The Second Superpower

via Dave Winer

There is an emerging second superpower, but it is not a nation. Instead, it is a new form of international player, constituted by the �will of the people� in a global social movement. The beautiful but deeply agitated face of this second superpower is the worldwide peace campaign, but the body of the movement is made up of millions of people concerned with a broad agenda that includes social development, environmentalism, health, and human rights. This movement has a surprisingly agile and muscular body of citizen activists who identify their interests with world society as a whole�and who recognize that at a fundamental level we are all one. These are people who are attempting to take into account the needs and dreams of all 6.3 billion people in the world�and not just the members of one or another nation. Consider the members of Amnesty International who write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience, and the millions of Americans who are participating in email actions against the war in Iraq. Or the physicians who contribute their time to Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres.
While some of the leaders have become highly visible, what is perhaps most interesting about this global movement is that it is not really directed by visible leaders, but, as we will see, by the collective, emergent action of its millions of participants. Surveys suggest that at least 30 million people in the United States identify themselves this way�approximately 10% of the US population. The percentage in Europe is undoubtedly higher. The global membership in Asia, South America, Africa and India, while much lower in percentage of the total population, is growing quickly with the spread of the Internet. What makes these numbers important is the new cyberspace-enabled interconnection among the members. This body has a beautiful mind. Web connections enable a kind of near-instantaneous, mass improvisation of activist initiatives. For example, the political activist group Moveon.org, which specializes in rapid response campaigns, has an email list of more than two million members. During the 2002 elections, Moveon.org raised more than $700,000 in a few days for a candidate�s campaign for the US senate. It has raised thousands of dollars for media ads for peace�and it is now amassing a worldwide network of media activists dedicated to keeping the mass media honest by identifying bias and confronting local broadcasters.

Interesting emergence type article. It is worth reading completely. Jim Moore is saying the same kind of things that Naomi Klein is getting at in Canada and Steven Johnson talked about in Emergence. There is such of thing as bottom up, self-organizing movements. We are seeing them more and more right now and will see them even more in the future.

More pro-war mail

I have been going through my daily pro-war/anti-Saddam/anti-Jordon e-mail today and something clicked, none of the people that are writing me have blogs. It makes sense, if you have your own outlet for personal opinion, you don't have to attack someone elses. A small suggestion for those hoping for a regime change at this blog. Head over to Blogspot.com and get your own. There are a plethora of warblogs out there and conservative Christian point of view is well represented. You may even find it enjoyable. I am not a conservative evangelical pastor. I don't fit those labels and haven't for a while. If you are looking for that stuff here, you probably won't find it.

Another observation is how often my own faith gets attacked. Many have doubted that I can be Christian and post the kind of things I have. I don't understand how taking a stance against war is non-Christian. I have been re-reading some of Henri Nouwen's and Thomas Merton's writings and thoughts on war and they were attacked in the same way. Merton made so many that when he died, there were rumors that it was murder. Are we seriously going to question the faith of Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen because they opposed killing others. I am always amazed how the church turns so vicious over issues of politics and policy yet turns a blind eye to AIDS, the poor, and those things that we are commanded to be worried about in the Scriptures.

The dog and the wife are conspiring against me

Both Wendy and the dog have minor spring colds right now. Either that or allergies. Whatever the problem, they are snoring enough to wake the dead. I can leave Wendy behind and sleep on the sofa but often the dog follows me downstairs. Am seriously thinking of ear plugs.

A Prayer for the War

Alan Creech pointed me to this. I thought it was moving.

CNN embeded reporter

I was flipping through CNN and saw an embedded reporter. He was talking about life on the road and living in a Hummer. He gave the impression that it was a CNN Hummer (bought from the military?). Is that right or did I misunderstand?
Whatever the case, the living conditions are horrible. I thought they had it softer than they do but I was wrong.

Media Map of Iraq

For your interest...

War and Peace and more War

I was watching some news today and was suprised at some comments by some anti-war protesters that link a war gone bad in Iraq is good for getting rid of George W. Bush. Let's leave ones feeling for W. at the door and think about the statement. A war bogged down generally involves a lot of deaths, both civiliian and military. At one time the peace movement is saying don't go to war for oil (their words, not mine) but on the other hand you would like the war to go badly so Bush's popularity will go down. This isn't a chess match but a war with Iraqui and American lives at stake. I would think you would want it to go quickly. While I am don't believe in the war, the last thing I want it to do is drag out for political reasons.

On a different topic with the war. People are blaming the Americans for underestimating the power of the secret police in Iraq. If I was an Iraqi citizen, I wouldn't be dancing in the streets either. Not because I was anti Brit or American, because who wants to be killed by some pro-Saddam martyrs. Even the Saudi papers are saying people are saying different things on and off camera. On camera they are "anti-American", off camera, they are "anti-Saddam". Historically I think of the denazification of Germany and it took years to root out. I have to think that the de-baathification of Iraq would also take years to identify and neutralize (I don't mean kill, I mean not let them kill or intimidate others) the secret police. At the same time, I wonder if the Arab world would allow the kind of time and methods that would be needed to eliminate the radical parts left over. I have this fear of a Northern Ireland type of aftermath, no matter who is running the place and I have to think that is the worst case scenerio.

