Limbaugh Disrespects Chinese

Chinese character for Spring

CHINA ENTERS THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT



Rush Limbaugh, he of the golden microphone and chairman of all things looney, tried out his Chinese on his radio program last month. It just happened to be the day President Hu Jintao of the People’s Republic of China visited the United States.

Limbaugh said: “When I hear Chinese or Japanese, it sounds like all the same word. And I can't comprehend anybody understanding it."

Then he began squawking a string of noises that were his idea of what Chinese sounds like. It was as far from any language sounds known to man. It was an embarrassment to everyone but the man spouting it. The man now Senator Al Franken called Rush Limbaugh “a big fat idiot,” in his 1996 book of the same title.

Spoken and written Chinese is far older than any of the varieties of today’s English. It is easier to learn and far more beautiful to be made a parody. Limbaugh, never known to apologize for anything, may think it is satire, but his remark and attitude is the lowest burlesque, lampoon spoof.

When anyone refers to “Red China,” you know they are not knowledgeable and still fear “the yellow peril” which was so prevalent during the late 19th century. It was the West’s fear of the mysterious, unknowable Orientals. (At the turn of the 20th century such fear of the Chinese and Japanese was just as misguided as the fear of Muslims today.)

Feb. 3, 2011 is the first day of the Chinese New Year. The Year of the Tiger is leaving us and the year of the Rabbit is here. Twelve year cycles represented by an animal has been a tradition in China for thousands of years. It is estimated our year of 2011 is the Year 4708 by the Chinese Calendar.

The Chinese New Year begins on the second New Moon after the winter solstice. It is based on astronomical observations, making it easy to calculate backward or forward for thousands of years.

It is really the only holiday for everybody. It is a time to honor the household and heavenly deities. It is also a time to honor their ancestors.

In 1912, with the birth of the Republic of China (now on Taiwan) the Western calendar was recognized as the formal beginning of the year. But the traditional Chinese New Year continued with a new name – Spring Festival.

In preparation for the lunar New Year, cleaning house and yard were meant to appease the gods who would be coming down from heaven to make inspections. (See more about this in my book, “Lao She, Master Storyteller.”)
People posted scrolls printed with lucky messages on household gates and set off firecrackers to frighten evil spirits. Elders gave out money to children.

In the 1580s, Italian Matteo Ricci and some Jesuit missionaries brought the western Gregorian calendar to China. Beginning in 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong (1893-1976), head of the Chinese Communist Party and founder of the People’s Republic of China, stopped the celebrations of the traditional Chinese New Year. There was little food or joy to celebrate anyway until his death. In 1996 the Spring Festival became a weeklong vacation. In the old days it was a month long celebration.

As with all things the Spring Festival’s traditions have changed with the opening to the West and the coming of color television. It is a time when more attend operas, eat out, but still visit family and friends.
We observed the celebration many times in Taiwan and Hong Kong back half a century ago. I am glad we got a taste of the old as well as the new. With the growth of Chinatowns in America (even Houston has street names in Chinese characters as well as English in the western suburbs), it is time for Americans to re-think their attitude and understanding of peoples of the world.

This past couple of decades has been a year of better understanding between the Chinese from Taiwan and those from the Mainland. Now, let’s have more of that on the government sides, Taiwan, China and the United States. Happy New Year of the Rabbit.

--30—

Britt Towery, local resident, spent 35 years in Asia, His e-mail: bet@suddenlink.net

Bachmann heads off Palin

Thoughts on ladies of the right

Few girls that can hold a candle to half-term Alaska governor Sarah Palin, but there is one who is catching up. Not the Nevada women who wanted to settle problems using the Second Amendment. Not the one who wanted to use chickens to pay doctors like in the old days. Not the one who claimed she was not a witch.

Not Michelle Malkin (née Maglalang) the American conservative blogger and political commentator, though she backs any person who ever misspoke. President Barack Obama is not her favorite leader of the free world. All these ladies get time with Shawn Hannity because of his softball questions.

(In advance of Sarah Palin’s interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Slate’s David Weigel proposed a new definition to the neologism “Hannitize”: “to clean up a messy situation with a softball interview.” Hannity is the go-to interviewer for right-wing women and men following a scandal or controversy.)

