shadows on the ground<br />
Reaching up to touch<br />
Others bending down.<br />
Woman’s voice: Raise your eyes again.<br />
Look there, up ahead<br />
There’s a village near<br />
Where we’re sure to find<br />
Water, food, and rest.<br />
Voices: Forward earthly thralls<br />
Gravity lanterns cast<br />
Visions in the air.<br />
Shards of broken stone<br />
Mirror shattered hopes<br />
Dust piled in deep drifts<br />
Clings to pilgrims’ feet.<br />
Slev: Come quickly, Doctor Wohl, I hear a voice,<br />
A woman’s voice, I think, a young one, too.<br />
She may prove fit for your experiment.<br />
Wohl: I’ve not yet finished with my work inside.<br />
I can’t go running after every girl<br />
That Exor tosses to his favorite fool.<br />
[A small band of people now enter stage right. They break into a more martial air at the sight of<br />
Slev, whom they take to be some sort of official.]<br />
People: All hail, Propian Exor!<br />
Long live the Mighty Ruler!<br />
Deity incarnate<br />
Visible divinity<br />
Everlasting light<br />
All hail, the Son of the Sun!<br />
[All show obeisance to Slev] [74 on Tuesday]<br />
Slev: Arise, good people, no one worships here.<br />
We owe the Archons no allegiance.<br />
Voice 1: She means to trap us with treasonous words.<br />
The Archon Exor is everywhere supreme!<br />
Slev: Not here, my friend, as you will soon agree,<br />
What freedom’s to be had in this dark world<br />
Is still had here: Our leader’s name is Wohl.<br />
We have provided shelter, food, and drink;<br />
You’ll find someone to help you up ahead.<br />
We ask a single favor in return<br />
For giving you our hospitality;<br />
Your group must leave a person as a pledge<br />
That you will not engage in violent acts<br />
Nor will attempt to hinder our designs.<br />
Go now, you must depart without the woman<br />
Whose voice I heard approaching in the dark.<br />
Voice 1: That single thing you ask we cannot do.<br />
For when the men among us would have stopped<br />
Our journey, overcome by fear and pain,<br />
That girl alone could lift us from despair.<br />
Thanks to her, we stand alive before you now<br />
And will not yield her though it means our death.<br />
Slev: There is no other choice or place to go.<br />
We have the means to take the girl by force<br />
If you decide you cannot give her up.<br />
Voice 1: What sort of freedom do you offer us<br />
That takes from us our only source of joy?<br />
Semalia: You must not speak this way in my behalf.<br />
You do not need my guidance any more<br />
And we are better off among these rocks<br />
Than any slave who chose to stay behind<br />
Amidst the luxury of Exor’s house.<br />
You have your freedom now. Protect it well.<br />
Voice 1: You add another reason for the debt<br />
That we must keep within our memory.<br />
[They all leave. As they go, Argus Wohl appears in the doorway, unnoticed by Semalia, who<br />
looks wistfully after the men departing.][111 on Tuesday]<br />
Wohl: Hello, what’s this? A woman. What’s your name?<br />
Sem(frightened): Semalia is the only name I know.<br />
Wohl: How beautiful! You’re young enough, that’s clear.<br />
Unless you’re one of the immortal class…<br />
Sem: Immortals never age…<br />
Wohl: That’s true enough,<br />
Unless they’re really not what they appear.<br />
But never mind about my ignorance.<br />
Have you known men?<br />
Sem (pauses before answering) There is a place I lived.<br />
It’s called, I think, the Garden of Delights.<br />
Though what a garden is, I do not know,<br />
And if there were delights, they were not mine.<br />
But if you know the place I speak about,<br />
And what it is, you need not ask me more.<br />
Wohl (distractedly): A strange one this, a mutant, too, I see.<br />
A product of genetic selection--<br />
I cannot even guess what you may mean<br />
As I have never lived in Exor’s realm.<br />
I’ve heard some strange accounts about the place<br />
But not about a Garden of Delights.<br />
Sem: If you knew it, I might be spared the pain<br />
Of having to relate my shameful tale:<br />
In this delightful place, immortals played<br />
And took their pleasure from their mortal slaves.<br />
I was one of those compelled to serve.<br />
Therefore, of carnal lusts I had my share;<br />
Of carnal pleasures, others had their fill.<br />
Wohl: If this is so, you may have had a child.<br />
I know immortal women can’t conceive.<br />
You may have lain with a fertile partner.<br />
Sem: I don’t understand what you’re implying…<br />
Wohl: You’ve heard of children?<br />
Sem: Yes. I was one, once.<br />
But since the time I left the laboratory,<br />
Where scientists create and synthesize<br />
The offspring of mankind, I haven’t seen<br />
A child or even heard the word spoken.<br />
Wohl: The life they made you live was difficult.<br />
They heartlessly deprived you of love<br />
Or even the chance to love anything,<br />
You had no education, no success,<br />
You found no scientific road to take,<br />
But became a live refuge from despair<br />
For those whose only pleasure caused your pain.<br />
Sem: If only I had brought some small pleasure<br />
To those empty husks of humans who were<br />
Compelled to live forever without life,<br />
My sorrow would not be one-tenth so deep.<br />
I had no love, no one to give love to,<br />
And that one fact makes me regret my life.<br />
Wohl: You should take heart. If our experiments<br />
Meet with success, you’ll find what you have missed.<br />
Sem: Surely some magic charm protects this place<br />
And makes a refuge for the sick at heart.<br />
Slev: We harbor secret sickness here as well<br />
As you shall find ere you leave us behind.<br />
Wohl: Enough of this, there’s still more work to do,<br />
If time and science don’t upset our plans.<br />
[They all leave. The lights go down.] [60 lines Wed.]<br />
Scene three: Wohl’s Laboratory<br />
[The laboratory fills half the stage while half remains in darkness. A doorway leads into the<br />
darkness through the center partition just far enough from the backdrop to give the impression<br />
of an intervening wall. Wohl’s bed can be seen in an alcove in the rear of the room. The walls<br />
are covered by a maze of test tubes and cabinets. A library can be glimpsed through another<br />
doorway at the rear. Everything is clinical and metallic like a doctor’s examination room.]<br />
[Slev and Semalia are discovered as the lights come up]<br />
Slev: By all our measurements, your health is good.<br />
Your belly soon will swell and you will feel<br />
A life begin to stir within your womb.<br />
A short while after that you’ll bear a child.<br />
Sem: You seem to know for sure, Professor Slev,<br />
Events in times that have not come to pass.<br />
You tell me I will have a child, and when,<br />
But I do not know what a child is.<br />
You speak of other things that I don’t know<br />
As if they were mere commonplace to me.<br />
Do you possess a secret magic sight<br />
Whereby the past and future are revealed?<br />
Slev: It must indeed seem magical to you,<br />
The scientific knowledge I possess.<br />
If there is something that confuses you,<br />
Don’t hesitate to ask me to explain.<br />
Sem: Your explanations are the worst of all.<br />
I asked you how the child could be inside.<br />
You said a seed was planted and it grew.<br />
Then when I asked you what a seed might be,<br />
You pointed to a carton filled with dust<br />
And said, those seeds will grow a crop of wheat<br />
If they are ever planted in sunlight. [Begin Thurs.]<br />
Although I questioned you about a child,<br />
You answered me with plants and suns and seeds,<br />
You should have told me it was sorcery<br />
Instead of confusing me with strange words.<br />
Slev: You seem to doubt the truth of my replies.<br />
Perhaps I should explain myself like this:<br />
When I was young, we lived in another place.<br />
We called it Earth. There were no rocky walls<br />
To block the view of all that was nearby.<br />
I recall the ceiling was high above,<br />
So high that no one had to bow their head.<br />
We called it sky. Beneath the sky were fields<br />
Extending like green carpets out of sight.<br />
But more than all that, I remember the sun,<br />
A brilliant disc that sped across the sky<br />
Shining more brightly than a thousand lamps.<br />
Until it set, and darkness spread around,<br />
Yet even then the darkness wasn’t like ours,<br />
For there were other, weaker lights, called stars,<br />
That formed fantastic patterns in the sky.<br />
Before too long, the darkness would abate<br />
And then the flowers and the growing things<br />
Would life their heads to greet the rising sun.<br />
Sem: I think I’ve seen these plants you speak about.<br />
They’re small and grey and huddle in the dark<br />
Along the tunnel’s flank and out of sight<br />
Where nobody can crush them underfoot.<br />
Slev: I too have seen the parasitic plants<br />
That you describe. They thrive on rank decay.<br />
From such detritus are such flowers grown<br />
Though they are hardly worthy of that name.<br />
Without the sunlight, no real flowers can grow.<br />
Sem: Could not a thousand lamps together shine<br />
As brightly as this sun you’ve told me of?<br />
Slev: Not at all. The gravity lanterns glow<br />
By drawing on the force of gravity,<br />
But all the lamps together in one place<br />
Would only shine as bright as a single lamp.<br />
I tried to grow them once myself and failed.<br />
Professor Wohl, I’m sure, could find a way<br />
If he cared at all about growing things.<br />
Sem: Nevertheless, I’d love to see you try.<br />
I’ve nothing much to do until the birth.<br />
I’d love to see some flowers blooming here.<br />
[While Slev speaks, the lights go up on the other half of the stage, gradually revealing a<br />
greenhouse filled with flowering plants.]<br />
Slev: And so would I. There is a place near here<br />
That seems to me well-suited to our purpose.<br />
Nobody ever goes there, so it’s free<br />
From this accursed, poisonous black dust.<br />
Scene Four: Semalia’s Garden<br />
[Wohl enters, alone, as light goes out in the laboratory.]<br />
Wohl: So this is where she’s made the flowers grow.<br />
She has a strange obsession with these plants.<br />
It almost seems as though she’s made the lamps<br />
Burn brighter than before, when Patra Slev<br />
And I were planting all those useless seeds.<br />
But that’s impossible: For that, she’d have<br />
To change the laws of nature to her whim.<br />
How oddly reminiscent are these plants<br />
Of bygone time, before the sun’s demise<br />
When Nature exercised her tyranny<br />
Over mankind, before we realized<br />
The might of Science in our own defense.<br />
Above the surface, we were easy prey<br />
To Nature’s forces: Hurricanes would blow<br />
Whole cities from the map into the sea.<br />
Tornadoes left destruction in their wake.<br />
The sun supplied us with our light and food,<br />
And death, the final trump in Nature’s hand,<br />
Respected no one’s rank or right to live<br />
But struck down all with equal savagery.<br />
How different Science has made our lives today!<br />
The forces of once-mighty Nature bow their heads<br />
And grovel in the black dust at our feet.<br />
The atom’s energy provides our food,<br />
The force of gravity, our light and warmth.<br />
While magnetism propels our flight through space.<br />
An understanding of the triple theorum<br />
Proved the means to conquer death itself.<br />
It’s true, the secret of eternal life<br />
Is not of benefit to everyone,<br />
But when was there a time a time that many men<br />
Were not required to suffer for a few?<br />
There’s only one more link in Nature’s chain<br />
That still eludes me: Birth alone requires<br />
The intercession of the laws of chance.<br />
Although we have no need of woman’s womb<br />
And can regenerate an embryo<br />
From chemicals, the choice of qualities<br />
Is still not ours alone: The plants possess<br />
The property of self-replication<br />
And with this girl, I hope--<br />
Slev: Doctor Wohl,<br />
Come quickly! Her pains have started, the birth is near.<br />
Wohl: About time, too. A tiresome process, this,<br />
Like all the ways of nature, long and hard.<br />
But soon I’ll put an end to all that waste.<br />
[Wohl crosses to the laboratory. Semalia is invisible on the bed, concealed behind a curtain,<br />
through which Slev glances from time to time.]<br />
Sem: My God, the pain’s too great to bear!<br />
Slev: Be quiet.<br />
The pain will pass.<br />
Wohl: And how to bear the pain<br />
Of waiting? Can’t you speed the process up?<br />
Sem: I feel it coming out--It does not move<br />
Or squirm, though. Is it dead?<br />
Slev: I cannot tell…<br />
I see something inside.<br />
Wohl: A thing, you say?<br />
And not a child? What treachery is this?<br />
The girl’s to blame the child’s premature.<br />
She’s hurt herself somehow to thwart my plans.<br />
Sem: It’s coming out! The pain is constant now…<br />
Wohl: Infernal noise. Tell her to quiet down.<br />
Slev: There’s no need now. It’s born.<br />
Sem: Let me see it.<br />
Wohl: Give it to me!<br />
Sem: Why won’t you let me hold it?<br />
Wohl: What the Hell is that?<br />
Slev (to Semalia): It needs our help.<br />
Rest now. We’ll give it to you later on.<br />
Wohl: A glob of ectoplasm? I’ve wasted my time<br />
Pursuing phantoms. What a foolish notion,<br />
Using the hazards of Nature to do my work.<br />
I’ll have to find a workaround for that.<br />
Sem: I want to hold my baby!<br />
Slev: You may look.<br />
I fear the pain of birth will be but small<br />
Compared to what this single look may cause.<br />
Sem: (gasps)<br />
[blackout]<br />
Scene five: Semalia’s Garden<br />
[Song of the Garden]<br />
[Light comes up in the garden. Semalia is here.]<br />
Sem: I planted a seed<br />
A seed that grew<br />
A wonderful plant<br />
Appeared<br />
They wanted to take<br />
Away the plant<br />
They misunderstood<br />
Its worth [Fri 92]<br />
The plant had a small<br />
And tasteless fruit<br />
The flower was small<br />
And plain<br />
They cast it away<br />
To fade and rot<br />
It clung to its life<br />
And grew<br />
The fruit dropped away<br />
And in its stead<br />
Five golden seeds<br />
Had formed<br />
The powder prepared<br />
From stem and stalk<br />
Restored both the spirit<br />
And heart<br />
I planted the seeds<br />
The new seeds grew<br />
And wonderful plants<br />
Appeared [Mon 20]<br />
Scene five: Laboratory<br />
[Wohl is seated at a desk. He searches through the papers on it.]<br />
Wohl: Where is that thermodynamic formula?<br />
I programmed it last month and now it’s gone.<br />
[Calls to Slev, who is standing near some apparatus.]<br />
Slev, see if you can find it in those files<br />
And while you’re scanning, correlate results<br />
Of our nucleic acid synthesis<br />
Experiments with tests we’ve just run.<br />
[Semalia enters meekly]<br />
Sem: If I could have a moment of your time…<br />
Wohl: My girl, a moment’s more than I can spare.<br />
You’ve played your part in our experiments,<br />
Now leave us. Go and play with your new toy.<br />
I think says you’ve named it Dyanolo.<br />