Wrestlemania XIX

Watched Wrestlemania last night with John. Disappointing matches with a few exceptions (the Hogan v. McMahon one was really good. It is funny what 60 year old millionaires will do for a cheering crowd. Just glad no one died) but if one wants to know where American youth culture is, compare the entertainment at Wrestlemania (amazing and memorable) with the Super Bowl (boring and for my parents generation) with most "contemporary" churches (boring and for my parents generation)

Most interesting was how they used video. Here you have a fake event with scripted results (and yes, there is no Santa Claus) yet the video did an incredible job of creating emotional connection and a sense of history, despite the fact that for all intents and purposes it is a fake event. I doubt even Barna has ever looked at this but I have a feeling that churches reach almost no WWE viewers. Just my opinion.

Net acting funny this morning

More sites seem to be down than up. Maybe it is just Shaw.

Congratulations on Your Liberation

heh

War coverage

Okay, I hate the CBC coverage of the war and the smiley CNN anchors I find just as bad. When I want to know what is happening, I turn to BBC. I prefer the BBC reporters and the anchors. I am watching it now and they have some shots of Brit humanitarian ships coming into a port. The Canadian government hasn't wanted to get involved but as I saw humanitarian ships roll into port I realized that we had a chance to make a contribution and not be combatants. As kids sit in the streets begging troops for water, I have to think we should be there, if only bringing relief in a place that needs it.

Thomas Merton

Am reading some Thomas Merton this weekend. A biography today by Jennifer Fisher Bryant. I have read his autobiography but it doesn't cover his entire life. It is a good and worthwhile book. Interesting to get the perspective of his friends and those who knew him best.

Wendy is being unreasonable again

She won't let me turn our backyard into a batting cage. I'll never get a free-agent tryout contract now. Can you tell I am looking forward to opening day.

Matching Grants

Steven Johnson has a new idea for future "humanitarian wars" - matching grants.

Here's an idea, borrowed from the world of non-profits and venture capital, for the eventual reconstruction of Iraq, and for all future conflicts built on the same model: matching grants. What if we decided that anytime someone decides to embark on one of these "humanitarian" pre-emptive attacks -- allegedly done in the interest of the people being invaded -- the invading country has to provide matching grants for the recovery of the country. Basically whatever they spend tearing it down, they need to spend building it back up again. So if they spend $80 billion on swords, they have to cough up $80 billion on ploughshares at the other end. War is already filled with dozens of generally agreed-upon conventions: don't interrogate POWs on TV, don't pretend to surrender and then shoot when you get close. How about we add a new one for countries that decide to bomb for peace?

"People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election."
Otto von Bismarck

"We Will Turn Bush Into a Dog"

I am among those that felt that the Iraqi troops would have fled or quit and this thing would be almost over by now. This is a good article on the mentality of the troops and people via MSNBC

So those who are not actively fighting against the U.S. troops are happy to let them do the job of ousting the dictator by themselves. �We will accept the Americans to come liberate us from Saddam because,� says an architect from Baghdad, �it�s easier afterward to fight the Americans than to fight Saddam. This is the way we feel. This is what �the silent majority� are thinking, if you want to know.�
The fear that�s at play is more complex than the simple terror of fedayeen seizing children to force fathers to fight, as coalition briefing officers claim. Through 35 years, first as head of the secret police and then as president, Saddam has programmed so much terror into his people that at this stage few would believe that he is dead if they weren�t able to witness the event, see him killed, even dip their hands in his blood. (Many of his predecessors, after all, met just such grisly ends, either dragged through the streets or shown blown-away on live TV.) The fedayeen, with their savagery, only reinforce the almost supernatural terror already inflicted by the dictator. Iraqis know he has staying power. They believe the Americans do not.
But pride, as Chalabi suggests, is what�s really essential to the resistance, and it infects the broader Arab and Muslim view of the showdown. Since the fighting started, Saddam has tried to turn the Iraqi battle into what his favorite role model, Josef Stalin, called �The Great Patriotic War.� Add to this the tribal character of much of Iraqi society. Saddam has armed almost everyone in the country and now demands the tribes defend their honor against the foreign invaders. Many have heeded the call. �I don�t think there�s a single Iraqi family that has not suffered from Saddam,� says a senior Jordanian official with close ties to the U.S. administration. �But they are fighting now for Iraq, for their dignity. They don�t think the Americans are fighting for their dignity.�

War Mapping

For those of you who are interested, this map by the Telegraph may be one of the better explanations of what is going on in Iraq today.

In Canada, secularism grows more pervasive

In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press in Washington, only 30 percent of Canadians said religion was very important to them, compared with 59 percent of Americans.

Twenty-one percent of Canadians said they attended religious services regularly in another survey taken in 2000 - about half the rate for Americans, although still a bit higher than the rate for most of Western Europe.

The statistics would be far more skewed were it not for the growing number of Muslim, Sikh and Hindu immigrants to Canada.

It goes on to say this

"This is a society where religion no longer wields cultural authority," Marguerite Van Die, a theology professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, wrote recently.

In stark contrast with American presidents, Canadian prime ministers rarely, if ever, speak in religious terms. They even avoid being photographed attending church. It would be almost unthinkable for a prime minister to say "God Bless Canada." It was only after former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's death that Canadians learned he was a devout Catholic.

Trudeau was a champion of keeping government out of the bedroom, and most Canadian politicians have followed that example. The few Canadian politicians who have raised abortion as an issue have suffered at the polls for doing so.

