It’s a bit odd someone would study this, but they did.
German scientists looked for traces of cocaine on Euro notes.
I’m not clear on what the results mean, and why were most of the contaminated bills from Spain?
Ibidem has an amazing peice up on the Spanish Inquisition….one of those pieces that takes historical facts and debunks fundamentalist claims. I suspect the people that could benefit from reading this perspective won’t though.
connexions has followed through on this weeks featured flame war with some very solid and humbling posts. I find myself doubting that people that took swipes at others will bother attempting to enter into open discussion. It would be nice to be wrong about my skepticism.
I got irked yesterday. Actually irked. Not over the story, but over a few initial re-actions to the story in the comments section at Cre8d. Is life that rule based and rigid that we have lost our ability to tolerate someone’s exploration and wonder? Maybe some commenters were speed-reading. If they were, that’s sad.
Something Mark Byron said in my comments section this week, has tugged and tramped through my mind, and I don’t know where it’s going.
Two definitions of liberal, Chris. With a small l in a 19th century application, it meant taking power away from the aristrocary and giving it to the people; that makes them 21st century conservatives, unlike the people who want to take power from people and give it to the government, which is what we call liberals in North America. PM Howard is a 19th century (or classic) liberal.
I had the misfortune of being labelled this past year by pundits whose purpose in blogging is to explore US politics. Precisely. Nuance, inference and subtle are not allowed, like they would be in face to face conversation. Being right takes precedence. I think there are times to be meekly right, and times to give way.
I’m far from the only one who has had to step back, take some deep breaths and remind myself that the blogosphere is way too big, unique and diverse to allow myself to be stung by narrow politically oriented labels and rigid dismissal. I can’t apologize because a thought connects with my heart. I think that merely makes me normal. Yeah, I don’t know where this is going yet.
BuzzMachine is following Iranian and Iraqi bloggers closely, and the raw humanity in the posts is stunning.
Bells palsy is a condition that causes the facial muscles to weaken or become paralyzed. It’s caused by trauma to the 7th cranial nerve. It’s an event in someones life, that can occur suddenly or over a few weeks, and last up to a year. A percentage of sufferers will have a re-occurance.
LivingRoom shares his story…The day my face stopped working.
A bit of imagination can be quite fun. (post-25.06.03)
Greetings,
It´s funny you say that about the euro bills and cocaine. Do you know this is a continuing story? It´s something that periodically comes out, and yes Spain for some reason is always high on the list of dirty euro notes. It might be that it wasn´t until recently that cocaine was really looked down on. When I first came to Spain 14 years ago, it was everywhere. You went to a party, to the bar, and people would be snorting up. Relatedly, on “softer” drugs the laws are also a bit bizarre. You can smoke and hold hash or pot in front of a cop, and nothing will be done. Since the law is written that it punishes only those who buy and sell, not those who use. I´ve seen this on several occassions, and it always struck me, as well, strange?
That said, things have changed, but the mafias often use Spain´s tobacco smuggling connections to enter the drug into Europe. So maybe that answers your question?
Anyway, thanks for the very nice plug!
Cheers
Thanks Jesus….the newspaper article sure didn’t give any insight. Blog on!
Bene, I’m sorry that you got labeled as a result of someone’s quest for manipulation. Labeling can be an ugly thing.
Hi Rich: A Texas sized apology for something you don’t do…want to be a honorary Canuck? :^)
First though, would you take take some of this hot weather back, please?
….it’s pretty silly for any blogger from any country to slap their political labels on others to promote their agenda.
I have pretty good boundaries Rich, most of the labels slide right off as they should.
My problem is making allowances, being respectful and not getting royally piffed when others get wrongfully labelled or stung too. I’m wondering if that’s where these thought’s are tugging me. I don’t know yet.
If I said to you I couldn’t care less if you were a Democrat or a Republican, and that made me less of a Christ-follower in your mind, wouldn’t that be the height of pathetic? Blog on!
Wow, when I clicked over to your site, I sure didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition…*knock knock knock*
“NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquistion!!!!”
Sorry, had to go there… :^P
Bene, I already explained over at Rachel’s why I reacted negatively to the story. I personally was sensitive to the nuances in the story portraying a demanding God who was never satisfied no matter what the people did for Him. I grew up with a father like that and it has been a journey of unlearning conditioned responses, a journey of consciously preventing myself from superimposing the image of my earthly father onto my Heavenly Father.
I didn’t like God being misrepresented as a whiny person who keeps on saying, “Pay attention to me!” and “Bring me flowers once a week, remember to ask how my day was, and oh, I’d like jewellery or chocolates on our anniversary.” I didn’t see a God who loves us, I saw a self-centred, egocentric God who cared only about himself.
That’s why I reacted so strongly against the story. If it’s any consolation to you, I got lambasted for my own story as well (see the comments section):
http://www.ireneq.com/mt-archives/000281.php
I just can’t win, eh?
Hi Irene: You did explain :^)
I understand about demanding earthly fathers.
I am sorry you were labasted for your story.
Blog on!