Is Donald Trump the ISIS candidate?

No, I don't mean that Donald Trump is a supporter of ISIS.  But he is certainly doing just what ISIS wants.  His attacks on Muslims bolsters ISIS's claim that the West is at war with Islam.  The more Trump rails against Muslims in general, he helps recruit disillusioned or disaffected Muslims to join ISIS or to carry out attacks in the West.  The more attacks, the more people like Donald Trump will over-react.  The more over-reaction, the more recruits and the more attacks.

The only counter to a vicious cycle is a virtuous cycle.  Probably the best tactic is to out-Qur'an ISIS, especially considering some of their camps don't even have copies of the Qur-an.  Consider that few in ISIS even know "...and you should forgive and overlook: Do you not like God to forgive you?” (Qur’an: Surah 24, v. 22)

The Reluctant Santa

Originally published in the Northland Reader now the Reader Weekly, December 7, 2000 as "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and he's a temp employee"

Santa Claus quit in early December, 1999.  Mariner Mall called Pro Staff for a replacement.  The staff looked at each other and said, “Mel!”  I have white hair and a white beard.

The job was from noon to 6 everyday through the 23rd.  The pay was $7.50/hour.  I was not very enthusiastic but I accepted because I thought it would be an interesting experience.

When I arrived at the Mariner Mall office, I introduced myself as the Santa from Pro Staff.  Grant, the manager, took me down the back halls to the back room of an empty store.  The floor was littered and the small restroom had not been cleaned in months.  The room had two Santa suits and wigs hanging from old display stands.

I figured out the various pieces of the outfit, stripped down to my underwear, and began putting things on.  First was a stuffed front, essential for those of us with a moderate build. Next were the big red pants, and I mean big.  They must have had a 60 inch waist!  Pulling the drawstring as tight as I could, I just managed to get them to stay up over the false front. Then there was the big red coat with white, fake fur trim.  It fit well enough, not too baggy and not too tight.  To go with the coat was a wide black plastic belt.

Pro Staff had said that I should wear black shoes and I did have on a pair of black “dress” boots.  The fake boots were black, lined vinyl with white fake fur around the tops and no soles.  One’s own shoes peeked out from under the fake boots.  Running shoes definitely would not do.

Now I was ready for the finishing touches.  I have a white beard, but it is rather short and sparse so I had to use a false beard.  The supplied beard was a huge frizzy thing with a moustache that covered my mouth instead of staying above my mouth.  Since I have a fairly decent white moustache, I kept the false moustache below my mouth.  The wig was a mass of flowing hair that was also frizzy.

Almost last was a huge red hat with white trim and a white ball dangling from the top.  That hat could not be worn without the wig!  Last was a pair of gold-rimmed reading glasses.  They were smeared and I thought they would pinch and scrape my nose (did they ever?)

SantaI wended my way through the back halls to the main part of the mall.  On my way, I went past the rest rooms, and I immediately had to get into character.  As I met people in the hall, I greeted them with “Merry Christmas!”  Most people reacted with cheer and a “Merry Christmas, Santa!” From my “throne” I looked out over some fake snow to a camera on a tripod, a reflector light on a stand, and three tables in a U.

Being Santa was “easy” but boring, at least in a slow place like Mariner Mall.  I watched for eye contact from people passing by.  If they looked at me I waved and said, “Merry Christmas.”  Some people would make eye contact from thirty feet away and their faces would light up.  Others didn’t seem to notice me until they were right alongside me.  Yet others ignored me by looking straight ahead or at the store windows.

If a kid walked by I would say “Merry Christmas” even without eye contact. Some would shyly hide behind their parents; others would almost run to me.

The photos made my life harder.  Some parents were intimidated that they had to pass by the photographers’ tables to get to Santa, even if the photographers asked, “Would you like a photo or would you just like to see Santa?”  On the other hand, the possibility of photos attracted parents whose kids were afraid of Santa.  A couple of parents were almost abusive trying to get the kids to sit on my lap or even to stand near me.