Though it has widened in recent years, Canadian scholars note, the divergence over religious content in Canadian and American societies goes back to different colonial pasts.

Shopping

I went shopping today for my friend Mike Gingerich's birthday present. He is turning 30 tomorrow so I decided I would go and out and buy him a gift. While I hate shopping for myself, I enjoy shopping for my friends and I think I got him a pretty cool gift. I can't wait to give it to him tomorrow. Mike is a brand new blogger and I thought as the second part of his gift would a call out to all of my reader to head over to his site and leave him some birtday greetings in his comments and if you want, add http://mikegingerich.blogspot.com toyour blogroll. I would love to see Mike's comments and hit counter working overtime over the next 36 hours.

If you are wondering, Mike and I worked together at Lakeview Church and now we are a part of the Worship Freehouse.

Blog :: Gary Hart :: Restoring the American Republic

Gary Hart now has a blog. I am not even going to pretend to know what Gary Hart has been up to or anything about his presidential run but I think the potential of the blog to connect with voters is going to be incredibly important and is going to make the difference in some races sooner rather than later. Howard Dean also has a weblog

"Practice to Deceive" by Joshua Micah Marshall

Imagine it's six months from now. The Iraq war is over. After an initial burst of joy and gratitude at being liberated from Saddam's rule, the people of Iraq are watching, and waiting, and beginning to chafe under American occupation. Across the border, in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, our conquering presence has brought street protests and escalating violence. The United Nations and NATO are in disarray, so America is pretty much on its own. Hemmed in by budget deficits at home and limited financial assistance from allies, the Bush administration is talking again about tapping Iraq's oil reserves to offset some of the costs of the American presence--talk that is further inflaming the region. Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence has discovered fresh evidence that, prior to the war, Saddam moved quantities of biological and chemical weapons to Syria. When Syria denies having such weapons, the administration starts massing troops on the Syrian border. But as they begin to move, there is an explosion: Hezbollah terrorists from southern Lebanon blow themselves up in a Baghdad restaurant, killing dozens of Western aid workers and journalists. Knowing that Hezbollah has cells in America, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge puts the nation back on Orange Alert. FBI agents start sweeping through mosques, with a new round of arrests of Saudis, Pakistanis, Palestinians, and Yemenis.

Interesting read from the Washington Monthly, no matter which side you are on.

The Weblog of Mike Gingerich

I told Mike last night that I would add his blog to my site when it was good enough to be added. I was just joking and his blog is one of the many that is listed there. Secret handshake is in the mail.

Network church

Adobe - The Great Render Race

The PC was faster and $1500 cheaper than the Mac rendering Adobe applications. Switch that.

Steve Collins: Small Fire: Right thing, wrong place

YOU'VE PROBABLY HEARD the term "portfolio career". It refers to making a living from a variety of jobs rather than working for a single employer. Recently Ian Mobsby of Epicentre has coined the term "portfolio church" to describe how many Christians assemble their spiritual lives from a variety of church sources rather than committing to a single one. (via Mark Humphries)

Warren Kinsella

on the state of Canadian-US relations.

So the rationale for military action, to me, was the right one. But, as Prime Minister Chr�tien pointed out repeatedly, the Bush administration had yet to make out a convincing case for military action at this time. What was the rush, with Afghanistan unfinished, and North Korea (an outlaw nation that actually boasted it possessed weapons of mass destruction, and hoped to make use them) unresolved? Why wage war now, when the chosen remedy would prove far worse than the disease, for all concerned? Why not take a few more weeks, to build a proper allied force?

The United Nations, NATO and other international alliances are divided as never before; for trade, for development, for peace, those divisions may ultimately prove disastrous. For the United States, any sympathy engendered by September 11 in the Arab world will be irrevocably lost; this is no small thing if you recall that the last time the U.S. waged war on Iraq, an enraged Osama bin Laden was set upon the very course that led to September 11. And for Bush, himself, I believe that defeat in 2004 is nearly inevitable - as his father learned before him, victory in Iraq matters little when the American economy is in recession.

For Canada, who knows? Perhaps Stephen Harper is right - perhaps the Americans will make us pay. But after America abandoned free trade, and softwood lumber duties destroyed the livelihoods of 30,000 families in just a single province; after September 11, when George Bush had nothing to say about how we gave shelter and protection to literally thousands of Americans; after that incident in the skies above Afghanistan, when two U.S. pilots on speed killed four of our soldiers, and the response of Bush's Republican Party was to hold fundraisers for the pilots; after all that...well, perhaps things really couldn't get much worse, could they?

No, they couldn't.

Warren Kinsella has captured the current Canadian feelings better than any politician has with this post. Several members of the former U.S. administrations have said the same. The traditional American allies feel like we are seen more as the enemy then allies until we are needed and then we are told to fall into line. Very early in the administration's life there were some articles about Condoleeza Rice and how she feels that America and its economic and military power has an obligation to use it, when in its own best interests.

Pro-War Rally Signs

This was sent into me by a reader and it made me laugh my head off. It reminds me of the Simpsons when Homer was going, "I am so smart! S-M-R-T"
Yeah I know there are illiterate peace activists as well. Let's leave that one alone and just laugh at with this "moran".

Mountain Bike Redux

Okay, I tried a 22 inch frame, still felt too small. The folks over at Doug's Spoke and Sport say that by switching around some seats, stems and handlebars they can build me a bike. Again, great customer service from Doug's but I am not as confident as they are but am willing to try.

