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Bush's 10 Mistakes At Home and Abroad
Eureka!
Finally, John Kerry! Something I liked hearing from you!
A Deaf TV Anchor!
Remember the Blood of Heroes...
Kerry may cause more Americans to be beheaded!
You're Welcome, Prime Minister Allawi!
THE REAL REASON WHY WE ARE AT WAR.
In Kerry's Own Words
Know Thy Enemy.
ASL needs some legitimacy.
A Democratic Foreign Policy, by Sen. Joseph Biden
Fighting terror on the home front
Petition - Kerry Should be Prosecuted and Disqualified from National Office
Vladimir Putin = George W. Bush
Kerry's conflicting statements
A Letter to the Editor of the New Scientist magazine
One advantage of technology
The great Muslim historical figures
Being lazy is a hassle.
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Bush's 10 Mistakes At Home and Abroad
Bush's 10 Mistakes At Home and Abroad
It is time for some honest criticism of President Bush. NO ONE is perfect! ALL presidents have their own shortcomings, and neither Reagan nor Clinton was exempt from that fact of life.
In due time, I will enumerate the reasons why Presodent Bush SHOULD be voted to a second term. I read a column that perfectly reflects my own disappointments of President Bush. That does not mean John Kerry will have any less smears on his possible presidential record.
In a nut-shell, my problems with President Bush: illegal immigration and should have been tougher on Ken Lay and Fallujah.
Eureka!
I just realized something at this very moment! While I was caressing
Lola's feathered head, it just occurred that a bird requires *both* its
left and right wings to fly, so does our American
politics! The left-wingers may claim that they are always right, and
ditto for the right-wing "fascists." But in reality, it is a mix of
both, somewhere in the middle. In no other way can the American Golden
Eagle fly majestically and gracefully.
Now I really understand why the Founding Fathers used the eagle as our
symbol. With both the left and right wings spread wide, the bald eagle
flies in freedom, wielding both an olive branch and arrows in its
talons. In defense of its freedom.
Finally, John Kerry! Something I liked hearing from you!
I finally heard something come out of John Kerry's lips that I wholeheartedly agree with:
"I will wage this war relentlessly with a single-minded determination: to capture or kill the terrorists, crush their movement and free the world from fear. To destroy our enemy, we have to know our enemy. We have to understand that we are facing a radical fundamentalist movement with global reach and a very specific plan. They are not just out to kill us for the sake of killing us. They want to provoke a conflict that will radicalize the people of the Muslim world, turning them against the United States and the West. And they hope to transform that anger into a force that will topple the region's governments and pave the way for a new empire, an oppressive, fundamentalist superstate stretching across a vast area from Europe to Africa, from the Middle East to Central Asia.
"...First, I will build a stronger, smarter military and intelligence capability to capture or kill our enemies.
"As president, I will expand our Army by 40,000 troops so that we have more soldiers to find and fight the enemy. I will double our Army Special Forces capacity. And we will accelerate the development and deployment of new technologies to track down and bring down terrorists.
"I will strengthen our intelligence system to detect and stop the terrorists before they can strike. By the morning of September 12th, everyone in America knew that our intelligence wasn't as good as it needed to be. But three years later, believe it or not, we read that the CIA unit charged with finding bin Laden has fewer experienced case officers today than it had before 9/11.
"...I will seek a verifiable global ban on the production of materials for nuclear weapons.
Nowhere is the nuclear danger more urgent than in Iran and North Korea.
This week, Iran announced its intention to process enough raw uranium to create five nuclear weapons.
I will make it clear to Iran that we will lead an international effort to impose tough sanctions if they do not permanently suspend their uranium enrichment program and provide verifiable assurances that they are not developing nuclear weapons.
Yesterday, there were reports that North Korea are preparing to fire an intermediate-range ballistic missile that may be able to carry a nuclear warhead. I will work with our allies to get the six party talks with North Korea back on track -- and I will talk directly with the North Koreans -- to get a verifiable agreement that will eliminate their nuclear weapons program completely and irreversibly. We have to get serious about diplomacy with North Korea now. Only then will we have the support of our allies for action if diplomacy fails. "
I honestly liked what I heard from Kerry, however, I have serious doubts that he will really follow through with what he said. We are ALREADY intensively working with North Korea diplomatically, but we are having a hard time with their stubborness. After all, they lied to Clinton all these years when they had an agreement with us that they would NOT build nukes. IT was not Bush who caused them to build nukes in the first place. With Iran, the Europeans are pulling out all the diplomatic stops in attempts to get Iran to stop their nuke program, but it is not working.