Sem: But he’s the reason for my coming here.<br />
He told me something that he wants to have,<br />
Or rather borrow, from your laboratory.<br />
Wohl [becoming angry]: Enough’s enough. Imaginary friends<br />
Are charming and I’ve tried to humor you<br />
Because you’ve had a hard experience<br />
For which I’m at least partially to blame,<br />
But now you must return to sanity.<br />
Your child is dead, or never really lived.<br />
My patience with your games is at an end.<br />
Slev [sympathetically]: What was it Dyanolo wished to have?<br />
Sem: What he described was empty, small, and round.<br />
I could not tell exactly what he meant<br />
Except he said I would find it right there,<br />
Against the wall that stands beside the bed.<br />
Wohl: Another game, a guessing game this time:<br />
What’s small and round and lies beside the bed?<br />
There’s nothing there, you see? Now go and play<br />
And leave the grown-ups to their own affairs.[Mon 54]<br />
Slev: There was something a few minutes ago,<br />
The box that holds computer memory sticks.<br />
I think you’ll find the box is almost empty<br />
And contains small, round, interesting objects.<br />
Wohl: Am I supposed to let her play with disks?<br />
Perhaps erase them, and destroy my life’s work?<br />
By all the powers of darkness, I shall not!<br />
Sem: My son does not desire to hold the thing,<br />
Only to have it moved against this wall<br />
To let him examine it more closely.<br />
He thinks he could decipher its meaning<br />
If only he were close enough to it.<br />
Wohl: Absurd!<br />
Slev: And yet, it is conceivable.<br />
Consider for a moment your intent:<br />
You set out to create both plant and man,<br />
United in the self-same organism.<br />
You sought to make an ambulatory plant.<br />
You made instead a stationary man.[Mon 73]<br />
Wohl: Impossible. But even if I had<br />
And, as you claim, this plant has human traits,<br />
What use would that provide to anyone?<br />
You’ve seen the thing as closely as myself.<br />
It’s green and covered with some sort of spots.<br />
It weighs about a kilogram, or less--<br />
Sem: He’s grown, he weighs more, now.<br />
Wohl: Then more,<br />
But still he has no organs of perception,<br />
No locomotive apparatuses,<br />
He still has nothing to communicate<br />
And nothing to communicate it with.<br />
Sem: He’s talked with me, and told me what he wants.<br />
Wohl: Oh, very well, I’ll give you what you ask,<br />
If only to make you stop bothering me.<br />
We’ll put him over there, beside the disks,<br />
And now, permit me to pursue my work.[mon 90]<br />
Scene 6: Wohl’s laboratory. Later.<br />
[The lights have dimmed and a box containing Dyanolo in a saltwater bath has been placed<br />
near the center of the stage. Wohl is discovered at work. He rises, flips a switch absently, then<br />
lies on his bed, all the while absorbed in calculations with his hand-held device. A section of the<br />
back wall slowly becomes bathed in flickering light. It is a television. A man’s head and torso<br />
appear on the screen. He is the ANNOUNCER.]<br />
Announcer: The subject for tonight’s Argus-talk is the humble gravity lantern. This device<br />
was one of the first creations of the Supreme Archon, Propian Exor, may he live forever!<br />
He created it just after he devised a system for telling time without using references to<br />
the sun or moon, now vanished just as the skies have vanished. There were no more<br />
hours, months, or years, only seconds, maxims, and megaseconds. The humble gravity<br />
lantern is small, portable, easy to make, and nearly indestructible. The source of its<br />
power is the earth’s gravitational field. While other forms of light--combustion, coal, and<br />
atomic energy--are limited or emit too much pollution for use below the surface, gravity<br />
lanterns may enjoy continuous, unlimited use. In former times, they glowed more<br />
brightly, due to the gravitational of other celestial bodies, like the legendary moon and<br />
other stars which we have passed on our journey. While they are now dimmer than they<br />
used to be, still they are yet another reason to be grateful to our beloved Exor. That<br />
concludes our broadcasting period. Have a good rest, and may Exor make you an<br />
Immortal!<br />
[During the speech, an aura grows with increasing intensity above Dyanolo’s tank. When the<br />
Announcer concludes, Wohl notices the light and crosses to the tank. Faint music is also playing<br />
at this point. Wohl examines the tank with interest.]<br />
[Fade out]<br />
Scene 7: Semalia’s Garden<br />
[ Semalia is working when Dyanolo enters from behind the rear partition.]<br />
Dyan: Hello.<br />
Sem: I do not think we’ve met before,<br />
But you are welcome here, in Wohl’s domain.<br />
Dyan: You’re wrong, though you’ve not seen me in this form,<br />
We’ve known each other for since I was born.<br />
It’s difficult for me to say how long<br />
Precisely, since there’s been no ebb and flow<br />
To measure the time.<br />
Sem: Your look is strange.<br />
We could not know each other very well.<br />
Dyan: No one may know another thoroughly<br />
But if two people can be said to know<br />
Each other well, that could be said of us.<br />
Sem: You speak in riddles, taking that for odd<br />
Which other people take for commonplace.<br />
You look around yourself as if your eyes<br />
Could pierce the rock itself. If, as you say,<br />
I know you, could it be that I know your name?<br />
Dyan: You gave it to me.<br />
Sem: Dyanolo?<br />
Dyan: Yes.<br />
Sem: How did you come to take this shape and form?<br />
Dyan: The same man, Wohl, whose name slipped from your lips<br />
When first you spoke, gave me these arms and legs<br />
Which bring me here before you, as you see me.<br />
He gave me eyes to see and ears to hear,<br />
But when he gave me legs, I came to you.<br />
Sem: And are you pleased with your perceptions now?<br />
Dyan: Before, when I was blind, I saw much more<br />
than many do who have the gift of sight.<br />
I saw the earth, an endless green expanse,<br />
And in the sky, I saw a coin of fire. [Thu 57]<br />
I vowed somehow to make that vision real<br />
If ever I had the means to do so.<br />
Those means were supplied me by Doctor Wohl.<br />
My problem now is what to do with them.<br />
I came to you to ask for your advice.<br />
Sem: Then you must be patient. I don’t know what you<br />
Or anyone else must do to change things<br />
Or topple Propian Exor from his throne.<br />
We trusted him to guide our destiny<br />
Once, long ago, and now we cannot take<br />
A breath of air without his permission.<br />
Perhaps the man had good intentions once.<br />
But greed has turned his head and stopped his ears.<br />
To individual grief he pays no heed.<br />
Dyan: Shall I awaken his morality<br />
And open up his heavy-lidded eyes?<br />
Or shall I close his eyes, once and for all?<br />
Sem: You need a better guide than I can be<br />
To respond to such difficult questions.<br />
Let Argus Wohl provide you with replies.<br />
But don’t inquire, straight out, what you wish<br />
Him to tell you. He is a canny man,<br />
Unlikely to divulge the truth to you<br />
When he can weave a fantasy instead,<br />
As he once did to me: You must inquire<br />
Of him discreetly, feigning not to care,<br />
As if your interest were casual<br />
And only for the sake of argument.<br />
He is accustomed to such inquiries.<br />
His discipline has taught him to concern<br />
Himself with questions and with processes<br />
And not to ask the reasons behind them.[32]<br />
Dyan: Then I will follow him, just as you say,<br />
Until the proper moment comes around<br />
When I may ask of him our best recourse.<br />
I shall not fail to follow his advice.<br />
Sem: I wish you well. I hope your plans succeed.<br />
[Dyanolo leaves. Lights come up in the laboratory, where Wohl has been drinking, alone.<br />
Scene 8: Wohl’s Laboratory<br />
Wohl (sings drunkenly):A pretty little glass<br />
Will make my sorrows pass<br />
And when the glass is done<br />
I’ll pour another one!<br />
So drink to the bottom<br />
There’s nothing to say<br />
Troubles, who’s got ‘em?<br />
They’re all washed away.<br />
[Dyanolo enters and listens, unnoticed.]<br />
Wohl: A little alcohol<br />
Won’t let your spirits fall<br />
You won’t want to cry<br />
Till your glass is dry!<br />
So drink to the bottom<br />
There’s nothing to say<br />
Troubles, who’s got ‘em?<br />
They’re all washed away.<br />
Dyan: This world is filled with wondrous things to see<br />
No sooner do I think I’ve seen them all<br />
Then there’s another to surpass the rest.<br />
Wohl: You see in front of you a happy man!<br />
Come, Dyanolo, have some happiness![61]<br />
What’s this? He doesn’t want to drink with me?<br />
What impudence! So you’ve forgotten me?<br />
I’m Wohl. I made you everything you are.<br />
[Wohl laughs drunkenly]<br />
Dyan: Your aspect is the same as Argus Wohl’s,<br />
But in your manners and your speech, you’ve changed.<br />
Wohl: You’re right. But it’s the same with everyone.<br />
Now takethe Archon, Exor, there’s a man--<br />
Excuse me, god--who has another side,<br />
An evil one.<br />
Dyan: You’re obviously confused.<br />
The Archon’s life has been a noble one,<br />
Devoted to the welfare of Earthlings.<br />
Wohl: Then tell me, oh all-knowing one, what good<br />
His life, or lives, have done for us on Earth?<br />
Dyan: He saved us from disaster once, and now<br />
He’s guiding us toward another star.<br />
Wohl: Another star from that which we set out<br />
To reach, so many megaseconds past.<br />
Dyan: I can’t believe he’s leading us astray.<br />
Wohl: Believe it if you like or don’t believe,<br />
It doesn’t really matter what you think.<br />
(sings)<br />
It’s easy to synthesize<br />
Right before your eyes<br />
And once you’ve had a drink<br />
You won’t know how to think.<br />
(laughs)<br />
So drink to the bottom<br />
There’s nothing to say<br />
Troubles, who’s got ‘em?<br />
They’re all washed away.<br />
(speaking)<br />
There’s only one thing Propian Exor could do<br />
To provide some benefit to humans:<br />
If he’d consent to have his head removed,<br />
Then there’d be hope that we could reach our goal.<br />
Dyan: A new sun?<br />
Wohl: Is there something you don’t know?<br />
You have a lot of knowledge but no sense.<br />
You worship power, just like all the rest.<br />
Dyan: You must be joking with me, Doctor Wohl.<br />
Why, you yourself revere the Archon’s life<br />
Or else you would have killed him long ago.<br />
Wohl: I would have, yes, if I were not so weak.<br />
I had my chance. I met him face to face.<br />
I didn’t have to raise a violent hand<br />
To slay him, then, for he was old and feeble.<br />
I merely had to let him age and die.<br />
But I was weak. He could have killed me, too,<br />
In that last desperate struggle for our lives.<br />
Instead, I let him live and he let me.<br />
He got the better of the bargain, then,<br />
One single death against a thousand lives,<br />
And with them, absolute dictatorship.<br />
But I was weak and so I drown my sins<br />
By drinking the forgetfulness of fools<br />
From beakers that prepare the Archon’s life.<br />
Dyan: You mean to say that you yourself prepare<br />
The Archon’s daily dose of medicine<br />
And thus renew your vile complicity<br />
As you rejuvenate the hateful beast<br />
That feeds upon the sorrows of mankind?<br />
Wohl: Oho! What’s this? A few seconds ago<br />
You thought me wrong because I was untrue<br />
To Exor, though my treachery was mild<br />
And purely hypothetical, but now<br />
You call me vile because I helped him once<br />
Along the path you just had stopped applauding.[30]<br />
It’s you, not I, whose brain is clogged with wine,<br />
And yet you haven’t had a drop to drink.<br />
Let’s stop this silly conversation now.<br />
You’re just as much a fool as I, and more,<br />
Since I have had the pleasure from my drink,<br />
And all you’ve gotten is the sad result.<br />
There’s still a chance to rectify your fault,<br />
Just have a couple drinks along with me<br />
And add enjoyment to your lack of wit.<br />
(sings): Dyanolo’s rather slow<br />
He’s got a ways to go<br />
He’ll probably arrive<br />
But not before I’ve!<br />
(Wohl slumps to the ground in a drunken stupor just as Slev enters.)<br />
Slev: I heard a noise, is everything all right?<br />
Dyan: I wanted him to tell me something else<br />
Before he’d gotten to his present state.<br />
Slev: Let me assist you, If I know the way.<br />
Dyan: You do know, if you know the way to take<br />
To get to Exor’s palace.<br />
Slev: Why should you<br />
Be interested in that place? Or has<br />
Argus been telling you tales of awful deeds<br />
And instigating Exor’s death, again?[54]<br />
Dyan: Again? He’s never talked of it before.<br />
Slev: He has, to me at least, and more than once.<br />
He told you, doubtlessly, about the pact<br />
He made with Exor long ago?<br />
Dyan: He did.<br />
Slev: He lied. There was no secret pact with Exor.<br />
The process was not his to trade or sell<br />
But common knowledge to all scientists.<br />
No doubt he told you of iniquities<br />
Supposedly performed at Exor’s will?<br />
Dyan: He mentioned one or two.<br />
Slev: Hallucinations!<br />
Wohl was a renegade, he placed himself,<br />
His lonely life, and his discoveries<br />
Above the common welfare of all Earth.<br />
He’s always been a victim of this flaw.<br />
Although his mind is brilliant past compare,<br />
And works with ease where others strive and fail,<br />
His passions sometimes overrule his head<br />
And nullify his impulse towards the good.<br />
When he made his discovery, in his youth,<br />
It made of him an outcast from his folk.[75]<br />
Because the Archon Exor symbolized<br />
Perfection of those virtues which Wohl lacked,<br />
Namely humility and self-sacrifice,<br />
He hated Exor, and furthermore this:<br />
He envied Exor’s power and renown.<br />
So Argus Wohl began to design plots<br />
To justify his own, lamentable<br />
Shortcomings. This is what you’ve heard just now,<br />
The drunken, conscience-stricken fantasies<br />
That he concocted from the merest wind,[85]<br />
Though even babbling breezes make more sense.<br />
Dyan: Your words are fair, and drunks are famous liars,<br />
But what he claims, Semalia, too, affirms.<br />
What reason can there be that she should lie?<br />
Slev: He’s made her an accomplice in his guilt.<br />
See here, you think your birth came by design?<br />
The aim of some experimental scheme?<br />
You’re really but another mental lapse,<br />
The product of his monumental pride.<br />
He calls himself your father, not because<br />
The mind of Argus Wohl engendered you.<br />
You are truly his son. He forced himself<br />
On Semalia, when she came to stay here.<br />
He then continued the experiment.<br />
Your mother helped him to conceal the act<br />
And still persists, by suborning his tale,<br />
His accusations, and his perjury.<br />
If you desire to know the truth of this,<br />
Do not rely on these confederates,<br />
Don’t make their testimony your belief,<br />