But the one character that is doing her best to “out do” Ms. Plain and take over the spotlight of ego-driven politicians is Representative Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., the de-facto promoter of one of the Tea Party groups.
Ms. Bachmann claimed in a speech last month that she left the Democratic Party and became a Republican because she was horrified by the portrayal of the Founding Fathers in Gore Vidal's 1973 historical novel “Burr.” "I reached out to the 85-year-old author. Called the novel a “snotty book,” she said.

Gore Vidal’s portrait of our Founding Fathers in “Burr” is a historical novel. It emerged during the mayhem of the Civil Rights Movement; controversy over the War with Vietnam; followed closely by President Richard Nixon’s resignation. It was a time when the government’s image was one few trusted. Vidal said it was that way with the Founding Fathers. They were human just as we are, filled with jealousies, agendas and disgust of one another. This surprised some readers but not to the extent it seems to have had on Ms. Bachmann in her Freshmen college experience.

She boasts of how that trashy book by Gore Vidal made her storm out of the Democratic Party and unite with “God’s Own Party.”

Not so very much longer through an assistant, Vidal offered a written statement in response to Ms. Bachmann tirade. He wrote her: "She is too stupid to deserve an answer."

I have yet to hear Ms. Bachmann’s thoughts on Michelle Obama, but the right-wing media attacked the First Lady for wearing a red dress to the White House State Dinner last week. It was their opinion Ms. Obama wore a read dress to, honor "Commie Red China." The right wing has a history of seeing political messages in Michelle Obama and other administration figures' attire.

Some of Ms. Bachmann’s best, listed by various writers, are: Sen. Harry Reid is trying to get kids gambling early. There is an African American genocide going on in this country. Her extreme love of Mountain Dew is weird.
Ms. Bachmann earned CNN's "Wingnut of the Year" title for all the inane things she said in 2009, especially this Sean Hannity-enabled quote: "Where tyranny is enforced upon the people, as Barack Obama is doing, the people suffer and mourn." She went on to declare President Obama is in bed with terrorists. Her paranoia runs deep.
And the folks of her Minnesota district keep on re-electing her to Congress. I always thought Minnesotans were elegant and neat like the Garrison Keller.

Now she is making plans to run for president in 2012. I wish her well, it will be entertaining on the campaign trail to hear more of her astute perceptions on how to save America.

This is a good time to add a bit of levity to this week’s opinion piece. My old buddy, Dr. George R. Wilson, Jr., former president of the Hong Kong Baptist Theological Seminary, sent me a birthday card that was probably written with me in mind: “You’re not really old till you pick up the remote control --- hold it to your ear and wait for the dial tone.”

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U.S. Constitution ratification book

Ratification of the U.S Constitution

The making a Constitution for the United States of America traveled and travailed through the 13 original colonies, 1787 to 1788. The individual states worked on hundreds of drafts, proposals and revisions before they molded what we have today.

The meetings were not closed door discussions or backroom huddles of a few. In every state the conferences were open to the public to hear what the elected delegates discussed. These were not like the off-the-wall “town hall meetings” of last summer. In 1787 there were no political parties.

After a year of meetings, each state voted for or against ratification of the document. That took time also, for a letter from Richmond to New York City could sometimes take two weeks.

Americans are showing an increased interest in the U.S. Constitution. Most of the talk is among extremist, left and right . There are those who want a “return” to the Constitution’s original intent. This desire by some to understand the original intent of the 18th century is a good thing. But we do not want to return to the original aims.

“Restoring” this nation to its original aims would not answer today’s problems.

Going back is not the answer to anything. Such reverse thinking cannot restore our liberties. Mainly because our liberties are still as vibrant as in the original days. It is not as simple as restoring a Rembrandt. Restoring a work of art brings out the color and brush strokes. Restoring words of an ancient written document, replacing or rephrasing 18th century ideas with 21st century, would be the beginning of the end.

Andreas Teuber of Brandeis University writes: “The Constitution is open to interpretation, after all, it does not wear its meaning on its face, … The series of commentaries it has generated rival the voluminous studies on the Bible and the Talmud as well as those on the most commented upon of all texts, the plays of William Shakespeare.”

What is unique about the American Constitution and what distinguishes it from its European counterparts is that it was, in Thomas Paine's famous definition: "not the act of a government, but of a people constituting a government."

Exploring interpretive maneuvers of a “return” to the original is not wise nor practical. Could it not be true that the authors wrote it in such a way that their original intentions would not determine its meaning?

Possibly the Framers drafted the text in such a way as to leave little trace of their concrete proposals or substantive intentions. This could be part of the special and enduring feature of the Constitution. The document is not a God-delivered or ordained sacred record.