Iran is centrifuging uranium hexafluoride gas as I type this. The IAEA had a resolution a few days commanding Iran to cease all nuclear activities, and in response to that, Iran started up their centrifuges to enrich uranium into weapons-grade material for nuclear bombs. source Certainly, Bush had nothing to do with this.
This January, whoever is our President has a lot on his hands with Iran, North Korea, and the whole Middle East. Israel is gonna do something to Iran with their 500 new bunker busters and 103 newly-shipped F-15 and F-16's or themselves face extinction.
Iran just had a military parade in which their missiles had banners draped around them, saying things like "Israel must be wiped off the map," "We will crush America under our feet." source. I honestly do not want to go to war with Iran or North Korea. I know that we will be seriously bloodied, however victorious we will be. So far, we are trying the diplomatic route and I pray to God that it will work.
Remember the Blood of Heroes...
Kerry may cause more Americans to be beheaded!
In response to the Bush campaign's recent ad that depicted John Kerry as a flip-flopping windsurfer, the Kerry team effectively invited Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to behead more Americans! As Kerry's response to the windsurfing ad was:
One thousand U.S. casualties. Two Americans beheaded just this week. The Pentagon admits terrorists are pouring into Iraq. In the face of the Iraq quagmire, George Bush's answer is to run a juvenile and tasteless attack ad. John Kerry has a plan for success. Get allies involved. Speed up the training of Iraqis. Take essential steps to get a free election next year. On Iraq, it's time for a new direction.
As soon as Mr. al-Zarqawi reads that John Kerry is attributing the beheadings as one of the fatal flaws in our Iraq policy, all he has to do is cut off the heads of a few more Americans and broadcast it all over the world on the Web. John Kerry then wins, and then we withdraw from Iraq. Mr. al-Zarqawi and his best friend Osama bin Laden will declare victory just as they declared victory on September 11, 2001. They will then proceed with their plans to convert this entire world to Islam.
It will be Vietnam all over again. Tyranny will intenstify all over the Middle East, just as it did after we lost the Vietnam War, no thanks to Mr. Kerry's supposedly "patriotic" false accusations of widespread genocide of the Vietnamese by Americans and meeting thrice with the foreign minister of North Vietnam in Paris, while STILL being an officer of the Navy. He met with foreign leaders of enemy nations 30 years ago, an actual violation of Title 18, Part I, Chapter 45, Sec. 953 of the U.S. Code (see my old blog about this). He says foreign leaders support him today. I know that Kim Jong-Il, Ayatollah Khameini, Yasser Arafat, Bashar al-Assad, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and Jacques Chirac support him. Ho Chi Minh is probably cheering John Kerry along from Heaven.
Tony Blair, Silvio Berculsoni, John Howard, Vladimir Putin, Ariel Sharon, Ayad Allawi are on very good terms with President Bush. John Kerry is alienating our allies and brownnosing our enemies. With a Presidnet Kerry, he could drive away our current allies and try to make friends with our enemies. Frankly, that won't carry a 100% success rate. He has already marginalized Australia and alienated Allawi when he came here to give his heartfelt thanks for liberating Iraq from tyranny.
I am very uncomfortable with that thought. That is why I am going to vote for President Bush for the first time after voting for Gore last time around.
You're Welcome, Prime Minister Allawi!
Yesterday, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi of the interim Iraqi government came to a joint session of Congress to thank Americans for their liberation of Iraq. Here's what he had to say:
We Iraqis know that Americans have made and continue to make enormous sacrifices to liberate Iraq, to assure Iraq's freedom ... I have come here to thank you and to promise you that your sacrifices are not in vain.
Furthermore, Allawi confirmed my belief that Saddam was himself a WMD! As Allawi said in his speech:
More than 1 million killed or missing, mass graves of more than 300,000 that stand as memorials ... Today, we are better off, you are better off, the world is better off without Saddam Hussein ... Your decision to go into Iraq was not an easy one, but it was the right one.