The basis for your actions or demise.<br />
Dyan: You tell me first, just who my parents are,<br />
And then you ask me to believe they lie<br />
In order to conceal their sins from me.<br />
The very madness of your hateful words<br />
Confirms the truth that must reside within:<br />
Only a lunatic could hope that a son<br />
Would not believe his parents spoke the truth [28]<br />
Unless their speeches could be proven false.<br />
But I cannot put all my faith in you--<br />
Therefore, tell me the way I must start off<br />
To reach the gates of Exor’s rich domain,<br />
The only place that now can hold the key<br />
To whether Exor’s motives are as pure<br />
As he would lead his subjects to believe<br />
Or whether truth has made its residence<br />
Within the words I’ve heard denouncing him.<br />
I wish to hear the truth from his own lips.<br />
Slev: It’s difficult to make a fool reflect<br />
Until he sees the folly of his ways.<br />
And yet I will not help you reach your goal.<br />
Furthermore, I will make a prophecy.<br />
If you should reach the place you hope to find,<br />
And even if you find the man you seek<br />
To satisfy your curiosity,<br />
Your quest will lead you ever roundabout.<br />
Go find another’s help, you won’t get mine.<br />
Scene Nine: Semalia’s Garden<br />
[Semalia is discovered, working in the garden. Semalia’s Song]<br />
Sem: Strength through adversity growing<br />
Seeds of enlightenment sowing<br />
Impotence breeds on despairing<br />
Hope holds the tools for repairing<br />
Victory’s strength lies untested<br />
Beauty leaves defects suggested<br />
Mutual love is suspected<br />
Friendship in peace is protected<br />
[ Dyanolo enters, unseen]<br />
Power’s the same, though defeated<br />
Plainness is beauty repeated<br />
Love without hope is undying<br />
Friendship in war is relying<br />
Never suspect, never rely<br />
Never has lived, never will die<br />
Dyan: It seems to me a song of desperation.<br />
You criticize your hopes as well as fears.<br />
Sem: Have you decided?<br />
Dyan: Set your mind at rest,<br />
I will find Propian Exor--<br />
Sem: Then I fear<br />
Perhaps far more than if you stayed with me.[43]<br />
Dyan: I’ve come to say goodbye to all I’ve loved<br />
To everything on Earth that’s worthy of love.<br />
Whatever may remain outside this place,<br />
Cannot be worth a single seed or bud.<br />
I do not need your knowledge of the way.<br />
The others, Slev and Wohl, refuse to tell.<br />
Sem: For once I have a reason to be glad<br />
I ever laid my eyes upon that place;<br />
For now my knowledge can be of some use,<br />
If it can help you closer to your goal.<br />
The path that runs before the cavern’s mouth<br />
Leads to a tunnel cut through solid rock.<br />
The tunnel shrinks enough to make you crouch,<br />
The shuffling of your feet will fill the air<br />
With choking clouds of dust that will obscure<br />
The tenuous light cast by the gravity lamps.<br />
You must take with you food and drink enough<br />
For six or seven intervals of sleep.<br />
Numerous cavities will beckon you<br />
To right and left; but keep on going straight<br />
Until the tunnel opens up again.<br />
Not long after that point, you’ll reach some tracks,<br />
A little-used spur off the Archon’s line.<br />
The train arrives very infrequently,<br />
So you most probably will wait awhile,<br />
But once the train comes, your journey’s over.<br />
The silver train will bear the Archon’s crest,<br />
A phoenix rising from a golden flame<br />
Upon a dark-blue field with silver stars.<br />
The train will take you where you wish to go.<br />
Dyan: And what will I discover at that place?<br />
How will I know the stop where I get off? [75]<br />
Sem: Where you alight, the cars will all be filled,<br />
Though at that place, the people will all leave.<br />
A swarm of folk will push you to the gate<br />
Where Exor’s life is cast in solid gold.<br />
Beside the gate there are two smaller doors;<br />
Each door lets people in, then out by turns.<br />
Beware the guards that stand to either side,<br />
For at their whim, the traffic is reversed<br />
Quite suddenly, as when a rock or stick<br />
Stops up the entrance to a hive of ants<br />
And then the ants, while struggling to get in,<br />
Run into one another, sometimes kill<br />
Each other in their mad, frantic retreat.<br />
Just so people, trying to reach the gate,<br />
Prevent people in front from turning back.<br />
The guards enforce their orders with their sticks<br />
That sting their victims, making them jump back.<br />
So people came to call them jumpers.<br />
Sometimes they stun their prey, sometimes they kill.<br />
If you survive the jumpers, you will be<br />
Inside the Palace of the Archons’ walls.<br />
Once there, you must go forward on your own--<br />
No one can help you closer to your goal.<br />
Dyan: Nevertheless, I know I shall succeed<br />
To rid the Earth of its dreadful curse.<br />
Sem: There never was a being better fit<br />
Than you are, Dyanolo, for the task.<br />
But certain things are not within human<br />
Power to change. One of these is the love<br />
I have for you.<br />
Dyan: And I for you.<br />
Sem: Farewell…<br />
Dyan: Good-bye…<br />
End of ACT ONEAllanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-67831928530426162292018-07-12T13:11:00.000-07:002018-07-12T13:11:31.644-07:00The Republicans Did It--Check the RecordCongratulations, Republicans, for memorizing the Trump party line. You would do very well in a Communist country like China or a kleptocratic one like Russia. No doubt you salivate at the thought of getting a piece of all that oil money.<br />
Here in America we have something besides phony spin and imaginary conspiracies. It’s called the truth. Sure, if you can prove that it was Obama who overthrew the Iraqi government and pushed all its hardliners into ISIS, then I guess you’re right, Obama was alone responsible for the mess in Syria. (hint: It was Bush, Jr. Look it up.)<br />
<br />
Yes, it was Obama who supported Putin when he was propping up Syrian dictator. No wait, he opposed Putin but the fickle Congress refused to support him on this or anything else.<br />
<br />
I would laugh at the alt-right efforts to blame all the world’s problems on Obama when they never supported Obama on anything. How can they blame him if they didn’t give him a chance to put his policies into effect? Oh, that’s right, they don’t give a damn about real problems, they only want to score points for their party.<br />
Here’s my message to the alt-right brown shirts: The world is not a game of Risk. When countries fall, people are killed. I believe it was Ben Franklin who said, <br />
<br />
“Let us…beware of being lulled into a dangerous security; and of being both enervated and impoverished by luxury; of being weakened by internal contentions and divisions.”<br />
Republicans believe that nothing Trump does can adversely affect our security; that their wealth is secure and proves their superiority over everyone else; and that internal contentions and divisions are great ways to keep them in power.<br />
As Franklin said, “Let us beware!”Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-2677045425262995482018-03-01T21:28:00.000-08:002018-03-01T21:28:10.393-08:00Let's Hope Arkansas Bans Monsanto Weedkiller DicambaSo Monsanto's destructive ways continue. Formerly, Monsanto produced Roundup, glyphosate, but now, in a big surprise to no one except Monsanto marketers, Roundup is no longer effective in their never-ending campaign against weeds. Now they are pushing dicamba, as well as genetically modified seeds that resist dicamba. This is Monsanto's demonic formula to make money and destroy crops.<br />
<br />
Yes, I said they destroy crops. This is because dicamba turns into a vapor and drifts on the wind. The crops it lands on die. Just as importantly, the wild plants in the neighborhood die as well, as Richard Coy, a beekeeper, <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/09/22/552803465/arkansas-defies-monsanto-moves-to-ban-rogue-weedkiller?sc=tw" target="_blank">told</a> the Arkansas State Plant Board.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Yes, it's just weeds and vines," Coy told the board. "But those weeds
and vines are there for a reason. This is about the environment. If we
don't get a handle on it, our natural environment will not be the same."</blockquote>
Arkansas is on the verge of banning dicamba and cutting into the profits Monsanto gets from 20 million acres planted with GMO dicamba-resistant plants. Monsanto's response? Dicamba doesn't kill plants, people kill plants by using dicamba improperly.<br />
<br />
This is the same argument used by corporations that manufacture firearms--Guns don't kill people. People kill people--and software manufacturers--Our software works perfectly. Problems are the result of user error.<br />
<br />
The argument is wearing thin when it comes to crops being poisoned in Arkansas. Yes, it is humans that cause natural catastrophes like defoliation of wildlands. It's the humans who manufacture toxic chemicals and convince farmers to spray them on their crops.<br />
<br />
Be strong, Arkansas. Protect the natural world, it's the only one we have.Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-44054508062205951902018-02-19T13:09:00.000-08:002018-02-19T13:14:18.577-08:00Trump can keep a secret, believe me<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Karen_McDougal_2011.jpg" class="shrinkToFit" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Karen_McDougal_2011.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="266" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karen McDougal (Toglenn)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Blake Hounshell (<a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/18/confessions-of-a-russiagate-skeptic-217024" target="_blank">Politico</a>, Feb 18, 2018) doesn't believe Trump was guilty of conspiring with the Russians. He bases his entire analysis on an absence of evidence argument. The absence of evidence theory goes like this: Since there is no evidence that Trump conspired with the Russians, therefore he didn't. Hounshell knows Trump didn't do it because he didn't blab about it and he can't keep a secret. That's another argument from absence of evidence, like saying the criminal didn't do the crime because he didn't tell anyone about it.<br />
<br />
Hounshell should understand that absence of evidence is not evidence. It's conspiracy fodder, like saying that because I can't see global warming happening, it must be nonsense, or else there's a huge conspiracy of scientists to trick us into believing global warming is a thing. It's particularly suspect when you base your argument on the idea that Trump can't keep a secret, and therefore there is no secret. That whole argument falls apart because Trump can keep secrets, and has done so on many occasions, when he believes it is in his interest to do so.<br />
<br />
Trump kept his numerous sex adventures secret by elaborate non-disclosure agreements and "catch and kill" contracts, whereby a publisher buys an informant's story for a high sum of money, then kills the story. It's a way to keep the public from ever finding out what some powerful man (or woman) doesn't want them to know. Trump did this at least once, to keep one of his sexual conflicts from telling her story to the press.<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjwzbDUubLZAhUnjVQKHYVPDJMQFghFMAY&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fnews%2Fnews-desk%2Fdonald-trump-a-playboy-model-and-a-system-for-concealing-infidelity-national-enquirer-karen-mcdougal&usg=AOvVaw1qr0iudSCXoiY4CvJk5iv2" target="_blank"> Karen McDougal</a> sold her story to the National Enquirer, which promptly buried it so that it never saw the light of day. Until now.<br />
<br />
Trump kept that secret for 10 years, because he understood that it would harm him if it became public knowledge. He also kept secret his sexual encounters with an actress in pornographic movies. He kept these secrets because he understood the repercussions such scandals would have for his marriage and his public image.<br />
<br />
Trump has also hidden his dealings with Russian oligarchs and the mob-controlled unions in the New York building trades. He concealed those things because he understood that they were illegal. On the other hand, he <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjhwaz2ubLZAhVhqFQKHYipDI8QFggvMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2017%2Fmay%2F15%2Fdonald-trump-shared-classified-information-russia-white-house-report&usg=AOvVaw3CnzvF4eEFYh1lXqrLt4i9" target="_blank">revealed</a> top secret information to Russians because he didn't believe it was important to him, personally. He may have realized that describing espionage arrangements to Russian spies could result in serious damage to the people who obtained the information, maybe even their deaths, but he didn't care about that--because Trump only cares about what affects him personally.<br />
<br />
That's why he refuses to release his tax returns. Because they contain evidence of his own criminal activity. He has concealed the contents for years, despite the demands of all and sundry to release them. Another secret he keeps is how much he is actually worth. He claims to be a billionaire, but <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/at-the-edge/articles/2016-11-03/is-donald-trump-a-billionaire-we-have-no-way-of-knowing-for-sure" target="_blank">some people</a> doubt that. Trump himself, when asked under oath how much he was worth, said it just depended on his mood.<br />
<br />
Trump can keep a secret. He knows that conspiring with the Russians to rig an election is a serious criminal offense. He's going to keep that secret until he goes to jail for it. Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-65638443832706152402018-02-01T13:08:00.000-08:002018-02-01T13:25:01.631-08:00Immigrants are our great strength, not a source of weaknessIn a response to a comment challenging an answer on Quora, I wrote the following comment.<br />
<br />
My answer began with the words, “There is no DACA problem.” Apparently, you didn’t get the point, which is that the entire Trumpist critique of our system of immigration is flat-out wrong. If there is no problem, then I don’t need to spell out regulations to fix it.<br />
<br />
Trump’s plan makes basic assumptions that are false. Your comment repeats those assumptions:<br />
<br />
“So now we must secure the [border].”<br />
<br />
This conclusion ignores the fact that no terrorists have come across the Mexican border since Pancho Villa did it in 1916. At that time, the US army easily repulsed the invasion forced and posted 100,000 soldiers to protect the border from further incursions. Given the current increased mobility of US military units and technical improvements for discovering fleeing adversaries, it would seem we have plenty of resources already available to protect our southern border.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Columbus_(1916)">Battle of Columbus (1916) - Wikipedia</a><br />
<br />
