Midwest Eye Conference

I leave tomorrow for the weekend Midwest Eye Conference in Oklahoma City, where a group of veterinary ophthalmologists and some veterinary pathologists will gather to discuss cases, swap jokes and eat cowboy food. In fact, the entire theme of the conference is The Cowboy. Well, what else is there to do in Oklahoma City? Although I normally don't like it when people put clothes and such on their pets (sorry Mr Ether), the dog above was irresistable. I even put the photo in my talk, whic describes a rare, weird eye tumor of dogs. I mean, you can only look at tumors for so long, right?



The above photo shows a cross-section through an eyeball, which was mounted on a microscope slide and stained. This eye contains an example of the weird tumor but without those cool little arrows, I can't really point them out. But thought I'd show that I wasn't just going to enjoy the nightlife in Oklahoma City.

A big thrill for me, personally, will be a private and free tour of the Museum of the American Cowboy. I can hardly wait. I'll have to remember to bring my camera. I'm wondering if this is the museum where they have Roy Roger's horse, Trigger, stuffed and mounted. Or was it Roy himself? Guess I'll find out soon enough. And the possiblity for tacky postcards is almost too much to contemplate.

Kissing the President

Published on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 by CommonDreams.org

by David Cook

Thomas Graham is a soldier from north Georgia who went to Baghdad to fight Iraqis and terrorism. On a hot July day last summer, during his second tour of duty, a bomb exploded on the road he was traveling, killing two of his fellow soldiers immediately. Graham, back home in the States, is now no longer an able-bodied soldier fighting terrorism. He is missing part of his body. Disabled and currently unemployed, Graham wakes up every morning with prosthetic limbs where his feet and legs used to be.On his flight back to the US, before his mother gave up her job to spend months with him at Walter Reed Hospital, Graham and his fellow soldiers were greeted with a surprise guest waiting for them on the tarmac. It was their president, their commander-in-chief, their leader, and as the plane landed, President Bush greeted his soldiers, shaking hands and making small talk with his troops returning home.

At one point, he even leaned down and kissed the shaved head of Thomas Graham. Graham, according to the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, got a laugh out of the kiss. “I thought that was pretty funny,” he said.

I believe this kiss is the kiss of Judas, a tragic betrayal and warped perversion that leads us to believe that it is this president who may bestow blessing and healing upon his soldiers. The day must come when the president and all the war-makers must stoop upon the ground, with the knees of their pin-striped suits dirty in the mud, and beg for forgiveness, blessing and healing, cursing themselves for ever thinking they had the authority to grant this upon others.

In other words, we need the soldiers to kiss us.

The kiss symbolizes a blessing of sorts, and in our patriarchal and hierarchical society, it is always those at the top of the ladder, living in the high-rises, working in white houses and pentagons, that do the kissing, that impart blessing. It is the same dynamic that creates and wages war, an anti-democratic system where the bugles are blown from Washington, yet the bodies are buried in poor country, USA.

Where are Thomas Graham’s feet and legs, after all? They are lost, somewhere, on the ground, in a ditch in the desert, a symbol for the millions of Americans who are disenfranchised, destitute and dehumanized.

Gay Americans, homeless Americans, minority Americans, these Hispanic-Americans we call ”illegal”, these are the people to whom we need to drop on bended knee, with head bowed, and ask for their kiss, ask for their blessing. The oppressed, not the oppressors, grant the blessing, and as the radical tomes of liberation theology proclaim, God’s favor rests on the downtrodden, not the mighty.

The presidents and war-makers will soon lose their legs and feet as well, their blood-stained house of cards bound to collapse. Yet in their place, we must nail down the foundations of true democracy, and cast away the damnable illusion that electing leaders and, as Thoreau said, resigning our conscience to those in Washington is proper civics. We must begin to look down, not up, to find our heroes, to find those worthy of bestowing a blessing upon the lot of us.

It is the height of folly and arrogance to bend low to kiss the disabled, injured, aching soldier.

We need them to bless and forgive those of us who take their legs from them.