A WMD, Weapon of Mass Destruction, is properly defined as any weapon that kills many, many people. Legally, a person can be a weapon in himself or herself. No one will deny that those million dead Iraqis would have faced a different fate if Saddam was not in power. So, instead of finding stockpiles of WMDs in the form of artillery shells, which have a very short shelf life by the way, we found the WMD itself, Saddam Hussein al-Tikitri! No question justice will be served (I personally think he should be sentenced to life in Abu Ghraib or Attica rather than take the easy way out by being executed and martyred!)
Kofi Annan said that it was an illegal war to oust a dictator who killed a million of his own people, someone who had seventeen UN resolutions outstanding, someone who was properly removed from power. If it was indeed illegal, by all means, charges should be filed with the International Court of Justice at the Hague, and a trial in which Saddam should be restored back to power should America be found guilty of initiating an illegal war.
I bet you that it will never happen because everyone knows that if Saddam comes back to power, he will kill untold thousands in revenge. WMDs kill thousands.
Oh yeah, know your history. After America pulled out of Vietnam, the Viet Cong took over the South and killed millions in reprisals. That is why we were faced with a flood of Vietnamese boat refugees. Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge took over in Cambodia after the Americans lost the Vietnam War, emboldened that the United States would no more prevent the spread of brutal communist totalitarianism. They then proceeded to kill millions of Cambodians, another holocaust in itself, because America failed to do its duty.
John Kerry contributed to the successful enemy propaganda program that ultimately turned public opinion against the war in Vietnam, which led to these WMD-like holocausts in Southeast Asia.
His response to Allawi's speech?
I think the prime minister is obviously contradicting his own statement of a few days ago, where he said the terrorists are pouring into the country. The prime minister and the president are here obviously to put their best face on the policy, but the fact is that the CIA estimates, the reporting, the ground operations and the troops all tell a different story.
Senator Kerry missed that meeting of the Senate, because, he was too busy selling himself on the campaign trail. I do not believe that qualifies him to criticize Allaqi's speech any more than I am qualified to criticize Senator Kerry. He may believe that nothing good is going on in Iraq, but I choose to open my eyes and happen to notice that, along with all the bombings and carnage, a lot of good things is happening in Iraq.
The majority of U.S. casualties has been in the Sunni Triangle, and in several provinces, there has not even been one combat death! Elsewhere, thousands of schools are being rebuilt, water systems installed for the first time, electrical and sewer infrastructure repaired, Iraqi Airways up and running in the first time in 13 years, I could go on and on. The basic point is that it IS better off in Iraq than when it was under Saddam.
THE REAL REASON WHY WE ARE AT WAR.
KNOW THY ENEMY! Beheading video( Warning: graphic video)
I understand that in all wars, there are innocent casualties, but that does NOT excuse this kind of behavior, especially in the name of religion!
That is what those wackos do. I would pick having underwear and a dog leash put on my head and neck any day rather than going through THAT!
Those same type of people attacked us on 9/11. Their depravity will never cease, Bush or Kerry. Apparently, the only thing those Allah fanatics know is death, so let it be their fate. After all, if they die, it is Allah's will, gratis the U.S. military.
In Kerry's Own Words
On Jan. 11 of this year, NBC'S Tim Russert asked Kerry: "You said this about Howard Dean, and this is, I think, at the core of your candidacy against Howard Dean.' ... those who believe we are not safer with [Saddam Hussein's] capture don't have the judgment to be President -- or the credibility to be elected president.' As we speak this Sunday morning, aenator, do you believe that Howard Dean does not have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president?"
Kerry responded: "I think the judgment of a nominee who doesn't understand that having Saddam Hussein captured will make it extraordinarily difficult to be able to beat an incumbent wartime president who captured Saddam Hussein. And let me tell you why, Tim. Saddam Hussein took us to war once before. In that war, young Americans were killed. He went to war in order to take over the oil fields. It wasn't just an invasion of Kuwait. He was heading for the oil fields of Saudi Arabia. And that would have had a profound effect on the security of the United States. This is a man who has used weapons of mass destruction, unlike other people on this Earth today, not only against other people but against his own people. This is a man who tried to assassinate a former president of the United States, a man who lobbed 36 missiles into Israel in order to destabilize the Middle East, a man who is so capable of miscalculation that he even brought this war on himself. This is a man who, if he was left uncaptured, would have continued to be able to organize the Ba'athists. He would have continued to terrorize the people, just in their minds, because of 30 years of terror in Iraq."