Tricycling along

I am taking Mark for a tricycle trek today. He has been running down the dog and Wendy all winter with it and today looks nice enough for a tricycle ride to Dairy Queen for some snacks. He is riding my tricycle. I can't believe that my son is riding the tricycle that Lee, Jolene, and I all had (although Jolene had a big wheel which I think she preferred over the tricycle). I feel old.

As much as Wendy and I miss family, we are lucky to have really good friends. Maybe really good is an understatement but if I really said how great they were, they would get out of hand. It is kind of like captured apes, if they get arrogant, they attack the zookeepers. You have to hit them with a stick once in a while. I forget how lucky I am to have great friends. Enough about us, back to seemingly random links and posts about unrelated themes.

I don't know how to put this but I was feeling kind of hurt and beat up today after my actions were questioned based on the assumptions of a person caught in a previous paradigm that hasn't shifted. I didn't do anything wrong but I feel better now that I realize that. It still drives me crazy, I just don't personalize it.

The Worship Freehouse

Over the last week I had more than my fair share of e-mail. A lot of you have told me how stupid and un-Christian I am to oppose the war with Iraq, for those of you I suggest you read this site instead of mine. You will find a plethora of pro-war stuff there.

Another big grouping of e-mail has been about the Worship Freehouse. I'll try to answer your questions here.

Is it a church plant?
No. It is a gathering of a bunch of sinners who are looking at new worship forms once a month and nothing more.

Are you affiliated with anyone?
No... kind of. The Worship Freehouse is not affiliated with anyone at all except for those who are apart of it. That being said, many of us have strong ties to local churches and different religious traditions so we aren't going to do things that compromise the core beliefs of the Christian church but outside of that, we are all cool with coloring outside the lines.

Who is your pastor or leader?
No one. We have an intentionally flat structure. We have a treasurer because someone more organized than most of us needs to keep track of the cash. Other than that we have the web guy and someone to co-ordinate with the Jazz Bassment (who are a cool group of people), and someone to make sure we have soft drinks at our planning meetings. Hardly a management team. We make decisions as a group as we will be the ones that will be carrying it out. It works well for us.

What's your long-term vision?
Don't have one that I know of. Next question.

What does Spiritwood think about you being involved in the Worship Freehouse?
They are cool with it. I have worked at Lakeview for a couple of years, have had summer jobs, and am now working with PrairieFusion. Lakeland is a church of jack of all trades. Most people in my church are really good at several things so maybe they see it that way.

Why are you meeting in a bar (gasp) instead of a local church?
We didn't want to go to the suburbs and there were no downtown churches that really wanted us or had the right kind of space. A couple of the downtown Saskatoon churches would have felt empty with 600 people in them. The Jazz Bassment was the right price and is kind of a cool spot to hang out in. That and they seem to really be looking forward to us being there.

Blogging from the deck

Okay, it is freezing out, just had to see if it would work. It does. Perfect, everything is coming together. Can't type much more, hands too cold....

Kevin Sites Blog

CNN asked Kevin to stop blogging while working for them which I think is fair even if I don't like it. I saw him on CNN last night and he is one of my favorite reporters. To bad CNN won't allow him to be one of my favorite bloggers as well.

Goodbye bike

I gave my old mountain bike to Wendy today. I was never that comfortable on it. The person I bought it from is taller than I am but we just ride differently. I am 6'4" and it felt like I was too tall for it. I wandered into Doug's Spoke and Sport today and talked to the most helpful sales person I have ever talked to. I don't think Doug reads this blog but if you do, your sales people are amazing. He gave some suggestions on some bikes but they were out of my price range. He told me to look at a 22 inch frame but they still feel small. Anyone got any good advice on the size of frame for someone who is 6'4? If you do, I would appreciate it.

The good news is that Wendy gets a great bike and she likes a larger frame bike so at least one of us is happy with it. I was a little suprised she would like it as all Wendy cares about is going fast, not offroading. We may put some road tires on it which would suit her better.

Maybe Jeb is a superhero

A year ago Jeb saved an entire apartment building from dying of carbon monoxide poisoning had his apartment catch fire yesterday after a plumber started some insulation on fire while fixing something or the other. He is out of his apartment for a month and living with his parents while they repair the damage. In talking to him today, he was totally cool and at peace with it despite the fact that anytime that you have to move your stuff and go through the hassle of everything, it would leave the average person edgy. His computer was safe. I was joking with him that Sharla must have carried it to safety while he panicked but according to Jeb, he stayed, moved the furniture away from the fire until the firemen told him to leave. If he was blind, I would call him DareDevil.

U.S. ambassador complains about Canadian policy, politicians

"When Mr. Klein issues strong support for the United States, the Canadian government comes down hard on him," Cellucci said.
"When Mr. Dhaliwal makes totally inappropriate remarks about the president of the United States, they totally ignore it."
Cellucci said that his country would come to Canada's aid if it were threatened, implying that Canada should do the same thing for the United States.

I think it comes down to the fact that most of the Liberal leadership hates George Bush. That being said, I think Cellucci has a good point.

Been re-reading Thomas Homer-Dixon's The Ingenuity Gap

He has some good ideas on how much information we are consuming every day and is it imparing our ability to creativly think. I never thought so before recently. I am an information junkie. The Cooper household is a collection of Palm's, cell phones, wireless network, highspeed connections, and sattelite channels coming out of our pores. My e-mail is always been checked, the web is always on.