Trumpists are acting as though Mexico had already declared war on the US, but this is not true. Our relations with Mexico had been completely peaceful and cooperative during the previous 100 years. Trump has antagonized the Mexican government and American citizens of Mexican heritage, thereby worsening relations with Mexico to build support for his southern border wall.<br />
Even if we were at war with Mexico, building a wall along our Southern border would be a symbolic gesture at best. Walls were last an effective military measure during the 100 Years War.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/castle7.htm">How Castles Work</a><br />
<br />
Trumpists apparently admire walls and believe that they have been effective at repelling invaders or keeping neighboring nations from entering a country illegally. They look at the Great Wall of China and believe that it served the purpose of repelling invaders, but it did not. The Mongol armies, for example, invaded China in 1276 and subdued the entire country, having passed through the area supposedly protected by the Great Wall.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_conquest_of_China">Mongol conquest of China - Wikipedia</a><br />
<br />
Trumpists don’t seem to care about actual facts. The 9/11 attackers were not Mexicans, nor did they attack over the Southern Border. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists were Saudi Arabians and the rest came from countries in the Middle East. None had entered the country by crossing the Mexican border. So the $20 billion wall Trumpists are proposing would have done absolutely nothing to prevent the 9/11 hijackings.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://cis.org/How-Terrorists-Get">How the Terrorists Get In</a><br />
<br />
Trumpists believe they can control terrorists by reducing immigration. But to do so would destroy what has always been a source of strength for the US. Furthermore, they believe that Muslims have committed most acts of terror in the US, but that is not even remotely true.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.newsweek.com/where-do-terrorists-come-not-seven-countries-named-550581">In Opinion: Terrorists do not come from the seven countries named in Trump’s Muslim ban order</a><br />
<br />
Therefore, I do not support any of Trump’s proposals to exclude immigrants on the basis of race, religion, or country of national origin, primarily because none of these proposals address the actual causes of terrorism or the people who commit these acts. Trumpists’ rationale for these beliefs are based in large part on a flawed list of terrorists released by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.<br />
<br />
We have got to stop basing foreign policy decisions on blind prejudice and faulty data. We must start trusting immigrants to do what immigrants have always done, become good citizens and improve the nation in every way imaginable.<br />
<br />Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-14128296166144503752017-08-03T14:09:00.000-07:002017-08-03T14:11:06.773-07:00If the 1860 US presidential election was legally and constitutionally sound, then how could the southern states justify secession?<span class="quora-content-embed" data-name="If-the-1860-US-presidential-election-was-legally-and-constitutionally-sound-then-how-could-the-southern-states-justify-secession/answer/Richard-Hurley">Read <a href="https://www.quora.com/Richard-Hurley">Richard Hurley</a>'s <a href="https://www.blogger.com/If-the-1860-US-presidential-election-was-legally-and-constitutionally-sound-then-how-could-the-southern-states-justify-secession#ans52262354">answer</a> to <a href="https://www.blogger.com/If-the-1860-US-presidential-election-was-legally-and-constitutionally-sound-then-how-could-the-southern-states-justify-secession" ref="canonical"><span class="rendered_qtext">If the 1860 US presidential election was legally and constitutionally sound, then how could the southern states justify secession?</span></a> on <a href="https://www.__nousername__.main.quora.com/">Quora</a><script src="https://www.quora.com/widgets/content" type="text/javascript"></script></span>
Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-135729048178591392017-07-29T19:47:00.002-07:002017-07-29T20:00:58.802-07:00In response to a critic of Portland, a Sanctuary City<div class="post-message " data-role="message" dir="auto">
<div>
This post was written in response to a post that appeared at http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/sanctuary<br />
<br />
Tessera,
you are making a number of false assumptions here. You call sanctuary
cities, "sanctuaries for criminals", when in fact they are the opposite.
They are sanctuaries from criminals.<br />
I've known many immigrants. I
was adopted by one. His brother lived in the US as the owner of a
successful small business until he died recently. Neither of these men
were remotely criminal. They came to the US seeking sanctuary from war
and persecution.<br />
<br />
If you look at our history, you will see the same
story repeated over and over again. Immigrants came to our shores to
escape starvation, repression, or sudden death at the hands of true
criminals. That's what history tells us. That's why the US has always
welcomed immigrants.<br />
<br />
The story you are repeating--for I know you
did not invent it yourself--is an utter lie. You compare immigrants to
burglars, assassins, and thieves. Those are not the immigrants I know.
The people I know who seek sanctuary are children and their parents, who
left countries where criminal gangs have taken the place of civil
government. They deserve our love, not the hatred you pour out onto the
page.<br />
<br />
Coincidentally, the measures being proposed by our soulless
government are precisely those that will turn the largest number of
young men into criminals. ICE arrests these people near the border and
releases them on the other side of it, where criminal gangs can abduct
them, torture them, and force them to become members. Those young men,
once converted, will return to this country as criminals.<br />
<br />
So you
see, the sanctuary movement is not accepting criminals into this
country. It is welcoming young men and women who have nowhere else to go
and saving them from a life of crime.<br />
Paradoxically, the
government that you claim is preserving the rule of law is actually in
the process of destroying it. Rule of law requires that people be
convicted of a crime before they can be punished for it. Yet here you
are, claiming immigrants to be criminals and calling for their
punishment. On what evidence? On the words of a right-wing website you
happen to have read?<br />
<br />
Possibly you were frightened by those words
of hate and dissension. No wonder! The authors intended to scare you and
used every means at their command to do so. But we must resist these enemies of
humanity whenever they appear.<br />
<br />
We must emulate the members of the
Underground Railroad in the antebellum South, who saved slaves from an
inhuman system of bondage and gave them a chance to be free. We must
emulate the underground in Europe during the great slaughter of Jews,
who hid them, shepherded them away from Europe, and brought them to
America, where they and their descendants are still living today.<br />
<br />
Most
of all, we must resist people who use lies and propaganda to foster
hatred and division. We can't let them sucker us into their heinous
game. Please reconsider your position on this issue and adopt the ways
of understanding and love.</div>
</div>
Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-61503219340290871672017-07-19T23:05:00.002-07:002017-07-19T23:05:35.283-07:00Scam:: Beware FeaturedRentals and Apartment Hunters Inc... they are hunting US!<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">(originally published a year ago, on getsatisfaction.com): </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">To Walkscore.com: Your apartment listings appear to have been invaded by a nasty scamming organization called Apartment Hunters Inc. I have been searching for apartments through your site and when I try to contact the property, the link mostly leads to rentjungle.com. When I click on "contact" on their site, it leads to FeaturedRentals.com, a company that requires you to pay $49 before they let you get contact information. This company emailed me, and when I followed their "sign up" link, I found that behind them is an organization called Apartment Hunters Inc, which has all sorts of complaints against them for posting fraudulent listings and ripping people off. The Better Business Bureau gives them a rating of "F". I have had to search apartment complexes by name, and look for their websites, in order to avoid these people. I really hope you address this problem, as I will not continue using and recommending your service otherwise. </span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">I have been experiencing this, not just with one listing, but REPEATEDLY, with MANY listings. RentJungle's link led me to FeaturedRentals.com, which now is giving a three-day free "trial" before charging you $49 for thirty days of their "service". I looked at the address of some of the listings elsewhere and found that they were already off the market. </span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">Then I got an email from Featured Rentals.com, telling me the unit was "empty and available for immediate occupancy", and providing a "sign up" link. When I followed that link to see where it went, I came to a page where they wanted my credit card number and other info. I noticed that the "real" web address at the top of the screen showed "ApartmentHunters.com". Searching them and adding "review" revealed a huge amount of complaints about scamming and fraudulent listing of already-rented properties. </span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">Here is just one of the listings that I followed: </span><a href="https://www.walkscore.com/score/12388-sw-center-st-beaverton-or-97005?rid=68_b_127112060" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; color: #195190; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">https://www.walkscore.com/score/12388...</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;"> </span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">You DO have a problem, Walk Score, and you need to address it!!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px;">~Holly Masri</span>hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820382959571816257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-4354152898786918542017-07-14T14:53:00.002-07:002017-07-15T11:50:34.253-07:00What did the President know and when did he know it?You'd have to ask the Russians about that.<br />
<br />
Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a professional expert on Soviet espionage techniques, has generously given us a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-jrs-russia-meeting-sure-sounds-like-a-russian-intelligence-operation/2017/07/14/5f7f3dfe-6762-11e7-9928-22d00a47778f_story.html?utm_term=.f1a1ab5c57ef" target="_blank">peek</a> into the world of Soviet espionage. He has described the purpose of Donnie's meeting with 2 Russian espionage assets and indicated that it went exactly as the Russian spymasters had hoped. That Donnie did not
recognize this as an important meeting is hardly surprising.<br />
<br />
The meeting
was intended to feel out the Trump campaign and discover what Trump
would do if the Russians ran their intended program of disruption and
propaganda. The answer of course is that Trump would do nothing and did
nothing in fact.<br />
<br />
The question that needs to be asked now is, why did the Russians accept Donnie's indifference to their overture as permission to go full-speed ahead? Shou<span class="text_exposed_show">ldn't
they also be sure of Donald's response? Shouldn't the Russians ascertain
whether Donnie told his father, Donald, about the meeting before they went ahead with
their planned cyber attack? It seems to me they would want more assurance
than the compliance of the candidate's son. Unless, of course, they had
already gotten that assurance from Donald, something along the lines
of, "Donnie speaks for me." But even then, they would want some assurance after the overture was made.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show">What if the Russians did receive such an assurance, in plain view, and the whole world heard it but didn't know what it meant?</span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
Donald could have sent the ok to them in the form of a coded message,
such as, "Why did Hillary erase 33,000 emails?" That
would have fit into the cover story that Donnie told about what happened
in the meeting, and it was a specific message the Russians would be sure to get but which
would not obviously be an assent.<br />
<br />
Everything Donald Trump and his associates did after this meeting is completely consistent with my assumption. Nothing that Donnie says about the meeting that cannot be independently verified makes any sense at all. </div>
Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-73598088354491288242017-06-29T17:32:00.003-07:002017-06-29T17:34:47.053-07:00When Will Trump Leave Office?Donald Trump and the rest of his administration are doing worse than bungle their responsibilities. Each misstep by a Trump appointee emphasizes just how incompetent the president and his appointees are. You can't unring these bells. Once a stupid mistake is made, it sits around on the internet forever, springing into consciousness again and again.<br />
<br />
Take Trump's pre-election description of how easy it was for him to sexually assault women because he was a tv star. The statement he made was undoubtedly true but still something you don't want to say when your job depends on the good will of women. Recently, Trump attacked Mika Brzezinski for her personal appearance. This comment immediately brought to mind his previous comments about women and their personal appearance. You can't take back what you said once it has been recorded for posterity.<br />
<br />
My point is this: No matter how badly the public views Trump right now, it is bound to get worse, because these issues are additive. One stupid remark is added to another and another and so on. So Trump's reputation for stupidity (or sexism, if you prefer) just keeps on growing. Add to that the other lapses, faux pas, and revelations of ignorance that Trump continues to make and you soon have a snowball that will push Trump from office because he will no longer be able to fulfill the duties of the Presidency, which demand the confidence of the majority of Americans.<br />
<br />
Trump clearly doesn't believe in democracy. He has staffed his departments with the wealthy, apparently on the assumption that wealthy people are better at their jobs than ordinary people. The form of government favored by Trump and his supporters is therefore plutocracy, or government by the wealthy, rather than democracy, government by the people. This accounts for some of the odd choices he has made as well as his disdain of scientists. Scientists are not wealthy, so their opinions are less important than those of business executives, he thinks.<br />