Back on Dec. 11, 2001, Kerry told Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly: "[I] think we ought to put the heat on Saddam Hussein. I've said that for a number of years, Bill. I criticized the Clinton administration for backing off of the inspections, when Ambassador (Richard) Butler was giving us strong evidence that we needed to continue. I think we need to put the pressure on, no matter what the evidence is about September 11. ..."
Three days later, he told CNN's Larry King: "I think we clearly have to keep the pressure on terrorism globally. This doesn't end with Afghanistan by any imagination. And I think the president has made that clear. I think we have made that clear. Terrorism is a global menace. It's a scourge. And it is absolutely vital that we continue, for instance, Saddam Hussein." [emphasis mine]
ASL needs some legitimacy.
I read an article by SIGNews about signwriting, a "codified" system of writing American Sign Language. That prompted me to write this- I cannot keep silent about this any longer. It is of my opinion that the hearing majority of this world do not view advanced sign languages like ASL and BSL as authentic because they do not have a written form. They probably view it as rather primitive, like the languages of primitive tribes still living in the Amazon. ASL and their languages both do not have authentic written forms.
Signwriting is definitely not a written language! You have to decipher each code. It tries too hard to "visualize" ASL on the paper. It is just akin to what SEE tries to do to the English language, it completely corrupts it. Encoding ASL into indecipherable symbols only make it more complicated, making hearing people think that our language is a combination of mad gestures and the Navy's semaphore flagging system. A true written system flows through the eye like fluid, and it should be as easy to write what your thoughts are, in the same language.
I have thought about this often, the fact that ASL does not have a written form. I have always looked at the beautiful curves of Arabic script as something I should look at more closely to represent the dynamic movements and symbolism of our very visual language. You might by now look at me like I am crazy.
Still reading? Great. Arabic is not the only language that I am fascinated with and want to learn. I am also very fascinated with Chinese, Hebrew, and Hieratic, which is the cursive form of hieroglyphics. I have even started learning these languages, because these are very dynamic languages that use a lot of "imagery", as far as Chinese and hieroglyphics are concerned.
Instead of confusing codified symbols representing handshapes, and another squiggly lines to represent movements, it will be possible to develop a written form of ASL using a set of alphabetic symbols to represent our handshapes, markings (such as these used by Hebrew, Arabic, French, Czech, as an example) to represent certain facial expressions. Studying Chinese will help develop the logical structure of ASL writing. For example the character of "person" juxtaposed with "tree" represents "strength." Makes sense, doesn't it, when these characters actually look like a person and tree!
This is no task for one man to do alone. It would require superhuman (or supergenius) power to do so, so I hope that there are enough people that share my sentiments. Only a massive colloborative effort will this be made possible. After all, languages are not created, they evolve. So, the "seeds" have to be planted for this.
A Democratic Foreign Policy, by Sen. Joseph Biden
Article by Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden I liked what I read from this senator, who is a Democrat. It makes me even madder when someone like John Kerry is running for President, not someone like Joseph Biden, Wesley Clark, or Joseph Lieberman. The bottom line is Kerry is not very good at convincing people. I do not want a president who needs surrogates to convince voters that Kerry will fight the war against terrorism with a clear vision like President Bush is doing now.
I voted for Al Gore in 2000. I am an ex-anti-Bush hater. I used to think that he was an idiot. but, I did not let that enblinden my eyes, because he was our President. I gave him a chance, and I eventually came to like him. I admit I underestimated him, like Ben Affleck said. Or, in Bush's words, I "misunderestimated" him!
When the Democrats started their election campaign, I knew I would have a hard time at the voter's booth if the Democratic candidate were any one of the aforementioned alternatives. I would probably have voted for President Bush, but that does not mean I would blatantly dismiss everything the other candidate had to offer or say. That is not patriotic. I believe that each American should vote based on his or her own personal beliefs, not according to some old, out-dated dogmatic political machine. That is why I have voted Democrat in the past, will vote Republican, and probably will vote Democrat sometime in the future, if they clean up their act. Zell Miller, Biden and Lieberman are good examples of the ideal Democratic leader.