Our country and government are still, after all these years, a surprise to much of the world. It looked to the 18th century man as an experiment with little hope of working. No one, especially the British, saw it as a few peasants trying out an unheard and unwieldy system. The kings and queens of Europe saw their divine right as kings and queens in danger.

A new, detailed book on the events of 1877-1878 is by MIT history professor Pauline Maier. The book is fascinating reading filled with the drama, pros and cons of those men who are unknown to history. Her book, “Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788” is a good addition to American history.

The Prologue to the U.S. Constitute is pure poetry: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.”

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With apologies Pastor Bumpus

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT.

With a hoarse and sore throat and a head that felt twice its size from a month-long cold, I stayed home from worship services last Sunday

All the doctor could tell me was I didn’t have the flu. So with that assurance I stumbled on toward Christmas, wishing January would come quickly. The old wives’ tale says nothing cures a cold, just wait it out. It will be gone before the week’s out. I was longing for January as it became evident one week was not chasing away this demon of a cold.

With all the strength I could muster I turned on our television and dialed cable number three last Sunday. Jody (she caught the cold also) and I sat on our sofa and watched the 10:30 morning service from the First Baptist Church of San Angelo.

Pastor Mark Bumpus’s sermon was not just for Sunday, but for every day of the week. Like most preachers know “church” is not just a Sunday thing. Sunday only starts a week with God, if we so choose. A church visitor ask an usher “when does the service begin?” Christian service, replied the usher, begins right after the sermon.

The scripture was from the Old Testament, Isaiah 41:10. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

With apologies to Pastor Bumpus, I thought it wise to go through the week with this first 2011 column. The scripture from Isaiah has an encouraging word for every day of the week. Each day’s word:

SUNDAY, God is reminding us to not be afraid. None of us know what a day or even a week can bring, but “fear not.”

MONDAY, God explains “fear not,” by assuring us that He is our God. One of the primary teachings of the Christmas just past is “Emmanuel”—God with us, even on “blue” Mondays.

TUESDAY, do not be worried, anxious or troubled about events near and far, for once again God is ever-present. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He is even closer when trouble rears its ugly head.

WEDNESDAY, He assures us of the fact He is still with us in the middle of the week. “I am your God!” means we are in a personal relationship, not some spiritual “feeling.” You can’t go so far that He is not there.

THURSDAY: “I will strengthen you!” If ever a sentence demanded an exclamation point, it is this one. “Wait upon the Lord, who renews your strength” (Isaiah 49:31). America, like Israel, should know God is our strength, not a strong military.

FRIDAY, God is not just a spectator, but the only reliable one to help us. We need lots of help as the week ends, for often find our work is not finished. He helps us when under pressure.

SATURDAY, not only is there strength and help in time of need, but His righteousness is always underneath. His righteous right hand keeps us from wandering. We will not slip through his fingers.

For the many who are facing unemployment; death of a loved one; fear of death itself; disappointment in others; loved ones in prison or twisted with doubts: remember that God has not forgotten you.
“Let shadows come, let shadows go, let life be bright or dark with woe; I am content, for this I know, Thou thinkest, Lord, of me.”

I’ve read many 19th century newspapers. A majority of them printed a local sermon each week. Reporters took notes and printed a summary (when short of news, sometimes the whole sermon). If well done, they informed and blessed the readers. Back in great-grandfather Argyle C. Towery’s day there was no television for the homebound. (Somewhat of a blessing in disguise.) Argyle was also great-grandfather of a Texas Pulitzer winner, Ken Towery.
For the New Year may all your sniffles and colds be little ones.

Afghan War enters 10th Year

The U.S. took an elephant gun to shoot a flea ! ! !

Another look at the Afghanistan War

The New Year of 2011 has us entering the tenth year of the U.S. military blitzkrieg-like invasion of Afghanistan continues to be a curse with no light at the end of the tunnel. The high cost in lives and borrowed money is obscene. Enough is more than enough!

The on and off forays to free a village or a valley against the Pakistan and Afghanistan Talibans only make the locals more upset with our being there. The corruption on all sides is as normal as a walk in the park.

To make these far-away peoples and their trials more human to me I went through some dusty old books for a mental trek of Central Asia. By understanding a small portion of the past they become more real to me. This present conflagration must end long before President Obama’s summer of 2014. If not, the next president might extend it to 2024.