<br />
So Trump's popularity ratings are still falling and his esteem among the educated classes is non-existent. What does this mean for how long his presidency will last? What will be the tipping point where Republicans recognize that Trump is poisonous to their political careers?<br />
<br />
I believe that point is near. Some Republicans have stopped holding meetings with their constituents altogether, while others are holding closed meetings for Republican voters only. No doubt, these politicians believe that Trump will weather the storm and they will come out better in the end if they stick by him. When they begin to understand that Trump is toxic, there will be a mad rush toward the exits.<br />
<br />
Look forward to this event sooner rather than later.<br />
<br />
<i>Masri Zone welcomes comments from all viewpoints. We will never release the names of our commenters. Please feel free to vent.</i>Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-13373324279056457672017-05-09T15:34:00.002-07:002017-06-25T19:27:53.097-07:00EditorWriter Resume<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-085d92a1-ef58-2063-6261-230aeaa54295" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Allan Masri</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4200 SW 107th Ave. Apt. 1303 Beaverton, OR 97005 </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">cell: (202) 421-5202 </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Writer/Editor </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I am seeking a position as a writer and/or editor. Both UCSC and George Washington University have links to my blog or posts from it. I believe my expertise in legal studies and computer engineering should be helpful to your site.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Education</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The George Washington University</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, College of Professional Studies, Washington, DC </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Master’s in Professional Studies, Paralegal Studies</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (May 2012) GPA: 3.92 Coursework: Litigation, Legal Research & Writing, Contracts and Corporations, Intellectual Property, International Law, Administrative Law.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Master’s Thesis: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Asbestos and the Law. Legal history of Asbestos industry and litigation from 1950-2012</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Available online at http://masrizone.blogspot.com/2012/04/asbestos-and-law.html</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, CA </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Graduate studies in History Department</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> GPA: 4.0 Coursework: American History, European History, African History, History of Technology, California History Senior Thesis: Constitutional John. Biography of State Senator and 1914 California Gubernatorial candidate John Curtin. Honors: President's Fellowship</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">University of California, College of Arts and Sciences, Berkeley CA Degree: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">BA Classical Languages, June 1970</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> GPA: 3.2 Coursework: Greek (3 years), Latin (4 years), French (2 years) Honors: Dean's List, Undergraduate Fellowship</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">De Anza College, Cupertino CA GPA: 3.75 Coursework: Data Structures, Calculus, Analytic Geometry, Unix</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Awards</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Presidential Management Fellowship semi-finalist (2013) Outstanding Contribution to QCRM (Apple, 1995) President's Fellowship (CSU, Stanislaus, 1980) Undergraduate Fellowship (UC, Berkeley, 1968)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Volunteer</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">DC National Lawyers Guild</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">● Served as member of Board of Directors of (2013 to 2014).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">● Prepared interrogatories for landmark DC gay common law marriage case (2014).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">● Chaired DC NLG Criminal Justice Committee while working for prison reform in Viginia.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">● Drafted two bills modeled after New York City bills to end racial profiling in the District of Columbia.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">● Testified in favor of marijuana legalization bills before of DC Council (2013).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">● Researched citations in Jewler v. Lawler. Washington DC.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tenants and Workers United (Alexandria, VA)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">● Helped organize tenants, primarily Spanish-speaking (in Alexandria, VA). Wrote articles and testified before Alexandria Planning Commission.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Publications</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Golden Hills of California. Fresno: Valley Publishers. 1979.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Golden Hills of California Part II: The Northern Mines. Santa Cruz: Paper Vision Press. 1982.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Wrote blog posts on diverse subjects at http://masrizone.blogspot.com (2009-2016)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Wrote and researched articles for Reverb Press online magazine (June 2015-August 2015)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">No Lawyers in Heaven (novel). Self-Published. September 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Unpublished Works</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Awake and Beyond. Collected poetry. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bar Guide to the Costa Blanca. Novel. Stories of foreign lands and people. Primarily a fictionalized memoir.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Flowers and War. Novel. Historical novel set in Pre-Columbian America. Used research on Aztec civiliation and Nahuatl language.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Divine Aretine. Full-length comedy set in Renaissance Rome. Based on the life and writings of Pietro Aretino and Michelangelo Buonarroti.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Language Study</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Spanish. Traveled in Mexico and Spain. Studied and read. Translated over 50 articles into English. Completed 25 levels of Duolingo.com.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">French. Traveled in France and Europe. Read French literature. Took two years of courses at the University of California.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Latin. Studied Latin in high shool and college for 10 years. Majored in Classical Languages at the University of California, Berkeley.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ancient Greek. Studied ancient Greek for 3 years at University. Read Plato, Xenophon, Euripides, and other authors.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Other languages. Studied other languages for terms ranging from 3 months to a year. Languages studied include Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Employment</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Localization Engineer. Worked as localization engineer for 2 years at AOL. Localized Mozilla browser into Japanese, Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Apple build engineer. Set up program builds to resolve problems at Genentech and elsewhere. Used Applescript.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Computer Programs Used</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">CafeTran 4.0.1. Full-featured, professional CAT program</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">OmegaT 1.0. Share-ware CAT program with limited functionality</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mozilla. Browser that uses XML technology to translate into other languages. Uses same technology as CafeTran and Trados. Mozilla is open-source so its features can be changed by programmers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">XML/XSL. XML is a markup language similar to HTML that is primarily used to transfer data between distinct programs. XSL is a program that can transpose one XML file into another file to be used for data transfer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Perl. Perl is a scripting language that can be used to manipulate XML files, like XSL, but very much more powerful.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4DO. 4DO is a relational database that can be used as a standalone program or as a front end for full-featured database programs like Oracle.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SQL. SQL is a language that can build, populate, and search databases remotely. It can be used with Oracle, among others.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Unix and Unix Shell Scripts. These scripts can be used to communicate with remote databases. Unix has security features that make it superior to an operating system like ms-dos. Apple has used unix in all its recent operating systems.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Websites</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Masrizone.blogspot.com. MasriZone is a blog that has been online since 2009. Its articles deal with art, politics, science and environmental issues, and investigative journalism. It has had 35,000 visits.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Quora.com. Contributed 350 answers that garnered 345,000 views since 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Simpleflysoftware.com. </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/kn267pc.[waybackmachine" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">http://tinyurl.com/kn267pc</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> [waybackmachine arhive] The website for a website design and implementation business that had several clients between 2006 and 2014.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">EZWinners.com. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://tinyurl.com/moskjsz</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "lora"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. [waybackmachine arhive] EZWinners was a database program that held over 100,000 records of horse races and used them to calculate probabilities for upcoming races. Designed the database and the algorithms and the frontend user interface. </span></div>
Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-83114526963171724772017-03-04T16:10:00.000-08:002017-03-04T16:10:47.125-08:00Trump's new orderTrump tries to squirm away from another attack, or rather series of attacks. The focus of these attacks seems to be serious investigations into the Russian interference in the election. Trump is calling for an investigation of the Democrats, because they wire-tapped Trump tower. He apparently got the idea after reading an article in Breitbart that accuses Obama of trying to sabotage Trump’s election.<br /><br />He still doesn’t understand where the attacks are coming from. He understands they are getting ever closer to the truth, which is that Trump himself was at the center of the Russian conspiracy to defeat Clinton. It has been admitted that Flynn and Jared Kushner met with the Soviet ambassador in Trump tower, but only for a brief, courtesy call. <br /><br />Unfortunately for this lie to cover up the truth, reporters had the lobby of Trump tower staked out at all times, so the ambassador would have had to enter through a back entrance. So this meeting between top Trumpists just before the election was not a courtesy call, but a negotiation to decide what Trump would do in exchange for Russian sabotage of the democratic candidate.<br /><br />By now we all know, or should know, at least a part of what Trump promised in exchange for Russian support:<br /><br />• An end to EPA interference in the fossil fuel industry. This is important since the rest of the world has agreed to reduce their dependence on Russian oil.<br />• An agreement that Russian steel would be used to build American pipelines. Trump signed an order today that enforces just that.<br />• Doubtless other things we haven’t found out about yet.<br /><br />Trump’s biggest mistake has been to assume that once he controlled the presidency and the congress, no one would be left to oppose his will. He overlooked the fact that people in the intelligence community, spies if you will, would act to preserve American democracy. And they have been acting by releasing, bit by bit, every piece of the espionage puzzle that makes it perfectly clear what the Russians have been up to, and that every member of the Trump White House was part of the conspiracy, up to and including Trump himself.<br /><br />Right now, Flynn is gone. Sessions is still Attorney General, but it is not known how long he can last after lying to Congress. Lying to Congress is perjury and is punishable by 5 years in prison. It’s not even barely conceivable that a man can hold the highest legal office in the US after he lies to Congress to conceal his involvement in a conspiracy to take over the government with the help of a foreign government. That is what is called a coup and can’t be tolerated in a Democracy.<br /><br />Republicans had to resort to a coup to take over the government because they realized they could not win a fair election. So they sold out their country for wealth and power.<br /><br />What happens now? The Constitution did not foresee this vast a conspiracy. The Framers always assumed that American property-owners were honorable men and would never desert to an enemy en masse, as they have obviously done. If the word “honorable” implies “honest”, it is becoming clear there is not a single honorable man in the Republican Party.<br /><br />What can be done to rectify the situation?<br /><br />I suggest the Congress should appoint ex-President Obama to take over the government until a new election can be run. In the meantime, he can begin to undo the terrible damage the Trumpists have inflicted on the government and the country.<br /><br />The USA is now in extremis. We must act before it is too late.Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-53444311847837683082017-02-10T14:25:00.000-08:002017-02-10T14:25:13.596-08:00The Problem of Trump<span class="inline_editor_value"><span class="rendered_qtext"></span></span><br />
<div class="qtext_para">
Donald Trump is functionally illiterate, and certainly lacks
sufficient literacy standards for the office. Time and again he
indicates that he is ignorant of important foreign policy documents,
like the START treaty with Russia, limiting strategic nuclear weapons.