IDEAL BUSH II ADMINISTRATION: John Kerry as Secretary of State, Wesley Clark as Secretary of Defense, Joseph Biden as Secretary of Homeland Security, Joe Lieberman (a jew) and John Abizaid (an Arab) as our special Middle East peace envoy.Wouldn't this be an ideal compromise between the Democrats and Republicans, to regain national unity, but to let our Commander in Chief continue ensuring our national security?
The White House should be neither Democrat or Republican, but American. That is why I am openly ruminating the concept of a joint Democratic-Republican government.
That is what happens in Israeli politics all the time. They have too many parties for one to hold a majority of power, so they have to compromise and create alliances. Sadly, we do not see that in American politics. Ralph Nader, who I respect for his steadfast convinction in his beliefs and principles, is marginalized. I honestly think that Nader would make a better candidate than Kerry.
Fighting terror on the home front
Oliver North: Fighting terror on the home front: " -- Some of the best minds in America -- scientists I call 'MacGyvers with Ph.D.s' -- are working on high tech solutions to explosive detection, WMD protection and the challenges of disarming terror devices."
That quote really struck a resonance with me, because it is a passion deep inside me that I be able to contribute to my beloved country. Only in countries like America can I actually achieve this dream as a person with deafness. I am very blessed to have been born in America, not North Korea. I refuse to let that opportunity pass, so I am going to do everything in my power as an American to help "tap" bright Deaf minds.
The state of the Deaf world nowadays is, in my opinion, in a stagnant state. There may be many reasons to attribute for that, but one thing is for sure. The Deaf have been letting others come up with the devices and technology needed to assist them with the task of living in a world of silence. However, the hearing do not know what it is like to be deaf. (When I say Deaf with a capital D, I am referring to the Deaf tribal people, and when I say deaf with a lower-case d, I am referring to the hearing impairment.) Anything they do is done in order to "fix" the affliction of hearing impairment. Instead of fixing something that is hoplelessly broken, why not improve something that already works beautifully?
Technology will be able to let us use our native language with fluid ease, so someday, we will be able to walk anywhere we wish, and sign to ourselves, if you will, and a computer will automatically transcribe what you and I say. It is just like when you see someone walking by, talking to himself or herself, into a small cellphone thingajmig attached to their lapel. The added bonus is that whatever we sign can also be translated into voice, which will be a boon for all Deaf signers and hearing non-signers alike! Technology will also enable us to have data displayed on see-through LCD monitors mounted on eyeglasses. And eventually, contact lenses. The sky is the limit!
Now, back to my original point: the Deaf has a lot to contribute to our country! There is no questioning the patriotism of Deaf citizens! It is only unfortunate when I learn that deaf Israelis are allowed into the Israeli Defense Forces, however in non-combat roles.
It is of my strong belief that Deaf citizens have a huge potential for the military. There are countless circumstances where Special Forces operations require its troops to operate in utmost silence. Forced to be mute, the soldiers nowadays probably rely on a crude hand signal system. It is to my understanding that our fearsome elite troops are supposed to be multilinguists, then there is no reason why they should not communicate in ASL while in stealth mode. Oh yes, and it would be very secure, because I can bet you that no Taliban or al-Qaeda infidels know ASL!
It is a known fact that most of our technologies in society have origins rooted into the military. The internet, cell phones, digital cameras, wireless communications, to name a few, all came into existence thanks to the Department of Defense.
I can't help it but long for the day when the Deaf are allowed into the military, because it would be a dual benefit, both parties would gain significantly, the military in new modes of communication for its soldiers, with the needed technology to boot, which I already am working on: the AcceleGlove. If the military incorporates sign language as a method for its soldiers to communicate with each other in stealth conditions, and uses its vast resources to improve and perfect the AcceleGlove so its troops can also communicate to headquarters and with their PDAs using their hands while their voices are occupied or embargoed. That would carry the technology very far along the current development scale, and it would become advanced to the point where Deaf people would be able to seamlessly integrate it into their lives.