One thing I didn’t like was bribing the kids with candy canes to get them to come forward or to calm down.  Aren’t they being taught not to accept candy from strangers?

On the other hand, there were the kids who came rushing up to get a hug.  I would open up my arms and give them a big bear hug, and then go into my almost robotic spiel.  “Hi, what’s your name?”  “What would you like for Christmas?” “Anything else?”  “We’ll see what we can do.”  “Would you like a candy cane?”  “Bye.  Merry Christmas.”

It wasn’t all that mechanical.  I kept my tone friendly and I would vary my “script” with questions about details, like how big a truck they wanted and what kind.  I would extemporize with things like “Everybody wants Pokémon cards.  I don’t know if the elves can print enough.” One memorable visitor was Erin, a precocious girl trying to work through her confusion of seeing Santa in different places: “When I saw you at Jubilee...”

There were three Santa substitutes who filled when I had classes at UMD and on weekends. One substitute spent two hours in the bar of the mall pizzeria before he began his shift on Sunday.  I didn’t get any details on how he behaved, but the photographers were told by their manager to just pack up.  A mall customer accosted them at the photo store accusing them of getting Santa fired. The Santa who replaced me the second weekend was moody.  He would be very friendly and open for a couple of hours then be grouchy or withdrawn. The third substitute was almost wooden.  He wouldn’t look around, he apparently didn’t relate to the kids, and he got up to take a break when there were about a dozen kids in line.

Some adults wanted to sit on my lap and I didn’t deny anybody.  My first visitor was a grandmother who had a tradition of getting her picture with Santa.  Several retarded adults were delighted to sit on my lap.  Some adults reeked of cigarette smoke.  Of course, I had to get a photo with my wife.

Almost the very last adults to sit on my lap were a reporter and cameraman from a local TV station.  I was amazed at how well I winged the interview.  Since we don’t have a VCR or a TV, I called a friend to ask him to tape it, but I only got to leave a message.  Unfortunately, his stepfather  was in the hospital and died on Christmas eve.  I later purchased a copy of the segment to watch on somebody else’s TV.

There were lots of other high points like the three or four kids who asked for “Peace on Earth.” Answer: “We’ve been working on that one for a long time.”

All in all I’m glad that I did it because of the many small rewards.  But I doubt that I would do it again.  I don’t think the sore bottom, the itchy chin, and the waiting for the next break were worth the pay.  Especially considering not much was left after I paid for the pictures, the news video, and the chocolate bars I ate on breaks.

Bombs away!

No, I don’t mean drop bombs from an airplane.  I mean bombs go away, bombs never to be used again.  Let’s get rid of nuclear weapons, drone bombers, conventional bombs, cannons, and all other weapons that indiscriminately kill bad people as well as good people.

Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?
Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?

From Bob Dylan’s web site at  http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/blowin-wind

Unfortunately, the answer is not blowing in the wind from the mouths of politicians around the world.  They blow out phrases like “defense”, “saving jobs”, and “gun rights”.

We should ask “defense of what”?  Defense of the right to tell other people how to live?  Defense from dictators?  Strange, we are allies with lots of dictators, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.  Oh, but they are “our” dictators, not “their” dictators.  Defense from Communism?  Communism as a label is all but dead.  “Communism” in China is just a label for another dictatorship that is withering away.  “Communism” in North Korea is a name for a paranoid dictatorship.  Our “defense” against North Korea only serves to feed the paranoia.

Another paranoid quasi-dictatorship is Russia.  But consider the historical reason for its paranoia.  The Mongols invaded, the French invaded, the Germans invaded twice, and now the alliance that was built as defense against the Soviet Union keeps expanding, feeding the paranoia of not only Vladimir Putin, but many ordinary Russians.  Of course, it doesn’t help the alliance that Putin’s given name contains the Russian words for lord and world.

If we are so interested in “saving jobs”, we should never have instituted Prohibition.  Think of how many bartenders, servers, distillers, and brewers lost their jobs.  Prohibition did help the gun industry, guns for both the bootleggers and for the police.