David Cook is a teacher and journalist out of Chattanooga, TN, working through a master’s degree in Social Justice. He has written for the Times-Free Press for four years and currently writes for the Chattanoogan.com.

Dad Birthday

My dad would've been 82 today. Perhaps if he hadn't smoked at least a pack a day for 50+ years, he'd still be around. I wish he'd known my Poodledoc, Jr better. He would have liked my dog. But he died on my birthday in 2002.

He grew up on a farm south of Omaha, NE, the youngest of 5 kids. He had a pony and several dogs that he cherished. In high school, he contracted polio and spent a number of months in an iron lung. He worked hard at his physical therapy and recovered. Then graduated from high school in 1944. The Navy drafted him immediately, even though he'd spent all that time with polio, and sent him off to the middle of Idaho to get trained. I guess there was a lake there, or something. Then they realized that he was still too weak from polio, and after three weeks of "doing nothing but card-playing", sent him back home to work on the farm. This left him as one of the few remaining young men on the "home front". Since there was such a farm labor crunch, they'd "obtain" German POW's to work the farm. Sit at the table and eat. Eat lots.

Anyway, I miss him. He tried to be the best dad he could be to me. He drove taxi cab and one of my fondest memories was as a boy, about 8 years old, riding along with him on Friday nights.

Kenya ethnic clashes intensify

Kenyan troops have moved into the town of Naivasha in the western Rift Valley province in an attempt to quell tribal fighting.
But hundreds of people from rival tribes, wielding machetes, clubs and rocks, confronted each other on Monday on a main Naivasha road.
Katee Mwanza, the district commissioner, said at least 22 people were killed in the Naivasha area in ethnic clashes over the past two days. Police said a least five of those were burned to death in their homes.
Naivasha, a major commercial centre, is known as Kenya's flower capital.

Kenya has been swept by ethnic violence triggered by a disputed presidential poll last month.

Escalating violence

The death toll from a month's violence now stands at nearly 800, while at least 260,000 have been displaced since December 27.

In the normally peaceful Rift Valley town of Nakuru, a mortuary worker said on Monday that 64 corpses were lying in the morgue, all victims of the past four days of ethnic fighting. (see my friend John's blog for more photographs and information)
Violence in the Rift Valley

The police also clashed with rioters in the western city of Kisumu.

A stronghold of Raila Odinga, the opposition leader, demonstrators set several shops on fire, barricaded roads and lit bonfires across the city, witnesses said.

Police responded by firing in the air. Hundreds of people, meanwhile, fled to the city's central police station to escape the riots.

"We are trying to restore law and order in the towns," a police commander told AFP news agency. "The situation is tense at the moment."

While ethnic clashes have accompanied past Kenyan elections, the scale of the violence this year has been far worse.

It has mainly pitted ethnic groups which support the opposition because they feel marginalised, against the Kikuyu tribe of Mwai Kibaki, Kenya's president.

New twist

But the violence has taken a new twist in recent days.
Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kenya, said: "Whereas, in the first place it was opposition supporters attacking those perceived as government supporters based on their ethnic identity, we are now seeing revenge attacks.

Human rights groups say that the latest fighting is premeditated, with those involved being trained and paid.

Muthoni Wanyeki, the executive director of the independent Kenya Human Rights Commission, told Al Jazeera: "What happened in the Rift really was organised militia activity.

"We have some of the names of training camps, we have some of the names of pay masters [but] we are still trying to trace the line of command."

She said several organisations had warned of an expected spike in violence, after militias began reorganising.
Wanyeki also called on the government to bring security to temporary camps set up for the thousands of people who fled their homes to escape the violence.

"They are still not secure," she said. "The state seems to have surplus of forces to stop people from holding rallies in Nairobi, but not have enough forces to protect the remaining camps in the Rift Valley, which is ridiculous."

Annan mediation

The ethnic dimension to the violence has further complicated the efforts of Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, who is trying to mediate and end the crisis.
Odinga, the leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), who ran against Kibaki in December's election, alleges that vote rigging robbed him of the presidency.
Kibaki has said he is open to direct talks with Odinga, but that his position as president is not negotiable. Odinga says Kibaki must step down and new elections are the only way forward.