Having a MacGyver-like passion burning deep inside me, no wonder Oliver North's comment hit a deep chord when I came across it. I just hope that someday, it will be harnessed and not be left to waste!
Petition - Kerry Should be Prosecuted and Disqualified from National Office
Petition - Kerry Should be Prosecuted and Disqualified from National Office Some excerpts:
"Kerry, who fancies himself a war hero, has spent much of his political career denigrating American military personnel and the nation they defend. But his anti-American actions preceded his first campaign for Congress -- indeed, they were the platform from which he launched his political career.
"Unlike John F. Kennedy, however, when John F. Kerry got home, there was no hero's welcome. The nation was in turmoil over our continued role in Vietnam, the result of limited but well-publicized Leftist protests against the war. So Kerry, ever the opportunist, endeavored to become the Left's most "useful idiot" (as Lenin called Western apologists for Soviet propaganda), collaborating with Fonda, et al., and leading protests accusing his "brethren" in Vietnam of all manner of atrocities.
"Kerry was (and remains) an effective spokesperson for his Leftist cadre. His anti-war protest period culminated with his 1971 congressional testimony, after which he told the press, "There are all kinds of atrocities and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free-fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50-caliber machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. All of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions...."
"Regarding the substance -- and source -- of Kerry's claims, Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking intelligence officer ever to defect from the Soviet bloc, says "KGB priority number one at that time was to damage American power, judgment, and credibility. ... As a spy chief and a general in the former Soviet satellite of Romania, I produced the very same vitriol Kerry repeated to the U.S. Congress almost word for word and planted it in leftist movements. KGB chairman Yuri Andropov managed our anti-Vietnam War operation. He often bragged about having damaged the U.S. foreign-policy consensus, poisoned domestic debate in the U.S., and built a credibility gap between America and European public opinion through our disinformation operations. Vietnam was, he once told me, 'our most significant success'." [emphasis mine]
"As for the success of Kerry's anti-democracy protests and his leadership of the VVAW and association with Fonda's Winter Soldier Investigation, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnam's most decorated military leader, wrote in retrospect that if not for the disunity created by such stateside protesters, Hanoi would have ultimately surrendered. [emphasis mine]
Vladimir Putin = George W. Bush
 It's funny when people berate President Bush when Vladimr Putin is probably exactly what people say that Bush is! Putin rules over Chechnya with an iron fist, and now with the vicious, hideous school massacre by Islamic radicals, just wait and see what the Great KGB Bear does!
For an insight into Vladimir Putin, go here. Putin: Why talk to child killers?
Kerry's conflicting statements
"I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have, and who misled America into Iraq,' Kerry told a crowd of several thousand supporters at a midnight rally in Springfield"
You spin yourself in a ever-increasing tight cocoon, John Kerry. Be careful of your nuances before you lash out. Based on what you just said, it is OK for President Bush and the Swift Veterans for Truth to question your commitment to defend this blessed country. President Bush NEVER refused to serve. He WAS enlisted in the Reserves, just like you were. You were in the Naval Reserves. Lt. George W. Bush was enlisted in the Air National Guard, the reserves for the Air Force. It just happened that your unit was called up, even though you failed to get a waiver for your draft by trying to bolt to a job in Paris. Moreover, the 254 Swift Veterans for Truth SERVED. They got the legitimate right to question your shaky commitment to our national security, based on what you said, Mr. Kerry. That also means former President Clinton cannot vouch for your ability to defend this country, because he, himself, evaded the draft.
When you tell the truth, nuances are not necessary. When you lie, one little inadvertent nuance that falls out of place can be enough to indict you and seal your fate, such as mistakenly saying Nixon was president while you were supposedly in Cambodia! If you actually were in Cambodia on Christmas, '68, you would have, based on your so-called intellect, known that LBJ was president! Or were you too flipped up on some Viet Cong psychedelics? Either way, it makes you unfit to be our Commander in Chief!
A Letter to the Editor of the New Scientist magazine
There was an article, "Falling on deaf ears," in the publication New Scientist that spoke of cochlear implants, and this spurred me to write a letter to the editor. I thought that it would be nice to post it here, so here it is!
Dear Editor,
This is in regards to the article, "Falling on deaf ears," of your August 28-September 3, 2004 issue, vol. 183, no 2462.