Do we want to “save jobs” at the cost of lives far, far away?  How many wedding guests should die because somebody up in the sky decided the guests were “terrorists”?  How many hospitals must be destroyed because enemy combatants were believed to be hiding there?  Interesting, the “enemy combatants” live in the country; the bombers are from a country far, far away.

I didn’t know guns had “rights”.  As far as protection in case of a terrorist attack, would more people die because some of the target group had weapons?  John pulls out a gun to shoot the terrorists.  Mary sees John with a gun in his hand and thinking he is a terrorist, shoots him.  Even the police have a hard time shooting the terrorists.  And the police get wounded and killed.  Major Hassan at Fort Hood wounded and downed a police officer who had excellent scores in marksmanship.  Her partner managed to wound Hassan enough to get him to stop shooting.

Maybe the better idea is to keep military-style weapons in armories and not make them easily available to the general public.  Many seem to have forgotten that we had armories to keep the more deadly weapons away from the general public but available to the militia in case of insurrection.

Another better idea is to use propaganda instead of bombs.

Instead of attacking Israel, Palestinian protesters should fly children’s balloons over Israel.  Each balloon would carry a slip of paper with the words of Hillel in Hebrew: “Do not unto your neighbor what you would not have him do unto you; this is the whole Law; the rest is commentary.”

Instead of burying Daesh terrorists in bomb debris, bury them in pamphlets: “...and you should forgive and overlook: Do you not like God to forgive you? And Allah is The Merciful Forgiving.” _ Qur’an (Surah 24, “The Light”, v. 22)

And of course, the “bomb them back to the Stone Age” bloviators who claim to be “Christian” should receive letters from their constituents: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” – Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 7:12

I am surprised that Iran didn’t use this latter quotation with those negotiating to stop Iran’s nuclear capacity.  All the nuclear-armed negotiators except the Chinese purport to be Christians.  If the negotiating countries didn’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons, shouldn’t Iran have proposed some schedule for these “nuclear powers” to eliminate their nuclear weapons?

Maybe the only answer is for a peace coalition to be formed in the United Nations.  It could start with countries without militaries, like Iceland and Costa Rica.  This coalition could offer a time table for the elimination of nuclear weapons, then of massive navies, then of bombs, then of armies.

Impossible?  Improbable?  Maybe!  Consider that Europe had a very vicious war, with many, many civilian deaths on both sides, seventy years ago.  The Cold War ended twenty-four years ago.  And a country divided by that war is now a major player on the world stage.

The answer my friend is blowing in your votes!

0 in 2050? 0 in 2100?

Zero nuclear weapons in 2050?  Zero armies in 2100?  Impossible?  No, but improbable.  On the other hand, if we don’t set goals, we might not even make minor steps.

I don’t think the current holders of nuclear weapons are going to make any real steps to get rid of them or even to reduce their stockpiles significantly.  What it will take is many of the non-holders to put constant pressure in the U.N. and other places to get the holders to begin reducing their nuclear arsenals.

Currently, it seems the problem is getting even worse.  Saudi Arabia is threatening to start its own nuclear program.  China is developing multiple-warhead missiles.  North Korea could get mad enough to launch a missile at somebody at anytime.  And who knows what kind of deals ISIS may be seeking?

What reduction plans are possible?

A first step might be for the biggest holders to reduce their stockpiles to the level of the next biggest holders.  This should be an “easy” step given the huge gap between the groups. 

According to estimates published by Ploughshares, the U.S. has 8,000 and Russia has 7,800 nuclear weapons.  There are 1,000 cities in the world with a population of 500,000 or more. That means that the U.S. and Russia could send over fifteen missiles to each of these cities. Too what purpose?  Who dies and why?

Worse yet, they would probably launch their missiles at cities in Europe and North America. There are less than 250 cities in these two continents with populations of 500,000 or more.  The U.S. and Russia could send over 60 missiles and bombs to each of these cities.  What do they want to do?  Watch the rubble bounce?  With this kind of ridiculous power would there be anybody left to watch the rubble bounce?