Recently I have been noticing how tired I am. I am getting lots of sleep, eating heathily, seem to be physically fine (diet working well) but I am always seem mentally tired. Recently I have had to make a couple of extra trips to Spiritwood. Most times it has just been me and the dog and my mp3 player. I can't describe how refreshing it has been. My body seems to crave the quiet and the solitude, I find myself coming home from 4 hours by myself on the road and feel great.

It makes me wonder if the 24/7 connection while taken for granted is creating an enviroment for less creative thoughts and more mediocre results. I think the academic context understands this far better then other creative contexts. They know that time off, time away, and sabatical lead to fresher thinking, better ideas, and new approaches. I don't work in an academic enviroment but I need to do a better job of finding time away, by myself and maybe leave the Palm, Timex Datalink, notebook computer, wifi connection... all at home.

Where is Raed ?

Blogging from Baghdad

half an hour ago the oil filled trenches were put on fire. First watching Al-jazeera they said that these were the places that got hit by bombs from an air raid a few miniutes earlier bit when I went up to the roof to take a look I saw that there were too many of them, we heard only three explosions. I took pictures of the nearest. My cousine came and told me he saw police cars standing by one and setting it on fire. Now you can see the columns of smoke all over the city.
Todat the third in the war, we had quite a number of attacks during daytime. Some without air-raid sirens. They probably just gave up on being able to be on time to sound the sirens. Last night, after waves after waves of attacks, they would sound the all-clear siren only to start another raid siren 30 minutes later.
The images we saw on TV last night (not Iraqi, jazeera-BBC-Arabiya) were terrible. The whole city looked as if it were on fire. The only thing I could think of was �why does this have to happen to Baghdad�. As one of the buildings I really love went up in a huge explosion I was close to tears.
today my father and brother went out to see what happening in the city, they say that it does look that the hits were very precise but when the missiles and bombs explode they wreck havoc in the neighborhood where they fall. Houses near al-salam palace(where the minister Sahaf took journalist) have had all their windows broke, doors blown in and in one case a roof has caved in. I guess that is what is called �collateral damage� and that makes it OK?
We worry about daytime bombing and the next round of attacks tonight with the added extra of the smoke screen in our skies.

Drinking at the virtual water cooler

Companies may be barely aware of it, but instant messaging is transforming the workplace as employees trade quips and tips in droves--a trend that promises to blur forever the line between working hard and goofing off at a computer keyboard. In a split second, people using instant messengers can arrange an impromptu business meeting, answer a question from an important client or crack a joke with a co-worker down the hall.

Instant messaging's flexibility--and the fact that if often flies below the radar of corporate managers--has helped it take offices by storm. As many as 84 percent of all organizations use some sort of instant messenger application, according to a report issued by Osterman Research of Black Diamond, Wash., this year, although much of that is unofficial. Employees at fewer than a third of the companies surveyed used approved software, while nearly a quarter of businesses blocked instant messenger traffic at the firewall.

In many companies, the situation has created a free-for-all among instant messaging users, where work and social life mix without clear borders.

Much corporate instant messaging adoption occurs on an ad-hoc, bottom-up basis. Typically, a work group member or department leader decides that instant messaging is the best way to distribute quick changes to a project or to communicate with a client. That person then encourages employees to go out and download publicly available instant messaging software, such as products from America Online, Microsoft's MSN and Yahoo.

When I was at Lakeview and even now, IM software was probably the most used and vital app among many people but totally ignored by others. My guess is that many older people can't break the habit of picking up a phone and walking down to an office and really wasting a lot of time when a IM would do. Not that is a bad thing all the time but it was a really distinct usage pattern between users. My favorite IM message was the "can you come down to my office so I can ask you something". It was always something that could have been handled via IM. IM makes it incredibly easy to work in different locations, even different cities and still have instant communication. I am amazed when I hear many larger churches ban its use.

UPDATE: Several e-mails from people who have IM banned on their church networks. None of them know the reason but a couple of people have said that the IT person involved felt that they hurt productivity. I totally disagree, whatever small but you lose, you gain when it is used for ease of communications.

E-mail patterns map corporate structure

Figuring out a company's power and communication structure may be as simple as examining patterns of e-mail exchanges, according to new research by some Hewlett-Packard scientists

The researchers said graphing e-mail flow not only correctly identified communities within the organization, but it also provided insight into who the leaders of those groups were. It also helped to identify informal communities that arise when people need to communicate across departments or work collaboratively on projects. What's more, it took just a few hours to analyze the data and identify the groups and their leaders, the study said.

"The power of this method for identifying communities and leadership is in its automation," the researchers wrote. "We have found that it does an effective job of uncovering communities of practice with nothing more than e-mail log ("to:" and "from:") data."

. Cool although you could do the same with phone calls as well. What would be interesting is seeing what happened when things went wrong and then see who the decision makers and bottlenecks were in the organization.

Corel searches for a buyer

At one point I would really have cared about this and then I tried Office 95 and then it was all over. The thing is, the only company in which Corel would fit would be Microsoft and perhaps the kindest thing they could do is just buy it and put it out of its misery but then again that would reopen the old anti-trust debate which would ignore that Corel has produced some awful software over the years.