Working towards my doctorate, I am always thinking of ways to exploit technology in order to bridge the overpowering gap separating the Deaf from the hearing. Being profoundly deaf myself, the stakes are very high. If no technology is able to transcend the communication barrier between the spoken word and sign language, the future of my people, the Deaf, a truly tribal group, is in severe jeopardy. We have to separate ourselves from the disabled "macro-group" and become a distinct cultural minority, albeit smaller. That way, we would be able to embrace one of the most overlooked, yet important, language - American Sign Language (ASL).
Research done on the brains of culturally Deaf people (that is, fluent users of ASL) has shown that the structure of the brains of Deaf people differ somewhat from the "hearing" brain. The brain's plasticity enables it to "reallocate" the unused auditory part of the brain and use it for other functions. I strongly believe that is why I find it very easy to understand, and immensely enjoy, Stephen Hawking's work. I would know that because my Deaf brother studied Cognitive Science for his PhD.
ASL is a 4-dimesional, spatial language. Because of that fact, and the fact that there is no other language that approaches the 4-D complexity of sign language, it would serve the hearing majority in this world very well if they integrated sign language in their communication modes. For example, it would be so much more elegant for math teachers to incorporate sign language to describe the appearance of sine waves and the difference between its amplitude and period.
It is essential that I am able to have my sign language automatically translated into voice, and to be able to use voice recognition software to understand anyone I might bump in on the street. That would effectively surmount the obstacles that have always kept the Deaf disabled. Dr. Jose Hernandez-Rebollar of George Washington University's AcceleGlove shows the best promise of meeting that lofty goal, and I am actively working with him to ensure our place in the society of the future. Augmented Reality will be the answer, not cochlear implants.
Thank you,
Jason Lamberton
PhD Candidate, George Washington University
President's Fellow, Gallaudet University
One advantage of technology
I just started using a good 'ol regular digital phone with a built in answering machine, one that allows me to access its functions, et cetera, by calling in my own number from another number. As a Deaf person, I never thought I would find a useful utilization of a phone without a TTY. But, aside from wordiness, I have found such a useful utilization.
Alas! if you haven't yet guessed what I did, I used our beloved relay services (I use sprintrelayonline.com) to do just that, access my own voice phone, which I cannot hear, to play back my messages and to do every other little tweak here and there.
Finally, there is a way for Deaf people to dictate thoughts! For decades, hearing people have had methods to verbally record thoughts instantenously, and in recent years, have it automatically converted to text. Now, with some extra effort, we are able to do the same, with the use of a video relay service and a Web-based (text) relay service. Use the video relay service to call your own answering machine (or voice mail) and leave your "message." Then you subsequently use, say, ip-relay.com to retrieve your message, and it will be primed for a simple copy-paste operation!
Only pray that the video relay interpreter is GOOD and the other relay operator can type fast!
And it is only the beginning...
The great Muslim historical figures
I have read many stories about great Islamic historical figures, the scientists and mathematicians that made great contributions to the advancement of mathematics and science in the early days of Islam. It has always bothered me that these things are no longer evident in the Islamic world today, and we have the Western world still making great advances in the pursuit of knowledge. I think that the conditions in Islamic societies should seek to promote knowledge and the exchange of information, not restrict them. After all, it was Muslim scholars (along with Chinese) who visited the Library of Alexandria, the greatest library ever, with stacks and stacks of ancient knowledge, and made some copies, bringing these copies back to their homelands. After a Catholic mob burned the library and its books to the ground in around AD 350, knowledge was set back for 2,000 years. It was documents created by Muslim scholars that saved some essential facets of ancient knowledge. One that strikes my mind is the design of a steam engine, something that had not been invented for another 18 centuries!
I decided to learn more about this, and what I found out was interesting.