As a first step away from this madness, the U.S. and Russia should reduce their nuclear weapons to the level of the third largest nuclear power – France, which has 300 nuclear weapons.  That would be more than enough to obliterate the larger cities in North America and Europe more than twice over.

Any country with nuclear weapons can have a change in government, even “peaceful”, to a more bellicose government.  What if Israel with its 80 nuclear weapons feels that it has to react to some threat and sends nuclear weapons to several of its Muslim neighbors?  Would Pakistan, which might not be an Israeli target, then feel compelled to retaliate with its 120 nuclear weapons?  Even if Pakistan didn’t retaliate, would some of the fallout come back to haunt Israel?  The farthest Israeli target that I can think of is Tehran, less than 1,000 miles away. Winds may be westerly, but some of the fallout might drift back to Israel, really making the use of nuclear weapons a lose-lose idea.

I hope a large coalition of non-nuclear countries would continually bring up in the United Nations General Assembly the folly of nuclear weapons. Maybe if the pressure gets great enough, we might have no nuclear weapons in 2050.

Although the amount of war has not decreased, there are several areas that had major wars but now have peace.

Think of the centuries of wars in Europe: duke vs. duke, king vs. king, city state vs. city state. The King of Sweden doesn’t march to Prague.  Britain and France have peaceful relations after centuries of fighting for dominance on land and sea.  Despite Putin’s perceptions, no Knights Templar, no Napoleon, and no Kaiser or Hitler will be banging at the gates of St. Petersburg or Moscow.

There have been many wars in South America and there are still armed rebellions in Columbia and Peru, but the last war between two countries was the Cerepa War between Ecuador and Peru that ended in 1995.

The Americas have the most countries with zero active militaries – Costa Rica, Panama, and Haiti.  Iceland and Mauritius also have no active militaries.  Iceland has the smallest paramilitary with 130.  Iceland’s paramilitary includes counter-terrorism police and the coast guard.  Ironically, although Mauritius has no active military, a part that was considered part of Mauritius before independence is now leased by the United Kingdom to the United States - Diego Garcia.

You can do some of your own comparison of militaries with the Wikipedia entry “List of countries by number of military and paramilitary”.  You can order the list by any of the columns.

Ordering by “Total per 1000 capita”, North Korea outstrips all others: 308.5.  Almost a third of the population is in the military or paramilitary.  Its active military is 47.8 per 1000 capita.  Its archenemy, South Korea has 12.3, just behind North Korea’s “benefactor”, China, with 12.4. The United States is much farther down the list at 4.7, even though it has the second largest active military after China.  I could go on and on.  It just boggles the mind how many resources we as a species put into distrust of others of our own species.

Maybe no armies in 2100 is a difficult goal, but when you compare the hostilities of 2000 to the hostilities of 1900 or 1800, it is not an impossible goal.

Maybe we could start with reducing the arms trade.  And maybe the way to reduce the arms trade is with sarcastic humor.

“Micmacs” is a great slapstick movie about a bunch of misfits fighting arms merchants by exposing their hypocrisy.

The satire section of Swedish Radio’s “Godmorgon, världen”, Public Service [sic], had a wonderful piece about Sweden not selling arms to dictators.  The “prime minister” is queried about sending arms to Thailand.  He calls it a “non-democracy” because Sweden doesn’t send arms to dictators.  The interviewer then asks if Belgium is a dictatorship because Sweden doesn’t send arms to Belgium.

Hitler is gone, but Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” is still popular: “the misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress.”

This was also published in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2015-05-25 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2015/05/28/5356_0_in_2050_0_in_2100.

Augustine predicted Cheney, Putin, the Taliban, and too many others

“Thus it is that all men want peace in their own society, and they all want it on their own terms.  When they go to war, what they want is to make, if they can, their enemies their own, and to impose on them the victor’s will, and call it a peace.…Sinful man hates the equality of all men under God, and, as though he were God, loves to impose his own sovereignty upon his fellow men.”