Annan met Odinga on Sunday at a hotel in Nairiobi, on the sixth day of his tour of Kenya.
On Saturday, Annan said he saw "gross and systematic human rights abuses of fellow citizens", after visits to parts of the Rift Valley.
However, his effort to end the turmoil has been undermined by the continuing violence.

Annan arranged a symbolic first meeting between Kibaki and Odinga on Thursday, but an initial signal that the opposing leaders were willing to talk was later undermined when they returned to their hardline positions.
Many Kenyans are doubtful that mediation will help.
A poll by Nation Media, the country's largest newspaper group, had only 51.6 per cent of 2,000 respondents believing Annan can resolve the crisis.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Brief Thoughts on Being a Leader

I've been known to ask the question: "Where are the leaders of today?" My thinking is, where are the Martin Luther King's, the Gandhi's, etc Sometimes I truly feel lost. I need guidance. I understand the question. I was prompted by a friend's excellent post this morning to verbalize a new answer to the question posed above. The answer is that if just ONE person is inspired or changed for the better by your example, YOU are a leader. When I consider all my friends and acquaintances, for example, and just make a list of the things they do and say, I am awed. I feel hopeful They lead. No, I don't worry that they don't win primaries in South Carolina, speak to huge crowds, give millions to the poor, etc. I mean, that might be nice, but it comes down to the individual. When I wait for someone to come along and lead me, I feel stagnant, cynical and sometimes angry.

So I look around. There are abundant examples of people leading. Teaching passionately in the classroom. Working at a soup kitchen. Fighting for housing. Giving someone on the street $10. Meditating or praying to make a positive change in one's inner self. That peace that comes from within radiates out. Others see it. Others feel it. Other people are moved to act. Not out of a guilt of "not doing enough", a feeling I know well, but out of a feeling that they can make a difference. They probably won't make the front page or be on TV, but I need to remember these people and what they do. It brings me strength as I watch them bring their gifts into the world. I know these are not exactly new ideas, but it helps me to write them down. Thank you friends!

Poodledoc, Jr Meets Jethro Tull

One of the delights of having a child, other than doing math homework together, is sharing music. Now I know the time is fast approaching when basically any music I like Jr will think just plain sucks. So.............I'm doing my best to educate him to old time rock and roll. Now, for me, "old time" means the late 60's and early 70's. I've gotten him to enjoy groups like Yes, King Crimson, and now..........Jethro Tull. Perhaps I find joy in the irony that these guys (well, actually just Ian Anderson, lead singer and flute player) are still around, playing music, at MY age! Imagine that!




One thing I like about Jethro Tull was their ability to mingle the sinister, the darkness with the light. They are often able to "play" with that tension. Like the cover of Aqualung, which always held a grim fascination with me.....

I'll close with the lyrics to Poodledoc, Jr's current favorite Tull song, Locomotive Breath. You can draw your own conclusions as to what it's about.

In the shuffling madness
of the locomotive breath,
runs the all-time loser,
headlong to his death.
He feels the piston scraping
steam breaking on his brow
old Charlie stole the handle and
the train won't stop going
no way to slow down.
He sees his children jumping off
at the stations - one by one.
His woman and his best friend
in bed and having fun.
He's crawling down the corridor
on his hands and knees
old Charlie stole the handle and
the train won't stop going
no way to slow down.
He hears the silence howling
catches angels as they fall.
And the all-time winner
has got him by the balls.
He picks up Gideons Bible
open at page one
old Charlie stole the handle and
the train won't stop going
no way to slow down.

Quaker Middle School Social: January '08

Another fun Quaker Middle School Social was held tonight at the home of Sonja, Rick, and Lianne Burnson. Much pizza was made and consumed by the youth (and by us grown-ups as well). Thanks to Rick for the excellent crusts and to the Burnson's for their wonderful house and kitchen. After pizza, games were planned. I liked all the laughter and how the group seemed to stick together, seemingly very cohesive whle they were laughing. When I left, it looked like this would be another night to remember among the Madison Monthly Meeting Middle Schoolers.......