The Central Asian experience has not made its way into Western school studies. Little of its history and literature are known in American schools except for specialists, linguist and scholars. Only in the last few years have modern translations of ancient and modern “stans” poetry become available in English.

Present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan are the best known of the six “stans” in Central Asia: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan (formerly Russian Turkistan). In the 1800s there was a Chinese Turkistan that is now the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of western China.

Afghanistan had been the center of great empires ruled by foreigners and numerous tribal monarchies. Such a history magnifies today’s difficulties of tribal differences, dialects and thought processes. Add into that mix foreign armies and total chaos results.

Afghans are Indo-Iranian, possibly originally Tajiks of the Persian race. The area only became a separate and independent state named in English by colonists as Afghanistan in 1747.

Less than three hundred years before Christ, Alexander the Great came on the scene and changed that world with his conquests. From Egypt to Persia and India he led in the eventual foundation of Greek dynasties. His Greek influence in Afghanistan waned and the Parthians arose to power and adopted the Buddhist religion.

During the 6th century the Moghul Empire out of India divided Afghanistan in two parts, India ruling Kabul and the Persians held the province of Heart.

The Arabs of the 7th century had their day in the spotlight before various Indian despots ruled much of the area. In between were the Turks and Persians who took several swings at being the potentiate. To use a poor analogy, no one got a home run.

In the 13th century the people probably thought the end of the world had arrived. The Mongols of Genghis Khan invaded most of Central Asia on their way to a bloody world conquest.

In the 19th century Great Britain was the world’s only super power. They lost to no one in their day. When it came to Afghanistan they had the ignoble honor of being massacred and driven from the country.

The last days of 1979 the Russian Soviets invaded Afghanistan attempting to make it another of their subservient satellites. Ten years could not control the Afghans and was a major reason the Soviet Union came to an end.

This is where the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War” comes into the picture. Fiction, with a few facts, it reminded us of some of the background of how the United States got involved in Afghanistan’s war with the Soviet Union. The U.S. sent money and supplies to our present enemies, which helped throw out the Soviets.

When in early October, 2001, the U.S. military, to get revenge and justice for Osama bin Laden’s crimes against humanity, began bombing the caves and valleys of Afghanistan. We took an elephant gun to shoot a flea.

Our leaving the battlefield will definitely bring on a civil war that will kill hundreds of thousands. That will happen if we leave now or fifty years from now. My study tells me Enough is ENOUGH.

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CHRISTMAS IS WHAT WE CHOOSE TO MAKE IT

WRITTEN FOR CHRISTMAS EVE Friday, Dec. 24, 2010

Christmas is what we choose to make it

As you read this it is Christmas Eve. Some are glad the whole exciting season is almost over, when, in truth, it has actually just begun.

So many distractions come every Christmas season. Every Christmas we tell ourselves it will be different this year; we’ll even attend church. Enjoy the choirs and hymns and remember it is all about the coming to earth of the Prince of Peace.

Year to year, there are those without a Christmas tree, wreath or gifts for their children. Or as in this war, loved ones unable to be together for Christmas. When it is the first Christmas without a loved one for the first time, the time can easily becomes a painful experience.

For the many who are lonely and even unhappy this Christmas, for any number of reasons, pause --- pause and reflect. At home or church, hospital or retirement home, pause – reclaiming the “now” of life instead of repeating “what if---?”

The Advent, or coming of the Christ to earth, is an event in itself. The days of preparation (after Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday) have a special meaning and preparation for Christmas. Seldom considered is the fact that day Christmas Day is the beginning, not the end, of the celebration. As a boy my mother never took the tree down until mid-January. Keeping alive the spirit of the season.

In a perfect world, after the 25th of December has passed, the parties and good deeds begin. We celebrate after, not before, the traditional event of Christ’s birth. Just as Christ brought the promise of hope, the season should be the revival of more hope for the future.

A colleague from Denmark told of his family putting up a Christmas tree or wreaths late on Christmas Eve. I identify with that custom. It announces something big and important is about to take place. The family enters the next day, thankful for the suddenness of, as well as the glory of Emmanuel, “God is with us”.

Lest this is too “sermony,” keep in mind that materialism is not going away. Don’t let commercials interfere. Think of the joy a Santa Claus means to many children. The simple poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas, helped make Christmas a commercial success. But it is also one of the most moving ditties of the season.

The commercial aspect is a significant part of the traditions of the season. Some thoughtless individuals tell us there is a “war on Christmas.” Not so! Except for disbelievers and people of other faiths, Christ is never left out of Christmas or Xmas.