Augustine as quoted by Elaine Pagels in “Adam, Eve, and the Serpent.

Quirky romantic thought

No greater love has a man for a woman than to give up his peace and quiet for the visit of a grandchild.

Syria: Popular opinion vs. political opinion

The comments on New York Times articles about Obama's proposal tend to be against any military action with some support for military action.  Apparently popular opinion throughout the country is against any military action.  Apparently the political leadership in Congress seems to be for military action.

Fortunately, some congresspeople are not following the political crowd.  See "Following Classified Briefings, Nolan Will 'Vote and Work Against' U.S. Attack on Syria", Rep. Rick Nolan, 2013-09-03
http://nolan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/following-classified-briefings-nolan-will-vote-and-work-against-us

I added my own little comment to "House Leaders Express Their Support for Syria Strike", Mark Landler, Michael R. Gordon, and Thom Shanker, New York Times, 2013-09-03:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
"[O]nly the dead have seen the end of war."
– George Santayana

No matter what your opinion, be sure to send email to the President, your Representative, and both of your Senators.  They might not read your email, but rest assured their staffs are putting them in pro and con "piles".

Oh, yeah!  Remember that little incident in Sarajevo?  How many millions died because of all the miscalculations?

Syria: world of laws or a world of men?

Letter to WhiteHouse.gov

John Adams put into the Massachusetts' Constitution of 1780 "a government of laws and not of men".

In 1945 the United States was a promoter and signatory of the United Nations Charter, which includes "to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace".  That is, a world of laws and not of men.

Too many times during my lifetime, almost every U.S. President from Harry Truman to George W. Bush have taken unilateral action against another government who they claimed was a threat to the peace.  Now a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has been beating the war drums to take unilateral military action against another member of the United Nations.

What happened to "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

End of letter

Be sure to send your own view on Syria to the President, your senators, and your representative.  If you are a citizen of another country, be sure to send your own view to the members of your government.

Quote of the day - Anti-war stance

"The antiwar cause has always been better served by brave dissenters like La Follette than by political chameleons like Kellogg."

"Frank Kellogg: Before peace prize he was a hawk", Oliver Steinberg, Letter to the Star Tribune, 2013-08-28

Quotes of the day - security, law, and liberty

“One is that certainty is the enemy of decency and humanity in people who are sure they are right, like Osama bin Laden and (then-Attorney General) John Ashcroft.”

“And secondly that for this country at least, given the kind of obstreperous, populous, diverse country we are, law is the absolute essential. And when governments short-cut the law, it’s extremely dangerous.”

Anthony Lewis, former New York Times columnist, Associated Press Obituary, Duluth News Tribune 2013-03-26

Similar thoughts include:

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

"He that would live in peace and at ease, Must not speak all he know, nor judge all he sees."

Attributed to or written by Benjamin Franklin, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin.

Quote of the day: Negotiate with who?

"As another defense minister, Moshe Dayan, once observed: 'If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.'”
- Bill Keller, "Chuck Hagel's War", New York times, 2013-01-20

Nuclear weapons: Mything in action

I've long felt an unease about the justification of nuclear weapons, including the nuclear umbrella over Europe and that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks saved lives.

As for the nuclear umbrella, Britain and France had their own nuclear weapons, and so why would they need U.S. nuclear weapons to prevent attack by the Soviet Union?  As far as the invasion of Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union, was it not by the same rationale that the U.S. has attacked Iraq and Afghanistan?  After the horrors of the siege of Leningrad, wouldn't any sane leader be sure to provide a big buffer between his country and the attacker?  How many times before was Russia invaded from Europe?

That is not to say the Soviet Union was a benign keeper of the peace; it wasn't.

