The Nature of Things

The Taliban first came to my notice, and that of most Westerners I suspect, when they were doing their best to destroy the culture of Afghanistan, particularly as it allowed any freedom and independence at all for women. Then, of course, there was the episode of them destroying the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan because they could not tolerate such a concrete expression of another faith or way of thinking. Later, much later, I read Khaled Hosseini's novels about that period in his homeland and shed tears for the stupidity and injustice that ruled that society and especially that made women's lives as hard as possible. In recent years, I've been appalled as I've watched the growth of the radical right in my own country and have recognized in them much the same attitudes as observed and read about from afar in Afganistan. And now, Markos Moulitsas, the proprietor of the political website, Daily Kos , has written a book which details some of the similarities between the two m...

In just about another 36 hours, August will end. It will almost certainly (unless we get a sudden unexpected Arctic blast) be the warmest August on record for Houston and this area. By my records, we've only had three days where the temperatures have reached 100 degrees or above and we have had other Augusts where we've had more above-100 days. The reason that this month has been so much hotter is because the increased greenhouse gases hold the heat in at night and the earth cannot cool off. We've had very warm nights this August and that has tilted the record. A front page article in the Houston Chronicle by science writer Eric Berger explained all of this today, but his article ended on the depressing note that public opinion is still divided on the issue of global warming and unwilling to do anything about decreasing the human-created greenhouse gases that are heating up our world. In fact, in this part of the world, public opinion is not closely divided at all. I...

You can see the grains of pollen on the wings of this Gulf Fritillary butterfly as it visits a hibiscus blossom. It will deliver this pollen and pick up more as it visits other blossoms on the shrub. It's important that the pollen be delivered today because the hibiscus blossom only remains open for one day.

We are in the middle and nearing the peak of Ruby-throat Hummingbird fall migration here in Southeast Texas. These little birds are very territorial and have a downright curmudgeonly nature that belies their gorgeous appearance. They are normally solitary creatures and do not tolerate others of their kind. The females even go so far as to opt for single motherhood, building the nest, laying the eggs and caring for the young on her own while the male goes on his merry way. In late summer and in autumn, as wave after wave of the birds that have spent their summers farther north wing their way south, they encroach on established territories and battles ensue. Hostilities never cease. The War of the Hummingbirds is never ending. Right now there are five or six of the birds contending over my half-acre yard. There are birds of both sexes and all ages here. This is the adult female that nested in my yard this year and raised her young here. She loves these blossoms of the flame acanth...

What is it about August that makes many ordinary Americans lose what common sense they may possess? Last August we had the town hall screamers, the people who shouted down any attempt to talk sense to them about the Health Care Reform bill. The year before that, we had the "birthers" who attended political rallies during the presidential election campaign and loudly proclaimed that Barack Obama was not born in this country and that he was a Muslim to boot. Now, this August we have the anti-Muslim shouters, the people who don't want a mosque built in New York City, even though the elected representatives of the people there have approved the building. For that matter, they don't want a mosque built anywhere. Tennessee, too, is apparently too close to the destroyed World Trade Center. (On the other hand, the fact that there is a Muslim prayer room in the Pentagon which was also attacked on September 11, 2001 seems to bother no one. Go figure.) It seems a remarkabl...

Do you live in a dying city? 24/7 Wall St. is out with a list of ten U.S. cities which it says are dying. No doubt all of these cities have problems related to the economy and, in some cases, to their location, but I think most citizens of them would say that reports of their deaths are exaggerated. Here's what 24/7 said about cities that it believes are on life support: 1. Buffalo In 1900, Buffalo was the eighth-largest city in America. It was located on one of the busiest sections of the Erie Canal, the terminus of the canal on the Great Lakes. Thanks to its location, Buffalo had huge grain milling operations and one of the largest steel mills in the country. Buffalo prospered during WWII, as did many northern industrial cities. After the war, the manufacturing plants returned to the production of cars and industrial goods. The population rose to more than 500,000 in the mid-1950s. It is half that today. Buffalo was wounded irreparably by the de-industrialization of America. ...

I am not a big fan of Ron Paul. Indeed, many of his ideas and much of his philosophy just seem wrong to me. But at least one can say that he appears to be intellectually honest which is more than you can say for many on the right. (Yes, I'm talking about you Newt Gingrich, Mitch McConnell, John McCain, John Boehner, etc., etc., etc.) Paul has now proved his intellectual honesty once again with his statement regarding the Islamic center to be built in New York, about which so many of his fellow travellers have their knickers in a twist. Paul came out with the strongest, most coherent, and unequivocal statement that I have seen or heard in support of the building of the center and his reasoning is firmly based in his political philosophy. He said in part: "The debate should have provided the conservative defenders of property rights with a perfect example of how the right to own property also protects the 1st Amendment rights of assembly and religion by supporting the build...