My Aunt Mae Johnson was generally upset at Christmastime by the use of “Xmas” for Christmas. The use of Xmas in English is not an attempt to secularize the holiday. It actually puts Christ at the very center of Christmas.

The “X” and “P” are the first two letter of “Christ” in the Greek language of Jesus’ day. Since X in English has a different meaning and use, English speakers have mistaken Xmas as leaving Christ out of Christmas. The abbreviation Xmas expresses ideally the heart of the celebration.

John Calvin, a great 16th century Protestant reformer, was opposed to the bad things that were associated with Christmas. And there were many appalling observances in many cultures and countries. But John Calvin kept the holiday as celebration of the birth of Christ and saw it as a matter of liberty for the churches and the individual.

It is well known that the Puritans, in England and later New England, opposed Christmas. Puritan pastor Cotton Mather felt there was no biblical or historical evidence for it representing the birth of the Christ. There is no evidence, biblical or historical for a Christmas holiday. Traditions, even if tainted with myths, are what we make of them..

Christmas is what we choose to make it. Make it such a good season of peace and love that it carries on into the New Year and all the remaining years we have. Choose well.

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Towery Column for Christmas Eve, Friday, Dec. 24, 2010
(Brownwood Bulletin; San Angelo Standard-Times) (672 words)

Julian Assange Phenomenon

The WikiLeaks Phenomenon

Julian Assange, the creator of WikiLeaks, and the man most people in power hate, awaits in a London jail while the rest of us try to figure out what all the fuss is about.

Not in a long time has someone come along who believes in transparency and truth as much as this Swede and his associates. Julian Assange first released cables and notes, with some stuff blacked out, on Iraq last Spring. Pundits knew it would cause America’s work in the Middle East to crumble. Nothing happened. Just a little insight of how much our government lies and works in the dark.

The stuff Assange released on the world wide web this summer and fall really go under the skin of the Pentagon, embarrassed ambassadors, war hawks, friends and foes alike. Still the release did not set off World War III in Afghanistan. Our deadly drones, directed from Florida, keep flying raids over “neutral” Pakistan and our soldiers continue looking for the evil enemy. From sand dune to mud brick villages, rugged mountain and dangerous valleys, our volunteer military and mercenary soldiers the government calls “civilian contractors,” continue looking for Osama bin Laden---the reason we went to Afghanistan in the first place.

The Pope employs hundreds of mercenary soldiers, but calls them Swiss Guards. The French and the British did the same in their colonies. Americans call them “contractors.” Through the ages, many mercenaries have been ex-soldiers.

And it is extremely difficult to tell who is who. Like the old slur about another races: “they all look alike.” Who is the enemy? Maybe a body guard for President Hamid Karzai; a Pakistani soldier or peasant; a Taliban or just a simple goat herder; or an Afghan policeman or trainee? It is a scary place. It is a corrupt place that corrupts all involved.

Add to our soldiers dilemma, the vast majority of people in the Middle East loathe our military presence. The more devoted the war hawks are for what George W. Bush started, the more at odds they’ll be with any kind of democracy.

President Obama’s offensive of understanding each other instead of making them the enemy of the world has been successful. Before any right-wingers blow a gasket over that sentence. Read on. It was President Obama that convinced the Russians into the START treaty and for them to put more pressure on Iran. The proposed treaty is having a hard time in the Senate.

I am on record of not understanding several members of the GOP – the party of “NO”. Men in congress like Mitt Romney and Jon Kyl only enrage the Russians by doing their dead level best to sink the START treaty.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came out last week in favor of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia. She joined other Republican ex-Secretaries of State -- including Colin Powell, George Shultz, and Henry Kissinger -- in endorsing the proposed treaty.
Getting back to the uproar of Wickileaks bringing some truth out of the closet it has only begun. Julian Assange is doing what the American press has quit doing: Investigating and keeping our leaders honest.

Apparently he is threatening to out an American mega bank. Today our branches of government are controlled by the mega Banks. (Called “bankesters” by some disenchanted citizens.)

As someone said Assange is a hero of the people and for that reason alone the powerful want him stopped. A blogger wrote, “I wish George Carlin and George Orwell were alive to see this!” It was Orwell who said: “In time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

The government of Sweden called for his arrest. Two women are claiming rape. One of the women is tied to the CIA. As of this writing he was safe in a British jail, from women, offended power-brokers and some hit men.

Government goes after the whistleblower rather than the crooks.

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