As for saving lives, whose lives did the deaths of thousands of women and children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki save?  Invading troops?  Would not a naval blockade of a country that had a defeated navy been just as effective?  Were the bombs to bring a quick end to the war before the Soviets got involved?  The Japanese were just as aware of the possibility and ready to surrender.  It really pays to know your enemy, and too many warring countries have no clear understanding of their enemies.

For a more detailed discussion of the futility of nuclear weapons, see "The Myth of Nuclear Necessity", Ward Wilson, New York Times, 2013-01-13.

Quote of the century

"Our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is over."  Mock quote of President-elect George W. Bush, The Onion, 2001-01-18, quoted by Paul Krugman in "The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century", 2003

Quote of the day - Peace

"Peace is not something you wish for;
It's something you make,
something you do,

something you are,

and something you give away."

- Robert Fulghum -
This quote was included in the latest newsletter of Duluth Minnesota Sister Cities.

I tried to find where Robert Fulghum wrote this, but the first dozen search items gave no attribution other than the author's name.  Robert Fulghum's most famous work is "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten".

You can find his blog and other information about him at http://www.robertfulghum.com/.

BTW, I'm not as wise as Fulghum; I started school with the first grade.

Qur'an burning - Questions for Muslim protesters

Several burnings or other destruction of copies of the Qur'an have been reported recently.  Some, like the burning of the Qur'an at a Florida church were done in stupidity and malice.  Others were done thoughtlessly, sometimes ironically by those who would be very upset by a burning of the U.S. flag.

Whenever one of these thoughtless incidents occur, a story is sure to follow of a riot somewhere protesting these incidents.  What end do these protests accomplish?  They only reinforce the prejudices of those who destroyed Qu'rans.

To Muslim protesters:

Is your faith so weak that it can't take the insults of the ignorant?

How many Muslims are killed when you riot?  How much property owned by Muslims is destroyed?

Have you considered that your riots also reflect on those Muslims who are trying to lead peaceful lives among non-Muslims?  Many of these Muslims state that Islam is a religion of peace.  Are you undermining them when you protest in a non-peaceful way?

I assume every mosque has several copies of the Qur'an.

When a mosque is bombed by Muslims, often killing other Muslims, do you protest that bombing and the destruction of copies of the Qur'an?

There is enough stupidity, intolerance, and violence in this world.  Please don't add to it.

“...and you should forgive And overlook: Do you not like God to forgive you? And Allah is The Merciful Forgiving.”
— Qur’an (Surah 24, "The Light," v. 22)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule#Islam

See also "Muslims do speak out; anyone listening?"

The Perfect Gift?

Blah-blah Corp's Gift Card is the perfect gift?

A new printer/camera/smartphone is the perfect gift?

A new snowmobile is the perfect gift?

A box of nails is the perfect gift?

Perfect gift? For whom? Why? The advertisers have no idea who you are or to whom you want to give gifts.

The only perfect gift that I can think of is an end to violence all over the world. And most of us can only bring that in a tiny-tiny corner of the world.

And the only way I can give peace to you is as a wish.

"No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace!"
- Fra Giovanni Giocondo (c. 1435-1515)

If no new taxes then no new wars?

A mantra of many Republicans, thanks to the persuasive power of Grover Norquist is "No New Taxes!" As a result, even the Super Committee has not come to any agreement on lowering the national debt.

What would these same Republicans, who think action should be take against Iran, think if somebody like Martin Luther King had gotten many Democrats to sign a pledge of "No New Wars!" And the Democrats were intransigent as a large Chinese fleet was approaching the West Coast?

Well a large Chinese interest payment is leaving our shores regularly because we won't raise enough taxes domestically to fund everything politicians and constituents want.

Peace quote of the day

"All the work that Beyond the 11th has done in Afghanistan over nine years has cost less than keeping a single American soldier in Afghanistan for eight months."

Beyond the 11th is an organization founded by two 9/11 widows to help women in Afghanistan.  To read the full column, see "The Healers of 9/11", Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, 2010-09-08.