Television Sets and VCR's

Saskatoon readers: The Worship Freehouse needs some televisions and VCR's. If you have one or both and they are working, you don't use them and you want to see them put to good use at the Worship Freehouse, let me know via e-mail at coop@jordoncooper.com and we can come by and pick them up. Your kindness is greatly appreciated.

Biggest Reader in the White House

Condoleezza Rice
Just imagine, to start with, all the briefing books and policy memos. The president's national security adviser is his gatekeeper on foreign policy issues, the person who mediates among the so-called "principals"�the secretaries of state and defense and so forth�and funnels their advice to the boss. So Condoleezza Rice must be bombarded with things to read, all day long. But in an administration not known for its appreciation of intellectualism�"conspicuous intelligence seemed actively unwelcome in the Bush White House," writes former presidential speechwriter David Frum in his new The Right Man, an ultimately hagiographic memoir of his time working for Bush�Rice, a tenure-track Stanford professor at age twenty-eight, stands out as a thinker. She's often spotted toting historical works around Washington, and her family has spoken of her childhood requirement to read a book a day. Before the September 11 attacks, she reportedly set aside an hour or two each day to read journal articles and the like. And as a classically trained pianist, she appreciates the music of fine literature. "I actually read War and Peace in the Russian," she told an interviewer. "It's really quite beautiful."

Tony Campolo's sermon from Mission Fest Vancouver

THE VALUES of Jesus not only call us to respond to the needs of the poor. The values of Jesus call upon us to promote justice. Count them up! You will find that the number of times in the scriptures that justice is mentioned outnumbers the number of times love is mentioned. The word 'righteousness' in the original language is translated best with the word 'justice.'
Right now, we have to face the facts that the Christian church, in its proper zeal to support the state of Israel, has forgotten that there's a group of people called the Palestinians. And unless we stand up and speak for justice on behalf of the Palestinians, we are going to lose the missionary struggle in the next hundred years. It's about time we faced these facts . . .
I know somebody out there is going to come up and lay this on me: "Doesn't it say in the scriptures that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed?" Indeed it does. But you don't bless Israel by equipping them with guns and tanks and planes to suppress the Palestinian people. We need to say that. I know that doesn't go over big -- because we've forgotten that our God is a God of justice, and loves the Palestinians every bit as much as he loves Jews. It's about time we woke up to that fact.
Do you even know how the state of Israel was created? What happened was: the British took over Palestine after World War I, as a mandate from the League of Nations. The Zionists wanted the Brits out of there so that they could make this a homeland for the Jews. So they resorted to terrorism . . . Menachem Begin was a terrorist. [Ariel] Sharon was a terrorist . . . Menachem Begin was one of the men who set the bomb in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, that blew 92 people to smithereens -- innocent men, women and children. The British were so worn out [by] the terrorism over the next 20 years that they wanted out of the mess. So after World War II, they presented to the United Nations meeting, in New York, a proposal: that the land that hitherto had belonged to people who lived in Palestine was going to be partitioned and made into the state of Israel.
Now stop and think about that. If [you were] a Palestinian . . . [and] some people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean decide that your homeland isn't your homeland any more. Dress it up any way you want, and get mad at me if you want -- that's not right.
We're in an existential situation right now where I want to see the state of Israel survive. I think we must ensure the safety and the security of the state of Israel. I want the state of Israel to survive, I want them to have that homeland. We chased them all over Europe during World War II with our anti-Semitism, and they ended up on the backs of the Palestinians.
We must not only guarantee that the Jews have a homeland of their own; we must be committed to the Palestinians having a homeland of their own. We must be committed to justice for the Palestinians; and if we do not make this commitment, we are going to lose the struggle to win the Muslim world to Jesus Christ -- because Muslims, unlike Christians, have a unity that we don't understand. They are committed to each other in ways we do not understand. And wherever Christianity tries to propagate its truth, they are confronted with the fact -- the missionaries are confronted with the fact -- of what's going on in Israel.
Let me just say that our attitudes towards Israel have hurt the missionary enterprise. Hurt them, hurt them greatly. Do not get me wrong. Do you hear me when I say I believe that the state of Israel must and should by God exist, that it is God's will that it exists? But my Bible says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice." Justice for all people, justice for the Palestinians.
Evangelicals have a bad name in this respect. We've got Evangelical leaders that are making stupid statements about Islam, that are saying "Oh! Islam is a violent religion, they're out to kill people who don't agree with them. We can show you passages in the Koran in which Muslims are called upon to kill people who aren't Muslim."