"The birth of Islam provided great impetus to human pursuits of knowledge. The necessity of preserving the Quran and the Traditions (Hadith) awakened the spirit of collecting such writings in various forms, which paved the way for the establishment of the earliest libraries in the world Of Islam. The mosques which, during the early decades of Islam formed the nerve centres of all political, religious and educational activities, housed valuable libraries comprising books on religion, philosophy and science. Soon, however, Muslims who distinguished themselves as the greatest patrons of learning, established during the days of their glory some of the biggest libraries of mediaeval times. The great intellectuals of their age including Avicenna the encyclopaedist, Ibn Miskawayh the historian-philosopher, Al-Fadl-Ibn Naubakht and Humayun Ibn Ishaq the renowned translator were entrusted with the responsibility for the organisation and maintenance of libraries. The Caliphate Raashidah and that of the Omayyads were the periods of conquests, consolidation and organisation." (Source: http://www.netmuslims.com/info/libraries.html)
This page goes on to say: "The Muslim civilization had attained such a high standard that it served as a beacon light to the West. The Christian conquerors of Spain tried to efface all traces of Arab civilization from their sacred land. In 1499 all literary treasures of the Muslims were collected from different libraries of Spain and burned by Cardinal Ximens, Archbishop of Toledo. Writing in the Spirit of Islam, Ameer Ali says, that in Spain, "Christianity destroyed the intellectual life of the people. The Muslims had turned Spain into a garden; the Christians converted it into a desert. The Muslims had covered the land with colleges and schools; the Christians tranformed them into churches for the worship of saints and images. The literary and scientific treasures amassed by the Muslim sovereigns were consigned to the flames"
It has been propagated by western historians that the Arabs destroyed the famous Alexandrian library. The latest historical researches have established beyond doubt that the said library was destroyed by the Romans themselves long before the advent of Islam. Writing in the Glimpses of World History, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru says: "There is a story that the Arabs burnt the famous library of Alexandria, but this is now believed to be false. The Arabs were too fond of books to behave in this barbarious manner. It is probable, however, that Emperor Theodosius of Constantinople was guilty of this destruction or part of it. A part of the library had been destroyed long before, during a siege at the time of Julius Caesar. Theodosius did not approve of the old pagan Greek books dealing with the Greek mythologies and philosophies.
He was too devout a Christian. It is said that he used books as fuel with which to heat his bath".
On the contrary, it was the Christian crusaders who burnt the great Muslim library of Tripolis (Syria) containing more than three million books. "
It's sad how religion really contributes to the human race setting itself back back a few thousand years every once and then. I am even more saddened that I just learned that it was a Christian mob that burned down one of the greatest Islamic libraries, one that rivals the Library of Alexandria, which was itself burned down by a Christian mob. These two events probably set us back more than we can ever fully comphrened.
08/01/2004 - 08/31/2004
09/01/2004 - 09/30/2004
10/01/2004 - 10/31/2004
11/01/2004 - 11/30/2004
12/01/2004 - 12/31/2004
01/01/2005 - 01/31/2005
02/01/2005 - 02/28/2005
03/01/2005 - 03/31/2005
04/01/2005 - 04/30/2005
06/01/2005 - 06/30/2005
07/01/2005 - 07/31/2005
08/01/2005 - 08/31/2005
09/01/2005 - 09/30/2005
10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005
11/01/2005 - 11/30/2005
01/01/2006 - 01/31/2006
03/01/2006 - 03/31/2006
05/01/2006 - 05/31/2006
06/01/2006 - 06/30/2006
07/01/2006 - 07/31/2006
11/01/2006 - 11/30/2006
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For
me, this site will be less of a personal diary and daily pulpit,
rather, it will focus strongly on being an e-soapbox for my
political issues of concern, and to highlight the technological
advances that will uniquely benefit us, the Deaf tribe, and
simply a portal for everything else that constitutes the Artist
Formerly Known As An Embryonic Stem Cell, Jason C. Lamberton.
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THE LAMBERTON REPORT
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Getting More Than 'Halfway to Anywhere'
SPACE.com -- Mars Analog on Earth: Taking a Trek in the Outback
LiveScience.com Blogs - Sex in Space: Getting a Grip on Gravity
Storms push firefighters off front lines
FDA Says No to Bionic Eye (why don't they say NO to the Cochlear Implant?!)
Amateur Farmers Find A Paradise, Unpaved
Gadgets get the feel of the tactile world
LiveScience.com Blogs - Half of All Languages Headed for Extinction
LiveScience.com - What a Trip: Psychedelic Drug Study Recalls the '60s
Washingtonpost.com - Drug's Mystical Properties Confirmed
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