Jan Assman on Monotheism and Martyrerdom

In the NZZ from today: He is talking about he price we have to pay with Monotheism coming into the world at some time between Echnaton and Mohammed. Important distinction between inherent and necessesary consequences of Monotheism.

Die Unterscheidung von Gott und Welt hat uns befreit von der Tyrannei des Gegebenen und uns Perspektiven einer anderen Wirklichkeit erschlossen, ohne die wir nicht mehr leben können.

But of course this gives us greater responsibility as well. There is no way back (the enlightened Assmann concludes) than go towards a more critical and reflective understanding of Monotheism.

Endorsing Kerry

what more to say?

Rant 2 bush minor

Professor Chaos was discussing the explosives in Al Qaaqa- and hadn't heard, that they were really still there, when American troups came to the site, or sumbled accross it in early April, they were in fact untouched

anyway, here it goes:


Sorry for this late chimeing in, but the media is not pro Kerry and against Bush.

The FACT's are. The facts are pro Kerry and against Bush. The media merely stopped reporting the Bush spin.

And I am sorry if you do not realise, that there are facts; tangible, uncompromisable, for the whole world visible FACT's. If you cannot coldly see that, what a fact is you are not able to call yourself a rational person. You might not like the fact, you might interpret the consequences of the facts differently. But the facts remain facts, even in this postmodern, faithbased reality. Sorry - I am really not sure, why the whole bush-ideology is build on twenty year old french philosophy fragments and Carl Schmitt. - I digress.

It is really quite simple (and stunning). A huge number of things could have been done better (I guess you agree) and this latest story about the explosives is just a further example of someone effing up, of not having control over the situation, and that is the whole point of this critizism. Bush says everything is fine and everything is under control, but things are not fine and are not under control. (Dont get me started on responsibilities here). Yet some people don't care to look at the fact, because they live in the fantasy that only a strong stubborn position is a right position. Supporting - lemming like - a president in a war situation, no change of horse in midapocalypse - it might be a right position to start with, for a short while, but in the long run, you loose.

Sorry face the facts. You simply cannot run headlong into the wall all the time, screaming, "But my analysis right, there has to be a door here." Stand still for a moment. Look up and walk calmly to your right or left. The door should be visible, even if the blood is in your eyes. Yes, there is a threat, there are angry, nasty people out there in the world, that want to harm you. Shooting is not always the solution however and it is not a sign of weakness to withold fire. It can be a sign of strenght as well.
In the end it might be only your friends you loose.... and 100.000 Iraki's that lost their lives, countless Americans and more Sudanese than I can count.

What good does it do?

A uniter is someone that wins hearts not gives you a false sense of security, by only showing you scary stories, - not believing them himself - just watch this drive.

So. If you are the occupying force in a country, you are responsible, you own it. You might remember that there was quite some outrage about the looting at the time, all the way back in April and May of last year.

So why did this come out now?
The IASA was not allowed to go back into Iraq after March 2003. Bush wanted to have his own people, find WMD. So they didn't know, if the stuff was gone. So who told the public?
It was the Iraqi government. The people Bush put in place that told the world, that this was gone. They were concerned. Alawi told the world, the looted HDX is killing Americans.

So if you are blaming anyone for the relase of the data before the election, blame the Iraqis.

And anyway. Isn't it better it comes out before the election rather afterwards avoiding a Nixonian situation?

Beautifully fotographed flip-flops

Flip flop

thank you AngelHill

I liked 8 Mile

Not the biggest fan of Eminem but this is funny, moving and inspirational.

Although I still don't like his music really, but it does have a hymnal repetitativeness which is very good.

I like Juan Cole's take he also has the lyrics

Only comment necessary on the last presidential campaign debate

‘‘Where people often get lost is on this very point,’’ he said after a moment of thought. ‘‘Real faith, you see, leads us to deeper reflection and not — not ever — to the thing we as humans so very much want.’’

And what is that?

‘‘Easy certainty.’’

via Atrios

Kerry for President

It seems to be it is the time for endorsements, and I don't want to be left behind.

Yes, the handoracle is endorsing Kerry for President. It took me a while. But since the only positive I was able to find about Bush was printed on 52 playing cards. with this being my favourite so far I am left with having to look closer again at the other candidate.

So far my worry was: a Democrat would have to be much tougher on defense than Bush can be, because he would feel to be in a situation where he can prove that he can out-cheney the Repugs.

But then I watched the second debate and read this article in the times: Kerry's Undeclared War and I realised that he would be as bad. so what.