Look, don't play that game -- because it can be played back on us. Somebody could pull out the book of Judges and say: "Didn't the nation Israel commit genocide against the Canaanites?" Is that all that's different? That's willed by our God; and the Arabs say: "Guess what? Killing Christians is willed by our God." We don't want to play that game, because our God is a loving God. I don't want Jesus judged by the slaughter in the book of Judges any more than the Islamic people want Islam judged.
Please! There's a lot wrong with Islam. The most important thing that's wrong with Islam is that they deny that Jesus is God and the saviour of humanity. That is the sin of Islam. But when some of our leading, most prominent evangelists and television spokesmen make terrible statements about Muhammad, when they call Islam an evil religion on television, have you any idea how this plays in Muslim countries? And do you have any idea [what] our missionaries, who are in those Muslim countries, have to endure every time an American evangelist makes a statement like that?
We better be careful about what we say. We better show respect, even to those who disagree with us. And we must call out for justice. Justice. We must be committed to peace . . . Blessed are the peacemakers.
Man alive -- I don't know what's going on in your country; I just know what's going on in my country. Evangelicals have become the biggest supporters of this upcoming war, and the drumbeat for war increases. They support it and see it as something that they should accept without question.
I was asked quite simply, in a debate, "What do you suggest as an alternative? I mean, Saddam Hussein is a crazy man, he is a threat to civilization, how do you stop him?" Has anybody every thought about doing things the way Jesus told us to do them?
We've embargoed Iraq for the last 10 years. A half a million children in Iraq under the age of 12 have died as a direct result of that embargo, either from malnutrition of from lack of medicine. Here's the foreign policy I would suggest: to end the embargo! The Bible says if your enemy hungers -- what? -- feed him. If he's naked, clothe him, if he's sick, care for him.
Nothing would destroy the authority of Saddam Hussein more than if we Christians provided a massive relief program of food and medicine to the people of Iraq. And if we are going to pave the way for missionary enterprise, we have got to do that. We've got to do that. I don't know who's going to do it; but somebody's got to organize the Christian community, and say we're going to load up freighters with food and medicine -- and we're going to send them to Iraq, and we dare the US Navy to stop us.
When we try to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, you say "You can't overcome Saddam Hussein that way" . . . I believe in Jesus, and Jesus says "Overcome evil with [good]."
You see, we always say the just shall live by faith, but people say "Oh that's alright for you idealists, you've got to be realistic!" Realistic? I know that Saddam Hussein has chemical weapons of mass destruction. You know how I know? Because President Clinton told me that he -- and formerly President Bush -- gave Saddam Hussein those chemical weapons.
You see, in those days, we were trying to hold back Iran. We were trying to keep Iran in place, and so we armed Saddam Hussein to hold back Iran. It was realistic politics, it was realism, it was intelligent foreign policy -- and it's stupid. What we should have done was given food to the hungry, clothe the naked . . . We've got to be peacemakers.
Let me lay it on you: You don't get rid of terrorism by killing terrorists, anymore than you get rid of malaria by killing mosquitoes. You get rid of malaria, not by killing mosquitoes, but by getting rid of the swamps that breed those mosquitoes. You don't get rid of terrorists by killing terrorists -- because it only creates more terrorists, does it not? You get rid of terrorists by dealing with the poverty and the humiliation that Arab peoples have had to endure. It's time that we stand up and speak as peacemakers in the world. We are called to a ministry of reconciliation . . .
We are about to engage in a war with Iraq . . . please don't think we're just dealing with [the] Iraqi people. Here's what sociologists know: Rituals create loyalty and solidarity. The higher the level of ritual in a given group, the higher the level of loyalty, the higher the level of commitment. The most ritualistic people in the world today are Muslims.
Five times a day, every Muslim gets down on his knees and bows toward Mecca. Stop to think, just for a moment, of the solidifying effect this has on the Muslim consciousness -- if every Muslim brother and sister around the world, five times a day, gets down and turns to the same point on earth -- the unity of consciousness that generates, the oneness of mind.
When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, we were able to get Arabs on our side -- because it's against the Koran for an Arab people to declare war on another. But this time, it's mostly Western nations invading Iraq. And when it happens I am afraid, I've got to tell you -- as a sociologist, and a political scientist -- I will have to tell you this: If this thing happens, the war that we start with the Muslim community will not end with the defeat and exile of Saddam Hussein, it will go on and on and on.
This war has every potentiality of setting back missions 1,000 years.
After the Crusades, it was difficult to communicate to the Muslim community -- because of the war that had gone on between Christians and Muslims. For God's sake, and I mean that in the fullest sense, we must not let that happen again.
We must be seen by the world not as warmongers, but as peacemakers. We must be ready to pay the price to live out the values of Jesus.

THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT WAR WITH IRAQ :: A LETTER FROM LEIGHTON FORD TO YOUNG CHRISTIAN LEADERS

Via Charlie Wear

Leighton Ford addresses three questions on the War with Iraq... Brian McLaren forwarded the following email:

THREE QUESTIONS ABOUT WAR WITH IRAQ
A LETTER FROM LEIGHTON FORD TO YOUNG CHRISTIAN LEADERS

Shortly before Christmas I was invited with a few other religious leaders to meet with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other officials to discuss terrorism and Iraq. One official explained "If we are going into conflict with Iraq we need the moral support of the public."

Although I appreciated being invited to the session, I left troubled. Certainly Saddam Hussein has wrought great evil against his own people and others, greater perhaps than most of us realize. Yet I was not convinced that the connection between Iraq and terrorism was clear enough to justify war.

In the weeks since I have wrestled with the question of this war, and its moral defensibility. I had thought of writing an open letter to the president. But he has more than enough advice! So instead I write this to you, as young pastors, evangelists, and mission leaders to ask you to confront honestly and prayerfully three questions that we who follow Jesus should be asking of ourselves and those we lead.

Question #1: What is the moral justification for a "pre-emptive" war? I am not a pacifist, although I deeply respect my friends who are. There are times, I believe, when force must be used to oppose evil. As the apostle Paul taught, rulers are given the "power of the sword" from God to "execute wrath on the wrongdoer." Yet Paul's words must be held in tension with those of Jesus who told his disciples, as they were pulling out weapons to fight off those sent to arrest him, "Put up your sword. All who take the sword will perish by the sword." Former President Jimmy Carter surely had it right: "War may sometimes be a necessary evil, but it is still evil." The problem is still that of the human heart. Sin distorts our decisions and motives and our ability to see and execute judgment purely. All of us can too easily find ways to "justify" our actions. Thus some moral criteria for a "just war" and not only the claims of "realpolitik" must be our guide. This is why across the centuries thoughtful Christians have sought to weigh the pros and cons of any specific conflict in the scales of so-called "just war" theory"; e.g., that war must only be waged as a last resort, to protect the innocent, to restore justice, avoiding as far as possible injury to non-combatants, and with grounds for believing that limited military action will prevent greater evil. What, then, justifies a pre-emptive or "preventive" war? This takes the ethics of war to a new level, and demands a higher and clearer standard. Unless military power is used with a clear moral clarity we set a precedent that may come back to haunt us and the world. Suppose that a year from now India wishes to justify a pre-emptive strikeagainst Pakistan, fearing that Pakistan may provide weapons of mass destruction to Kashmir rebels (or, vice versa). On what moral grounds will the U.S. and other nations be able to challenge them? It seems to me that a preemptive war is justified only when three conditions are met: First, that injury is threatened to a third (innocent) party Second, that there is clear intent and demonstrated preparation to attack Third, when it can be shown that waiting would greatly magnify the risk In a democracy we must trust our elected leaders to weigh these issues. Yet we may also require, if they want our "moral support", that they provide a moral and legal basis for a pre-emptive war. It may be that in a world of violence force will sometimes be needed to stop tyrants, and protect the innocent. But such actions must always be for the sake of justice, never for vengeance, and justice be tempered by mercy. If, then, we are called to be merciful, do we not have a moral imperative to prepare to practice mercy? How will we wage war mercifully, when Saddam Hussein may deliberately move his military forces right next to civilians? How will we plan to make peace? Must we not be clear about our intentions now?

Question #2: What effect will war have on fellow believers in other parts of the world? We often forget that in the Middle East and the Arab countries there are not only Muslims and Jews, but fellow followers of Christ. How will a war affect them? A friend who heads a major Christian ministry in that part of the world recently e-mailed to say: We pray with all our hearts that by the time you receive this ... war with Iraq will have been averted. From our perspective, war against Iraq would have devastating repercussions in the region - not least of which is a serious undermining of the message of the Gospel. The reason for this is that Arabs are interpreting war against Iraq as Christian aggression against an Islamic nation. This false perception is so deeply ingrained among most Arabs that it undermines any perception of Christianity as a message of love and peace. As my friend says, the perception is false. Yet it is real to those who hold it! And we have a responsibility to manage perceptions, and not just deny them. How would you respond to my friend? How do I respond? I can only let him know that I am praying that war may yet be averted, and other means found to deter Hussein. And, if not, then we must pray that the war will be as limited as possible, that civilian loss may be minimal, and that in any post-war rebuilding Christians will be able to join with many others to minister to the hungry and hurting people of Iraq, and especially to the children!

Question #3: what war is most worth fighting? At the end of the day I have tried to look at our world not as a "religious leader", but as a grandfather. My wife and I have four precious grandchildren, ranging from a college freshman to a little girl just learning to turn over in her crib. How will our decisions as a nation affect them? and the other billions of children in our world? The greatest risk may not be from Hussein, but from what would happen in the ten to twenty years after a war, in attack and counter-attack, in anger and revenge. I do not want our grandchildren to grow up in a kind of global northern Ireland! I also ask myself: what about the money? War with Iraq will cost anything from fifty to a hundred billion dollars or more. Is that the best way to spend these billions? to build a future for our own grandchildren and others? Yet there is another war, one well worth fighting - the war against HIV-AIDS in southern Africa and much of Asia. In the long run the HIV-AIDS pandemic is a greater threat than Saddam Hussein. If the war against AIDS is lost this disease has the potential to destabilize entire continents, and much of the world. President Bush has committed fifteen billion dollars over the next several years for the fight against AIDS in Africa. Yet this is only just a beginning. The Secretary General of the United Nations has said "With ten billion dollars a year AIDS can be globally controlled in ten years." This is a war that can be won! I thank God for President Bush's leadership in this commitment. But I am hoping that he and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair (who a year ago called for a global "Marshall Plan" to wipe out AIDS) will with all the authority of their offices build a "coalition of the willing" in this war. War with Iraq will end many lives. War against AIDS will save tens of thousands of lives. So let's ask ourselves, and our leaders: which war is most worth fighting? There's still time to seek an alternative to war. Consider this: a church in Boulder, Colorado is encouraging people to put a cup of rice in a sandwich bag and send it to the White House with a note that says "If your enemies are hungry, feed them. Romans 12:20. Please send this to the people of Iraq." In the mid 50s famine ravaged China while the US and China were at odds over threats to the islands of Qemoy and Matsu. Such a "rice campaign" took place then but not until much later was the effect known. President Eisenhower met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to consider US options and twice the use of nuclear weapons was recommended. Each time Eisenhower turned to an aide to ask how many little bags of rice had come in. When told they numbered in the tens of thousands, Eisenhower told his generals that as long as so many Americans were asking for the US to feed the Chinese he certainly wasn't going to consider using