The manic depression of a soloist

I volunteered to sing Raghupati at a church service today, and I've forgotten how long I've been trying to learn it and when I set up the date, but both were months ago.

Raghupati was a favorite of Gandhi and he used it in his daily prayer service. It calls for peace between Muslims and Hindus.

When I mentioned my interest to a friend of Indian descent, he suggested today, Ganesh's birthday. Ganesh is the elephant-headed god. He also suggested I do it with a drummer friend of his.

I practiced and practiced and felt I was getting both the words and the music right. Learning Hindi, you think that must be a real problem. Not really, if I say to you "Do, re" you can finish the sequence with "mi, fa" etc. back to "do", right? So, I learn a bunch of syllables in a certain order. Raghupati is a bit easier because so many phrases are used over and over again. The only word I really know in the song is "Allah".

The hardest part is that the score I have has no rests! And the song is supposedly fast. Puff! Puff!

I met with the drummer a few weeks ago, and after about an hour of practice, she thought it was doable. She sounded a bit skeptical, but she was being encouraging. At a second practice she suggested some changes in the order of choruses and verses, mostly dropping the call and response format.

Still, I had some concerns about mixing the order or skipping phrases, and was I on key all the time. On Friday night I practiced it at our cabin. Since our cabin is only a single room, my wife couldn't escape to another room. When I sang without keyboard accompaniment, she said I was flat sometimes and sharp others. When I sung with accompaniment, she said I got all or almost all the notes right.

Hoo boy! Two days to go. I won't get much better in that time. I emailed the church music director asking if she could accompany me and the drummer. She replied she could, and I emailed her a copy of my arrangement. I left a message with the drummer about this change.

I should point out that I prefer singing from memory. I feel I make better contact with the audience than if I had music in hand and kept putting my nose in it.

The three of us met early this morning at the church and began practicing. In the first two tries I suddenly forgot what came next at one point or another. On the third try I went through it with only a small mistake or two. Now I felt a bit better and sort of relaxed.

Of course, I still kept sub-vocalizing phrases. It was very difficult for me to get the song out of my head.

A few minutes before I was to sing, I realized I couldn't connect two phrases. Fortunately, I had the music with me and made a quick check. My time came. I went to the microphone and made a small introduction. The pianist and drummer began, I sub-vocalized the introduction and away we went.

I had the congregation's attention and even noted at least one person in a meditative state. This was the conclusion of the meditation part of the service. I kept moving on through the song and noticed I was late or early a few times. The last note rang out. I put my hands together, bowed to the congregation, said "Om, shantih, shantih, shantih!" (Peace), turned to the drummer and said a garbled version of "Danyavad" (thank you), turned to the pianist and garbled "Danyavad" again. I sat down. My solo was over.

After the service, I told the pianist that I knew I was early or late a few times. She replied, "Yes, you were, but mistakes will be made." Overall though, she thought I did well. And so did the drummer. I couldn't stop thanking either for their support and encouragement.

My wife, however, pointed out that I had mistakes on some notes also. Darn perfectionist. However, another really good singer didn't notice any mistakes. But she hadn't been hearing it daily for many months.

Many other people gave me compliments and said they enjoyed it.

But the best compliment was from the friend that recommended the drummer. He organizes a Dewali service every year and would like me to do Raghupati as a call and response with even more verses! Dewali is the big Hindu winter solstice holiday though it wanders far from the solstice. Many shops have more business around Dewali than the rest of the year.

From being so depressed that I thought this would be my last solo, if I even did it, to looking forward to the next solo. What an emotional ride!

Now I'm thinking about "Un flambeau, Jeanette et Isabelle (A torch, Jeanette and Isabella)" for Christmas. I have the music and found a couple more verses on the web. Nous verrons! We shall see! At least I'll understand most of the words.

Review of a great anti-war movie

Wired.com has a very interesting review of "The Iron Giant", a 1999 animated science -fiction movie. It was a flop at the box office apparently because it didn't have enough destruction of evil. The article includes a YouTube clip of the final eight minutes.