Morning Coffee (17)

Doobri Dyen Tovarishchi;

Just practicing my Russian; might go there sometime... The weather is still quite nice, but I wouldn't get too used to it. It's supposed to turn for the worse Thursday. As it turns out, this might be a pretty good edition!

As much as I'd hate to feed the beast, I'm going to mention a terrorism "themed" bit today. Not too long ago, six imams were removed from a US Airways flight. At first, it seemed that maybe someone had gotten a little carried away and removed these men for no reason other than them being overtly Muslim. Today, however, a Washington Times article reports that there may be more to the incident than we were led to believe. The imams were praying loudly and shouting the word "Allah" while other passangers were boarding and then boarded the plane, sitting in a pattern associated with previous terrorist attacks (9/11) and later probes of security measures: two in the first row, front class; two in the middle of the plane (exit aisle); two in the rear of the cabin. The men also asked for seatbelt extenders, though were not oversized. They then put these extenders not on the seatbelts, but on the floor at their feet. Witnesses say that despite the imams claims, they were in fact speaking Arabic and English while criticizing the Iraq war and Pres. Bush, and spoke of al-Qaida and bin Ladin. Some of the men did not sit in their assigned seats. Each of these things individually does not warrant removal from a flight, despite public and personal fears we may have with the images of 9/11 indelibly etched into our minds. One pilot says that airlines DO in fact profile (can you believe that?). But what they profile is passenger behavior! However, when added together, I do believe, as do other pilots from other airlines, that the pilot made the correct move. It's better to be safe than sorry I think. Surely, these imams will sue, backed by the ACLU or some such group. They might even win. But the people on that plane can rest at ease - because they're still alive. And subsequent flights might also be safe because this effort, if it was a probe of security, was thwarted.

Enough with terrorism. Chicago has banned the new movie "The Nativity Story" from the local Christmas festival for fears that it might offend non-Christians. Before, when I was uneducated about such matters, I would have said that was stupid - it's a Christian holiday, thus Christian themes most definitely have a place. However, now I feel that it might indeed offend non-Christians. Namely the pagans from whom Christianity borrowed the holiday in an attempt at encouraging pagans to convert (and by encourage I mean forcibly converting). Twenty-five December wasn't officially added to the calendar as a feast day until 350 CE, although it was celebrated in Rome as early as 336 CE. Besides, anymore it's basically a holiday celebrating our new god: capitalism, not any old gods, pagan or otherwise. I suppose having the token Nativity scene in the public square makes everyone feel as though they're paying homage to their god, but we should be honest here. The whole season is merely a cash cow for industry - and the season gets longer and longer. Interestingly, Christmas has been brought up as a violation of the separation of church and state. The verdict for Ganulin v US (1999) stated that "Christmas Day as a legal public holiday does not violate…because it has a valid secular purpose." Agreed. That secular purpose it making money! Frankly, I have no problem with the whole Christian attachment to Christmas: Nativity scenes, the notion that Jesus was born on 25 December, whatever, so long as Christians acknowledge that they borrowed much of the idea and let the pagans have a little fun too (without risk of being burned at the stake - figuratively of course). Pagan cult religions Mithraism and the cult of Sol Invictus (The Unconquerable Sun) had 25 Dec as the birthdate of their gods before Christians did. Yule is a 12 day, pre-Christian winter festival celebrated by Scandinavians during which "yule logs" are lit to honor Thor. I think that it's sad that modern Christians, by and large, do not know that many of the institutions and rituals of their religion were influenced by or even borrowed directly from, many pagan rites and institutions (Vestal Virgins, the pontifex maximus). I will stop flogging this poor mule now.

Lastly, I was in error when I reported that I won all three rounds in Sunday's bar trivia. While I did technically win all three rounds, my good friend Harish may have beaten me in the last round. He was leading when he had to excuse himself during a break and failed to make it back in time to finish me off. We'll never know who would have won had it been a fair battle. But, I'll take a win however the enemy wants to give it to me.

Word of the Day: Perfidy (PUR-fuh-dee) (noun): The act of violating faith or allegience; violation of a promise or vow; faithlessness; treachery.

On This Day in History: Tehran Conference: FD Roosevelt, W Churchill and J Stalin meet in Tehran to discuss war strategy (1943). It is alleged that Stalin had such a force of personality, that Churchill actually had to consciously NOT stand up when Stalin walked into the room. This comes from the biography on Stalin by Edvard Radzynski, and I believe quotes Churchill's personal memoirs.

"When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." - Frederich Nietzsche. Indeed it does Fred.