Trump hadn’t heard about the treaty but told Putin he thought it was a
bad idea. The START treaty, like many other issues, was debated in depth
by people who cared about the proliferation of nuclear weapons and had
good reasons for wanting to control them.</div>
<div class="qtext_para">
<br /></div>
<div class="qtext_para">
Trump
had no idea what they were talking about. He just wanted to kill the
treaty because Obama had negotiated it. The major reason for the treaty
is to limit the possibility of nuclear war. Trump has no idea why that
is important to do. He was apparently sleeping in a cave during the
nuclear crises of the 1950s and 1960s, doesn’t know why the Cuban
Missile Crisis happened, and is even ignorant of why there was a thing
called the Cold War, because he is a strong admirer of Vladimir Putin
and the Soviet System that he represents.</div>
<div class="qtext_para">
<br /></div>
<div class="qtext_para">
The USA is founded on simple principles that have been admired and copied all over the world for more than 200 years:</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="qtext_para">
We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That
to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed (US Declaration of
Independence, 1776.)</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="qtext_para">
Trump does
not understand how important these rights are, or how vital they have
been in creating a world where human rights are respected, where women
and children and those who are physically weaker than others can still
expect to be treated fairly and live happy, fulfilled lives. He doesn’t
understand it because he didn’t read about it in school or because he
wasn’t paying attention. Certainly he had the opportunity to know these
things.</div>
<div class="qtext_para">
<br /></div>
<div class="qtext_para">
Trump is like someone who was born
yesterday. He has no clear vision of why the world is like it is or how
men and women of good will have been trying to improve it since the Age
of Enlightenment. He has been born into a world that is free and
well-regulated by enlightened governments. He imagines that freedom has
always existed apart from the governments in which it thrives. He
believes so many false things that it would take many volumes to explain
them all.</div>
<div class="qtext_para">
<br /></div>
<div class="qtext_para">
The question is, will Trump’s
ignorance destroy the civilization that has been so carefully built by
wise and industrious men and women? Just now, the answer to that
question is open to doubt. So you see, it is absolutely essential that
all of us who know the truth or even a small part of it should shout it
from the mountaintops so that even Trump and his fellow oligarchs can
hear it. As Martin Luther King said,</div>
<blockquote>
<div class="qtext_para">
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="qtext_para">
Recently,
Trump protested because a reporter said that Martin Luther King’s
portrait had vanished from the Oval Office in the White House. Trump
values that portrait, he says. Although he may value the portrait, he
does not value what the portrait represents. King’s portrait remains in
the White House but his ideas and his spirit have been carefully erased
from government web pages.</div>
<div class="qtext_para">
<br /></div>
<div class="qtext_para">
Trump and his kind
may succeed in erasing the words from the walls, but they will never
succeed in erasing them from the hearts of men and women everywhere.</div>
<a class="overflow_link" href="https://www.quora.com/Is-Donald-Trump-functionally-illiterate-What-is-the-danger-to-the-country-of-a-President-that-lacks-sufficient-literacy-standards-for-the-office/answer/Allan-Masri?srid=oVId&share=ac946f16#" id="__w2_q2B95b7_overflow_link"><span class="dots overflow_dots"><br /></span></a>Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-66409079272359271622017-02-07T23:34:00.002-08:002017-02-10T14:22:52.794-08:00US Senate silences Senator Elizabeth Warren for telling the truth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The US Senate, or rather the Republican Senate, for the Republicans have taken over the Senate to use as their own toy, voted to stop Elizabeth Warren from speaking about Trump's nominee for Attorney General, Senator Jeff Sessions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell claimed that Warren was "impugning the motives" of Sessions. The impugning amounted to reading letters from Coretta Scott King and Edward Kennedy. King, Martin Luther King's wife said Sessions as U.S. Attorney</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2c30;">had used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens.</span></span></blockquote>
Warren quoted Edward Kennedy, who<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2c30;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b2c30;">referred to Sessions as a “throwback to a shameful era” and a “disgrace” to the Justice Department.</span></span> </blockquote>
These words from the grave must have struck a nerve with the Republican Senators, who are trying hard to pretend that racism no longer exists in the Senate or the South. Like their leader, President Trump, they are lying about the truth and then lying about their lies.<br />
<br />
Can such brazen indifference to truth win out over honesty? Will the Republicans succeed in rewriting history and making their party appear to reject racism while its members embrace it wholeheartedly? Phoniness and subterfuge are the hallmarks of the party, but they are not the hallmarks of the American people, at least not the people I care about.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>
Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-41048684313701378812016-12-08T09:37:00.000-08:002016-12-08T10:06:11.979-08:00How much does beef production contribute to global warming?<div class="qtext_para" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
From Quora: I was surprised when I was attacked for saying that beef production contributes to global warming worldwide. The attacks came in the form of misinformation, primarily from a white paper by Frank Mitloehner, a professor at UC Davis. Mitloehner’s opinions are published in the form of a white paper, not an article in a peer-reviewed journal. But a group of scientists from Johns Hopkins <span class="qlink_container"><a class="external_link" data-qt-tooltip="jhsph.edu" data-tooltip="attached" href="http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-a-livable-future/" rel="noopener nofollow" style="background: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%20standalone%3D%22no%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg%20width%3D%2214px%22%20height%3D%2214px%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%2014%2014%22%20version%3D%221.1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20xmlns%3Axlink%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2Fxlink%22%20xmlns%3Asketch%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bohemiancoding.com%2Fsketch%2Fns%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3C!--%20Generator%3A%20Sketch%203.5.2%20(25235)%20-%20http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bohemiancoding.com%2Fsketch%20--%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Ctitle%3Eexternal_link%3C%2Ftitle%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cdesc%3ECreated%20with%20Sketch.%3C%2Fdesc%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cdefs%3E%3C%2Fdefs%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cg%20id%3D%22Page-1%22%20stroke%3D%22none%22%20stroke-width%3D%221%22%20fill%3D%22none%22%20fill-rule%3D%22evenodd%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSPage%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cg%20id%3D%22external_link%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSLayerGroup%22%20fill%3D%22%23ccc%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M10%2C8%20C9.447%2C8%209%2C8.448%209%2C9%20L9%2C12%20L2%2C12%20L2%2C5%20L5%2C5%20C5.553%2C5%206%2C4.552%206%2C4%20C6%2C3.448%205.553%2C3%205%2C3%20L1%2C3%20C0.447%2C3%200%2C3.448%200%2C4%20L0%2C13%20C0%2C13.552%200.447%2C14%201%2C14%20L10%2C14%20C10.553%2C14%2011%2C13.552%2011%2C13%20L11%2C9%20C11%2C8.448%2010.553%2C8%2010%2C8%20L10%2C8%20Z%22%20id%3D%22Shape%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSShapeGroup%22%3E%3C%2Fpath%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M13%2C0%20L8%2C0%20C7.447%2C0%207%2C0.448%207%2C1%20C7%2C1.552%207.447%2C2%208%2C2%20L10.586%2C2%20L4.293%2C8.293%20C3.902%2C8.684%203.902%2C9.316%204.293%2C9.707%20C4.488%2C9.902%204.744%2C10%205%2C10%20C5.256%2C10%205.512%2C9.902%205.707%2C9.707%20L12%2C3.414%20L12%2C6%20C12%2C6.552%2012.447%2C7%2013%2C7%20C13.553%2C7%2014%2C6.552%2014%2C6%20L14%2C1%20C14%2C0.448%2013.553%2C0%2013%2C0%20L13%2C0%20Z%22%20id%3D%22Shape%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSShapeGroup%22%3E%3C%2Fpath%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3C%2Fg%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3C%2Fg%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E") right 0.3em / 10.5px no-repeat; color: #2b6dad; padding-right: 15px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Center for a Livable Future</a></span> has provided a detailed response that fills in some of the details that Mitloehner omitted from his paper.</div>
<div class="qtext_para" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span class="qlink_container"><a class="external_link" href="http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-a-livable-future/_pdf/about_us/FSPP/letter-policymakers/20160512_Mitloehner_Response12.pdf" rel="noopener nofollow" style="background: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%20standalone%3D%22no%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg%20width%3D%2214px%22%20height%3D%2214px%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%2014%2014%22%20version%3D%221.1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20xmlns%3Axlink%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2Fxlink%22%20xmlns%3Asketch%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bohemiancoding.com%2Fsketch%2Fns%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3C!--%20Generator%3A%20Sketch%203.5.2%20(25235)%20-%20http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bohemiancoding.com%2Fsketch%20--%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Ctitle%3Eexternal_link%3C%2Ftitle%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cdesc%3ECreated%20with%20Sketch.%3C%2Fdesc%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cdefs%3E%3C%2Fdefs%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cg%20id%3D%22Page-1%22%20stroke%3D%22none%22%20stroke-width%3D%221%22%20fill%3D%22none%22%20fill-rule%3D%22evenodd%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSPage%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cg%20id%3D%22external_link%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSLayerGroup%22%20fill%3D%22%23ccc%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M10%2C8%20C9.447%2C8%209%2C8.448%209%2C9%20L9%2C12%20L2%2C12%20L2%2C5%20L5%2C5%20C5.553%2C5%206%2C4.552%206%2C4%20C6%2C3.448%205.553%2C3%205%2C3%20L1%2C3%20C0.447%2C3%200%2C3.448%200%2C4%20L0%2C13%20C0%2C13.552%200.447%2C14%201%2C14%20L10%2C14%20C10.553%2C14%2011%2C13.552%2011%2C13%20L11%2C9%20C11%2C8.448%2010.553%2C8%2010%2C8%20L10%2C8%20Z%22%20id%3D%22Shape%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSShapeGroup%22%3E%3C%2Fpath%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M13%2C0%20L8%2C0%20C7.447%2C0%207%2C0.448%207%2C1%20C7%2C1.552%207.447%2C2%208%2C2%20L10.586%2C2%20L4.293%2C8.293%20C3.902%2C8.684%203.902%2C9.316%204.293%2C9.707%20C4.488%2C9.902%204.744%2C10%205%2C10%20C5.256%2C10%205.512%2C9.902%205.707%2C9.707%20L12%2C3.414%20L12%2C6%20C12%2C6.552%2012.447%2C7%2013%2C7%20C13.553%2C7%2014%2C6.552%2014%2C6%20L14%2C1%20C14%2C0.448%2013.553%2C0%2013%2C0%20L13%2C0%20Z%22%20id%3D%22Shape%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSShapeGroup%22%3E%3C%2Fpath%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3C%2Fg%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3C%2Fg%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E") right 0.3em / 10.5px no-repeat; color: #2b6dad; padding-right: 15px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.jhsph.edu/rese<wbr></wbr>arch/ce...</a></span></div>
<div class="qtext_para" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
In looking over their response, I find their points well-taken. Mitloehner concentrates on improvements the meat industry has made in their production methods over the past 50–70 years. But these improvements do not address major problems that will always exist in an industry that slaughters 15 billion animals each year (total of all animals, including chickens).</div>
<div class="qtext_para" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
The US meat industry fails to account for the fact that the US imports large quantities of beef from overseas. Thus, some of the efficiencies claimed by the industry merely result from the export of problems—such as emissions from deforestation and feed-crop production—to other countries. The US currently imports about 2 billion pounds of beef annually.</div>
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<span class="qlink_container"><a class="external_link" data-qt-tooltip="usda.gov" href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/animal-products/cattle-beef/trade.aspx" rel="noopener nofollow" style="background: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%20standalone%3D%22no%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg%20width%3D%2214px%22%20height%3D%2214px%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%2014%2014%22%20version%3D%221.1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20xmlns%3Axlink%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2Fxlink%22%20xmlns%3Asketch%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bohemiancoding.com%2Fsketch%2Fns%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3C!--%20Generator%3A%20Sketch%203.5.2%20(25235)%20-%20http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bohemiancoding.com%2Fsketch%20--%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Ctitle%3Eexternal_link%3C%2Ftitle%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cdesc%3ECreated%20with%20Sketch.%3C%2Fdesc%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cdefs%3E%3C%2Fdefs%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cg%20id%3D%22Page-1%22%20stroke%3D%22none%22%20stroke-width%3D%221%22%20fill%3D%22none%22%20fill-rule%3D%22evenodd%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSPage%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cg%20id%3D%22external_link%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSLayerGroup%22%20fill%3D%22%23ccc%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M10%2C8%20C9.447%2C8%209%2C8.448%209%2C9%20L9%2C12%20L2%2C12%20L2%2C5%20L5%2C5%20C5.553%2C5%206%2C4.552%206%2C4%20C6%2C3.448%205.553%2C3%205%2C3%20L1%2C3%20C0.447%2C3%200%2C3.448%200%2C4%20L0%2C13%20C0%2C13.552%200.447%2C14%201%2C14%20L10%2C14%20C10.553%2C14%2011%2C13.552%2011%2C13%20L11%2C9%20C11%2C8.448%2010.553%2C8%2010%2C8%20L10%2C8%20Z%22%20id%3D%22Shape%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSShapeGroup%22%3E%3C%2Fpath%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M13%2C0%20L8%2C0%20C7.447%2C0%207%2C0.448%207%2C1%20C7%2C1.552%207.447%2C2%208%2C2%20L10.586%2C2%20L4.293%2C8.293%20C3.902%2C8.684%203.902%2C9.316%204.293%2C9.707%20C4.488%2C9.902%204.744%2C10%205%2C10%20C5.256%2C10%205.512%2C9.902%205.707%2C9.707%20L12%2C3.414%20L12%2C6%20C12%2C6.552%2012.447%2C7%2013%2C7%20C13.553%2C7%2014%2C6.552%2014%2C6%20L14%2C1%20C14%2C0.448%2013.553%2C0%2013%2C0%20L13%2C0%20Z%22%20id%3D%22Shape%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSShapeGroup%22%3E%3C%2Fpath%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3C%2Fg%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3C%2Fg%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E") right 0.3em / 10.5px no-repeat; color: #2b6dad; padding-right: 15px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">USDA ERS - Trade</a></span></div>
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Mitloehner’s figure of 4.2% greenhouse gas emissions resulting from livestock refers to US figures and doesn't represent the true scale of the problem. GHG is a world-wide problem where it is impossible to separate the US contribution from the rest of the world. World-wide, animal agriculture accounts for 14.5% of GHG, while world-wide production of GHG from transportation is slightly less.</div>
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The reason I described that cutting beef consumption is “low-hanging fruit” is because cutting consumption does not require an onerous life-style change. Clearly, since according to Dr. Mitloehner’s paper transportation accounts for 27% of US GHG production, there are many larger cuts that must be made in the transportation sector. These necessary cuts, however, will require lifestyle changes that Americans will find it difficult to make.</div>
Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-72789157616694366062016-11-26T23:34:00.000-08:002016-11-26T23:34:14.274-08:00Is Obama a radical? or is he the Great Compromiser?We progressives consider that Obama was a centrist democrat because<br />
<ol>
<li>He used a model for health care that was originally proposed by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Liberals in the party wanted a single-payer universal health care, like those in England, France, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. But the Democrats in Congress were blocked by a few conservatives in their party who refused to cooperate. Of course, none of the Republicans agreed to cooperate. The major problems with the ACA are caused by the refusal of Republican Governors and Health Care Corporations to cooperate with the program, which Obama considered a compromise that would be acceptable to all. But since the Heritage Foundation had made its proposal, the Republican Party had moved to the right so they were unwilling to accept any universal health care proposal.</li>
<li>He refused to institute a carbon tax that would require carbon polluters to pay for the damage their actions were doing and would continue to do into the distant future. Republicans, who once had agreed that global warming was a problem of epic proportions, one that all mankind had to cooperate to ameliorate, had again moved to the right by denying that global warming existed or that the US should do anything at all to prevent its damage. In this opinion, the Republicans rejected the testimony of nearly all climate scientists. Again, there was no possibility for compromise with the Republican dead-enders. Your statement that Obama was the one who refused to cooperate beggars belief. It takes two parties to compromise, and the Republicans refused to compromise on this issue.</li>
<li>Obama ended the credit crisis caused by Wall Street brokers during the Bush administration, but he did it by bailing out the banks who had caused the problem. None of the people responsible for the nearly catastrophic melt-down of our financial system lost their jobs or went to jail for what they did, the effects of which are still being felt today. Obama compromised plenty by putting Wall Street insiders in charge of the Treasury department. This compromise has led to a rollback of safeguards against another crash like the two that happened during the Bush regime. Notice that there were no crashes during the Obama administration, at least partly due to the moderate reforms he pursued. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, there will be another serious crash during the Trump administration because his advisors are the very people who profited from the last two and these greedy con artists would dearly like another shot at the big apple.</li>
<li>Obama refused to institute marijuana reforms. The marijuana laws are laughable, since they state that marijuana, like heroin and cocaine, is addictive and has no legitimate medical value, regardless of the fact that millions of people world-wide are currently using marijuana to treat a number of chronic conditions. Since marijuana is known not be be physically addictive, the perpetrators of these laws had to make a new definition of addiction, one which would apply equally to coffee, aspirin, and numerous over-the-counter drugs that are actually more harmful to the population than marijuana.</li>
<li>Obama said nothing about Americans’ addiction to sugar, even though research indicates that the dietary guidelines for sugar were written by the same man who falsified results to make it appear that cholesterol, not sugar, was responsible for increased risk of heart attacks, as well as the current epidemic of obesity.</li>
<li>Obama made no plans for converting to a society without petroleum despite scientific agreement that oil will soon run out and that society is unprepared for a petroleum-free environment. While practically every other country in the world has reduced its petroleum use through taxation and regulation, the US policy under Obama was to continue allowing exploration and development of coal and oil while also providing moderate subsidies for clean energy. Once again, his position is a compromise between those who profit from the sale of oil and the environmental and health organizations that campaign against its use. Yet you say that Obama never compromises. I say that Obama compromises way too much, especially with those who actively seek to undermine sensible environmental policies.</li>
<li>Obama did not move to reduce defense spending and wasteful spending on unnecessary weapons systems. Here again, no compromise position was ever offered by the right, despite the claims of tea party politicians that they opposed all government waste.</li>
<li>Obama did not campaign strenuously against the disastrous Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United, that has led to unlimited spending by polluters, lobbyists, and financiers to buy a President and a congress who would not oppose them in any way. This was the single most disastrous “moderate” position that Obama took because it has led to exactly what people feared: enormous campaign spending by corporations and the wealthy, who now have bought control of both houses of congress and the Presidency.</li>
<li>Obama also failed to campaign against gerrymandering and voter suppression laws, even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed many practices beloved by Republicans.</li>
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There are many other examples I could give where Obama was slow to propose progressive policies. It is meaningless to claim that he was more liberal than other presidents because times change and issues that are pressing today, like climate change and unlimited spending on elections, were not known to earlier presidents. I will note that Republican President Nixon proposed a guaranteed annual income and Bill Clinton proposed a universal health care act, so Obama was not more liberal on those issues.<br />
<br />
But comparisons of this sort are meaningless because we need dynamic leadership to protect our workers from foreign competition and climate change. We certainly won’t get that from Trump, a dynamic leaders who doesn’t understand the foreign policy initiatives of the past 50 years and who appoints extreme right-wingers and fringe politicians to his cabinet. Obama, lest you forget, appointed a republican as his Defense Secretary. But I guess you don’t count that action as a sign that the man could have been called, The Great Compromiser.Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-14711065430680681732016-11-26T23:20:00.000-08:002016-11-26T23:21:21.472-08:00Peak Oil Production: What is it and when is it?How can we tell when peak oil has been reached?<br />
<br />
We can't tell by the price, either by the barrel or at the pump.<br />
<br />
The price of oil in the US is kept artificially low.<br />
<ol>
<li>Oil companies receive subsidies for exploration and drilling from the federal government.</li>
<li>Much of the oil currently being harvested comes from oil leases on federally owned land. The price of these leases is kept low in what amounts to another subsidy granted to the oil companies. The rationale for this quasi-subsidy is that the oil belongs to the nation and the government should not profit (very much) from its sale. This oil belongs to the nation, however, and not to the oil companies, who should pay full price, with the proceeds going to federal programs or income tax rebates.</li>
<li>The price of oil does not reflect the actual cost of burning the fuel in the air. This cost should include the cost of disease caused by inhalation of toxic chemicals as well as the cost to clean up the environment after oil spills. Note that it is not possible to entirely clean up the environment, since oil is persistent in the environment and does not readily degrade. The cost of global warming caused by the oil burned should also be included in the cost of the oil.</li>
<li>Tar sand deposits yield a low grade of petroleum, but it comes at a high cost because the deposits must be heated before it can be refined. In Canada, this is accomplished using natural gas that otherwise would go to waste since it is too expensive to remove from the site of its extraction.</li>
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Regardless of the price reductions caused by these factors, the price of oil, like temperature in a warming atmosphere, does not rise evenly at all times. The price of a barrel of oil rose to $140 during the last recession in 2008, but fell rapidly within 6 months to just $40 a barrel as a result of low demand.<br />
<br />
A condition deemed critical to the price of oil is “Peak Oil”, when oil production has reached its highest level. Some estimates suggest that peak oil has already passed, possibly in 2014, but experts disagree both on when peak oil will be reached and what the consequences will be.<br />
One of the conclusions reached by Matthew Simmons, who predicted that peak oil would come in 2007–2009, is that <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"peaking is one of these fuzzy events that you only know clearly when you see it through a rear view mirror, and by then an alternate resolution is generally too late."</blockquote>
If the world’s top experts can’t enlighten us better than that, our own understandings about peak oil and what we should do to prepare for it must remain a matter of individual choice. This alone is clear: Peak oil is coming and it will bring great changes with it. <br />
My sources for this post are <br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil#Predictions_of_peak_oil">Peak oil - Wikipedia</a><br />
<a href="http://247wallst.com/energy-economy/2015/11/24/us-cost-to-produce-oil-is-36-a-barrel/">US Cost to Produce Oil Is $36 a Barrel</a><br />
<a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/221368/gas-prices-around-the-world/">Gas prices around the world 2016 | Statista</a>Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-66998121880648062632016-07-13T13:47:00.003-07:002016-07-13T14:45:55.474-07:00Ruth Bader Ginzburg has a right to tell the truth<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Supreme Court Justice Ginzburg has recently <a href="http://bit.ly/29F88Cg" target="_blank">criticized</a> Donald Trump as being unfit to serve as President of the United States. In return, Ginzburg has received criticism from Trump that attacks her for being old:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Justice Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making very dumb political statements about me. Her mind is shot—resign!”</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Amazingly (sarcasm intended) some legal commentators agreed with Trump, including <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">New York University law professor Stephen Gillers, who wrote that judges who speak out on political matters undermine the "rule of law":</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">“To protect the rule of law. We want the public to view judicial rulings solely as the product of law and legal reasoning, uninfluenced by political considerations. Acceptance of court rulings is undermined if the public believes that judicial decisions are politically motivated.”</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Notice the absurdity of this criticism. Gillers says lawyers want the public to believe that rulings are the product of law and legal reasoning, even though he knows that they are not, and anyone who has followed the history of recent Supreme Court rulings knows they are not. But, he says, Ginzburg undermines the rule of law by telling the truth about Donald Trump.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sorry, Gillers, your rule of law is a fantasy which the legal profession has concocted. Ginzburg should not be criticized for undermining a fantasy. She should be praised for revealing the truth. </span><br />
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Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-12825625744427520752016-06-04T14:30:00.001-07:002016-06-04T14:30:13.741-07:00A vote for HIllary is a vote for Dr. Jekyll; forget that she's also Mr. HydeRobert Louis Stevenson in 1886 wrote a great novel called, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The leading characters in this book were Dr. Jekyll, a kindly, selfless gentleman who was kind to small children and dogs, and Mr. Hyde, an alcoholic seducer of women and all-around bad guy. The author invites readers to admire Jekyll and despise Hyde. But the truth is that Jekyll and Hyde are the same man.<br />
<br />
So now in 2016 we are presented with 2 candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, whom Clinton supporters portray as the dastardly Mr. Hyde. These diehard Hillary fans have very little to say about their candidate, except that she's honest and not a crook. They claim Hillary and Trump are as different as night and day when in fact they are just two sides of the same coin. In fact, they are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.<br />
<br />
Progressives turned against Hillary in 2012 because they were presented with an attractive alternative, Barack Obama. But now she's back and she's claiming the progressive mantle she has torn from the shoulders of Bernie Sanders. Trump is wicked, she says. He's against climate control. He favors the banks over the people. And he's sexist, too.<br />
<br />
Hillary claims she's way better than Trump. But only last month, Charles Koch, he of the coal mines and pipelines, said it was possible that he would support Hillary. He added that her actions would have to be different from her rhetoric. Hillary fans breathed a sigh of relief and Scopes claimed the idea that Koch would support Hillary was false. He said he wasn't serious.<br />
<br />
But the idea that Hillary's rhetoric would not be matched by deeds is not far-fetched. After all, this woman once claimed that blacks were "super-predators" when she supported the laws that resulted in millions of blacks being locked up for non-violent crimes--the sorts of crimes that whites were never charged for.<br />
<br />
What is being missed by Hillary supporters in this election is that the main issue, perhaps the only important issue, is whether this country should continue to be governed by the one percent of Americans at the very top of the income pyramid. I think people understand that Donald Trump is one of those. Very few recognize that Hillary Clinton is another. So Republicans can honestly boast that the Democratic party is run by millionaires and billionaires.<br />
<br />
Except for Bernie and his backers. Which side are you on?Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-54824070163299107572016-06-04T14:21:00.000-07:002016-06-04T14:21:40.602-07:00Posted on Quora: Is being a Democrat in the Southern states frowned upon?<div class="ans_page_question_header" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(226, 226, 226); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-bottom: 16px;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yes. I lived for 6 years in Florida, certainly a Southern state, although some say it’s not a “deep south” state. That’s only because it is large enough to have several different communities. I was very much interested in helping Obama win the state in 2008, so I canvassed neighborhoods for him door-to-door. That was an eye-opener. Every one of the names in my first neighborhood belonged to a black person. This may not seem strange, but Florida is so segregated that you will not see a black person in a white community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This comment does not concern Southeast Florida, where there are plenty of non-whites. But in West Florida, where I lived, there was hardly a dark face to be seen. The latinos who collected trash lived 20 miles away. I don’t blame them. One of my most disturbing recollections came during that election when a bunch of our neighbors, some of whom we knew personally, ambushed us at a crosswalk shouting tea party slogans at us.</span></div>
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I personally believe that anyone who admires the tea party is a sucker looking to be fleeced, as Trump’s success in the current election cycle has proven. But these elderly white folks aggressively approached my wife and I at a public intersection. Apparently they believed that everyone who lived in our small town was a Republican. Perhaps they were right. There was a Democratic campaign headquarters in a house near ours, but we never passed by when it was open. I twice tried to attend announced Democratic committee meetings but on neither occasion was I able to find the address advertised on the announcement.</div>
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I did attend a focus group for “Democrats”, but found it was being trolled by a libertarian who wanted to talk about shutting down the federal reserve board. It was the first time I had been confronted with anyone who believed we should go back on the gold standard; I had no arguments to answer him with. When I suggested that we should discuss legalizing marijuana, one of the ladies was shocked, as if I had proposed legalizing armed robbery, or inter-racial marriage. There were no blacks at that meeting.</div>
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In my travels around the state, I discovered 2 segregated black villages. One was on a back road, far from any city. Suddenly, there were blacks all around us, with black stores and fast-food chains. Then I was back on the white road, where nary a sign of blackness could be detected. The other black neighborhood was in Gainesville, site of the University of Florida. I stumbled on the black district by accident while visiting a state park. The nearest neighbors to that district were about 200 alligators, so it was clear why no whites ever lived there. The park ranger told us that the alligators were getting birth defects from the birth control pills the white college students used. I had never heard this particular fantasy before and had no way to argue against it.</div>
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For the most part, though, I kept my mouth shut, even if I did have good arguments to use. While touring one of the few plantations in Florida, I listened dumbly as the guide explained that southerners opposed abolition of slavery because it would be an economic loss to them, just as if they had been forced to give away a cow. I’m sure she was correct, but I would have liked a few words on the monstrosity of the institution of slavery. Crickets. The slave quarters had all been torn by when the plantation was renovated by the Daughters of the Confederacy.</div>
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The creed of southern whites is silence. Never mention racism. Never report any racist activity. Never talk to any blacks. Their intent is to convince the northerners that racism in the South has been abolished. The only thing that has been abolished is talking about racism.</div>
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So yes, being a Democrat in the South is “frowned upon.” The Democratic Party is so disorganized that the last election for Governor featured a Tea Party Republican vs. a Republican who had changed his registration to Democrat. The Democrats were not sufficiently organized to get one of their own on the ballot. Not surprising when I couldn’t even find the Democratic Committee HQ for my county.</div>
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Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-25125955953402700822016-05-23T22:08:00.000-07:002016-05-23T22:08:41.753-07:00My Facebook Response to A Young Male Sphincter-With-Legs<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="3d0ti" data-offset-key="btmau-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span data-offset-key="btmau-0-0">On Facebook recently, I defended a young woman friend of mine from a young male acquaintance. My friend had posted a science-based meme of Bill Nye, and stated that "Women deserve more reproductive rights, not fewer". The acquaintance made a number of lengthy comments which essentially stated that men should not be forced to pay for babies they father, if they don't feel like it. I will include only the final few lines of his comments here.. it didn't seem necessary to reproduce all the rest. Note that I had tried repeatedly to reason with this guy, to no avail. My (final) response follows his. : </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="btmau-0-0"> <i>"</i></span><i><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; line-height: 16.08px; white-space: normal;">Actually, as long as it's not rape it's two people's decisions to have sex. unprotected or not, I just don't see how it's fair if the woman gets to decide it was a bad idea and drop everything while the man is stuck with the bill. </span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; line-height: 16.08px; white-space: normal;">I support a woman's AND a man's right to choose. </span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; line-height: 16.08px; white-space: normal;">Men deserve as many reproductive rights as women, I don't see how men having to pay for a woman's lack of foresight (not being able to afford a baby and having one anyway) is fair when the opposite is not true. </span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; line-height: 16.08px; white-space: normal;">While it's true this isn't the biggest issue in the world dismissing it as only the man's fault is quite sexist."</span></i></div>
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<span data-offset-key="btmau-0-0">Kyle... (sigh)... yes, each person is responsible for their own actions. However, you do NOT get to tell a woman she has to carry a baby to term, if she doesn't want to. Neither do you get to avoid responsibility for any lives you create by CHOOSING NOT to wear a condom. Lots of men don't want to wear condoms. But if you don't wear a condom, and you create a life, and the woman doesn't want to abort it...? Guess what, you HAD your chance to choose, when you chose to have unprotected sex. After that... it's up to the woman, which is as it should be, because she ALREADY has to bear the burden of her own (idiotic) decision to have unprotected sex with you. SHE is the one who will be MOST affected by whatever decision she makes. SHE is the one who will have to suffer, whether she decides to have an abortion, or endure nine months of pregnancy and then either spend the rest of her young life raising the child, or suffer the anguish of giving it up for adoption. NONE of these options is either cheap, or easy. For you to condense it all down to money, shows how very little compassion you have for the mother, or the child, or anyone but yourself.</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="303a3-0-0">Anyway, to simplify it for you: by not wearing a condom, you give up your right to object to being "stuck with the bill". Clear yet?</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fesk9-0-0">As for calling me sexist... that is a classic troll tactic, and you are a classic troll. It is YOU who are sexist, because you keep talking about women taking your wallet, and sticking you with the bill. It is clear to me that you do not like or understand women. My suggestion is that you get a vasectomy... then you will never have to worry about getting "stuck" with anything! </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1jnm7-0-0">Oh, and you needn't bother to respond to this, because I will be blocking you immediately. I have suggested to R that she do the same, so as not to be further harassed by you.</span></div>
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hollyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820382959571816257noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-937814539238306393.post-17329706725531848432016-05-22T23:42:00.000-07:002016-05-22T23:42:41.805-07:00Hillary supporters falsely accuse Bernie Sanders of unethical actions<div class="ans_page_question_header" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(226, 226, 226); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-bottom: 16px;">
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Bernie supporters tend to rationalize and create excuses for all of the Senator’s questionable stances and actions. It seems as if Sanders is infallible and, in his supporters eyes, incapable of making a mistake. Every human is flawed, so what mistakes has he made you cannot condone or rationalize?</div>
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<span class="photo_tooltip" id="__w2_WapPMiC_link" style="float: left; margin-left: -48px; margin-top: 4px;"><a href="https://www.quora.com/profile/Allan-Masri" id="__w2_BqXZD85_link" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; bottom: 0px; color: #999999; font-size: 13px; position: relative; right: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Allan Masri" class="profile_photo_img" height="50" src="https://qph.is.quoracdn.net/main-thumb-36658295-50-psguekqizdvjeiyjktnqyyvtdndvibrl.jpeg" style="animation-duration: 0.001s; animation-name: insQ_100; border-radius: 50%; border: 0px; height: 40px; left: 0px; opacity: 1; position: initial; top: -2px; width: 40px;" width="50" /></a><span id="FLWNjL"></span></span></div>
<span class="feed_item_answer_user" style="display: block; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-top: 6px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">(This post originally appeared as a response to a question in Quora)</span></span><span class="feed_item_answer_user" style="display: block; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-top: 6px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Your statement that Bernie supporters rationalize and create excuses for all of the Senator’s questionable stances is false. Bernie supporters know that Hillary and her minions are planting false stories in the media. Therefore, we have no need for excuses or rationalizations.</span></span></div>
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Take the statement made by Debbie Wasserman Schultz that Bernie said he did not condone violence—and here she uttered a broadly emphasized “but…” The truth is that Bernie did not have any buts in the statement he released to the public. Schultz is trying to make the public believe that Bernie said something he did not say. The same is true when she reports that “chairs were thrown” or the delegates in Nevada were “violent”. There is plenty of video coverage of the scene in Nevada. No chairs were thrown. No acts of violence were committed. So there is nothing for Bernie supporters to excuse or rationalize.</div>
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The advantage that we Bernie supporters have is that Bernie is always honest and above board. The same cannot be said for Hillary or Schultz, who reminds us of Bagdad Bob, the spokesman for Saddam Hussein who</div>
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denied there were any American tanks in Baghdad, when in fact they were only several hundred meters away from the press conference where he was speaking <a class="citation_link" href="https://www.quora.com/Bernie-Supporters-Can-you-point-to-a-decision-judgement-stance-or-action-of-Bernie-Sanders-that-you-completely-disagree-with-and-cannot-defend/answer/Allan-Masri#dcFte" id="cite-dcFte" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2b6dad; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1; outline: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super;">[1]</a></div>
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It is obvious from videos taken at the convention that</div>
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<li style="left: 2em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em; position: relative;">The convention Chair railroaded through very undemocratic and extraordinary rules of procedure. For example, the new rules made any ruling by the chair impossible to change. This kind of absolute power is familiar in dictatorships, but unknown—until now—in democracies.</li>
<li style="left: 2em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em; position: relative;">The Chair of the convention asked for a voice vote on the report of the credentials committee. A clear majority of the delegates present opposed their adoption, but the Chair ruled that the rules were approved despite the obvious wishes of the delegates.</li>
<li style="left: 2em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em; position: relative;">The Chair of the credentials committee was fired because she objected to the way that the Hillary members had removed 64 Bernie delegates from the official delegate rolls, without adequate investigation, or warning, or explanation.</li>
<li style="left: 2em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em; position: relative;">The convention Chair at first refused to permit a minority report from the credentials committee to be read to the delegates until another member, serving as temporary chair, yielded his time for the reading.</li>
<li style="left: 2em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.7em; position: relative;">All of these actions angered the delegates to the convention, who voiced their loud disapproval of these anti-democratic tactics. But the ruling of the chair could not be appealed under the new rules. This proves that the rules were changed because Hillary and her supporters recognized they would never get the extra two delegates to the Convention in Philadelphia without pulling these procedural shenanigans.</li>
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So no, the Bernie supporters have nothing to apologize for. There was no violence or any other illegal acts.</div>
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On the other hand, Hillary and her anti-democratic crew have a great deal to apologize for, but no such apology has been offered. Instead, they have accused Bernie and his supporters of the same kinds of acts that they publicly committed. Can Hillary be elected when she and her supporters use these tactics against fellow democrats who happen to support the candidacy of Bernie Sanders?</div>
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Footnotes</div>
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<a class="citation_index" href="https://www.quora.com/Bernie-Supporters-Can-you-point-to-a-decision-judgement-stance-or-action-of-Bernie-Sanders-that-you-completely-disagree-with-and-cannot-defend/answer/Allan-Masri#cite-dcFte" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #2b6dad; text-decoration: none;">[1] </a><span class="qlink_container"><a class="external_link" data-tooltip="attached" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Saeed_al-Sahhaf" rel="noopener" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%20standalone%3D%22no%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg%20width%3D%2214px%22%20height%3D%2214px%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%2014%2014%22%20version%3D%221.1%22%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20xmlns%3Axlink%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F1999%2Fxlink%22%20xmlns%3Asketch%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bohemiancoding.com%2Fsketch%2Fns%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3C!--%20Generator%3A%20Sketch%203.5.2%20(25235)%20-%20http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bohemiancoding.com%2Fsketch%20--%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Ctitle%3Eexternal_link%3C%2Ftitle%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cdesc%3ECreated%20with%20Sketch.%3C%2Fdesc%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cdefs%3E%3C%2Fdefs%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3Cg%20id%3D%22Page-1%22%20stroke%3D%22none%22%20stroke-width%3D%221%22%20fill%3D%22none%22%20fill-rule%3D%22evenodd%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSPage%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cg%20id%3D%22external_link%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSLayerGroup%22%20fill%3D%22%23ccc%22%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M10%2C8%20C9.447%2C8%209%2C8.448%209%2C9%20L9%2C12%20L2%2C12%20L2%2C5%20L5%2C5%20C5.553%2C5%206%2C4.552%206%2C4%20C6%2C3.448%205.553%2C3%205%2C3%20L1%2C3%20C0.447%2C3%200%2C3.448%200%2C4%20L0%2C13%20C0%2C13.552%200.447%2C14%201%2C14%20L10%2C14%20C10.553%2C14%2011%2C13.552%2011%2C13%20L11%2C9%20C11%2C8.448%2010.553%2C8%2010%2C8%20L10%2C8%20Z%22%20id%3D%22Shape%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSShapeGroup%22%3E%3C%2Fpath%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M13%2C0%20L8%2C0%20C7.447%2C0%207%2C0.448%207%2C1%20C7%2C1.552%207.447%2C2%208%2C2%20L10.586%2C2%20L4.293%2C8.293%20C3.902%2C8.684%203.902%2C9.316%204.293%2C9.707%20C4.488%2C9.902%204.744%2C10%205%2C10%20C5.256%2C10%205.512%2C9.902%205.707%2C9.707%20L12%2C3.414%20L12%2C6%20C12%2C6.552%2012.447%2C7%2013%2C7%20C13.553%2C7%2014%2C6.552%2014%2C6%20L14%2C1%20C14%2C0.448%2013.553%2C0%2013%2C0%20L13%2C0%20Z%22%20id%3D%22Shape%22%20sketch%3Atype%3D%22MSShapeGroup%22%3E%3C%2Fpath%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3C%2Fg%3E%0A%20%20%20%20%3C%2Fg%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E"); background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 0.3em; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 10.5px; color: #2b6dad; padding-right: 15px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf</a></span></div>
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<span id="hTkIdC"><a action_mousedown="AnswerPermalinkClickthrough" class="answer_permalink" href="https://www.quora.com/Bernie-Supporters-Can-you-point-to-a-decision-judgement-stance-or-action-of-Bernie-Sanders-that-you-completely-disagree-with-and-cannot-defend/answer/Allan-Masri" id="__w2_Sv5ShdL_link" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #999999; text-decoration: none;">Written 1m ago</a></span><span id="cadQuN"></span><span id="QursVy"></span></div>
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Allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11540763379378930277noreply@blogger.com0