Sanely free of McCarthyite calling anyone a "traitor" since 2001!
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I've a long record in editorial work in book and magazine publishing, starting in 1974, as well as a variety of other work experience, but have been, in recent years, recurringly housebound with insanely painful now-sporadic (when I have meds) gout, an enlarged heart, and other health problems, particularly including lifelong recurring major clinical depression and bipolar disorder. I'm also sometimes available to some degree as a paid writer or researcher. I'm available as a fill-in Guest Blogger at mid-to-high-traffic blogs that fit my knowledge set.
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"The brain is wider than the sky, For, put them side by side,
The one the other will include With ease, and you beside"
-- Emily Dickinson
"We will pursue peace as if there is no terrorism and fight terrorism as if there is no peace."
-- Yitzhak Rabin
"I have thought it my duty to exhibit things as they are, not as they ought to be."
-- Alexander Hamilton
"The stakes are too high for government to be a spectator sport."
-- Barbara Jordan
"Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to
trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule --
and both commonly succeed, and are right."
-- H. L. Mencken
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
-- William Pitt
"The only completely consistent people are the dead."
-- Aldous Huxley
"I have had my solutions for a long time; but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them."
-- Karl F. Gauss
"Whatever evils either reason or declamation have imputed to extensive empire,
the power of Rome was attended with some beneficial consequences to mankind;
and the same freedom of intercourse which extended the vices, diffused likewise
the improvements of social life."
-- Edward Gibbon
"Augustus was sensible that mankind is governed by names; nor was he deceived in his
expectation, that the senate and people would submit to slavery, provided they were
respectfully assured that they still enjoyed their ancient freedom."
-- Edward Gibbon
"There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify
the evils, of the present times."
-- Edward Gibbon
"Our youth now loves luxuries. They have bad manners, contempt for authority.
They show disrespect for elders and they
love to chatter instead of exercise.
Children are now tyrants, not the servants, of their households. They
no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents,
chatter before company, gobble up their food, and tyrannize
their teachers."
-- Socrates
"Before impugning an opponent's motives, even when they legitimately may be impugned, answer his arguments."
-- Sidney Hook
"Idealism, alas, does not protect one from ignorance, dogmatism, and foolishness."
-- Sidney Hook
"Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"We take, and must continue to take, morally hazardous actions to preserve our civilization.
We must exercise our power. But we ought neither to believe that a nation is capable of perfect
disinterestedness in its exercise, nor become complacent about particular degrees of interest
and passion which corrupt the justice by which the exercise of power is legitimized."
-- Reinhold Niebuhr
"Faced with the choice of all the land without a Jewish state or a Jewish state without all the
land, we chose a Jewish state without all the land."
-- David Ben-Gurion
"...the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him
an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this
or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages
to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right; that it tends also
to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing,
with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments, those who will externally profess
and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminals who do not withstand such
temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that the
opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction;
that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion
and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their
ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty,
because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of
judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square
with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil
government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts
against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if
left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has
nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her
natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is
permitted freely to contradict them.
-- Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, Thomas Jefferson
"We don't live just by ideas. Ideas are part of the mixture of customs and practices,
intuitions and instincts that make human life a conscious activity susceptible to
improvement or debasement. A radical idea may be healthy as a provocation;
a temperate idea may be stultifying. It depends on the circumstances. One of the most
tiresome arguments against ideas is that their 'tendency' is to some dire condition --
to totalitarianism, or to moral relativism, or to a war of all against all."
-- Louis Menand
"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis."
-- Dante Alighieri
"He too serves a certain purpose who only stands and cheers."
-- Henry B. Adams
"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the
poor to beg in the streets, steal bread, or sleep under a bridge."
-- Anatole France
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."
-- Edmund Burke
"Education does not mean that we have become certified experts in business or mining or botany or journalism or epistemology;
it means that through the absorption of the moral, intellectual, and esthetic inheritance of the race we have come to
understand and control ourselves as well as the external world; that we have chosen the best as our associates both in spirit
and the flesh; that we have learned to add courtesy to culture, wisdom to knowledge, and forgiveness to understanding."
-- Will Durant
"Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is
but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; while the wildest
winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, slavish shore?"
-- Herman Melville
"The most important political office is that of the private citizen."
-- Louis D. Brandeis
"If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable."
-- Louis D. Brandeis
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."
-- Louis D. Brandeis
"It is an error to suppose that books have no influence; it is a slow influence, like flowing water carving out a canyon,
but it tells more and more with every year; and no one can pass an hour a day in the society of sages and heroes without
being lifted up a notch or two by the company he has kept."
-- Will Durant
"When you write, you’re trying to transpose what you’re thinking into something that is less like an annoying drone and more like a piece of music."
-- Louis Menand
"Sex is a continuum."
-- Gore Vidal
"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, 1802.
"The sum of our religion is peace and unanimity, but these can scarcely stand unless we define as little as possible,
and in many things leave one free to follow his own judgment, because there is great obscurity in many matters, and
man suffers from this almost congenital disease that he will not give in when once a controversy is started, and
after he is heated he regards as absolutely true that which he began to sponsor quite casually...."
-- Desiderius Erasmus
"Are we to have a censor whose imprimatur shall say what books may be sold, and what we may buy? And who is thus to dogmatize religious opinions for our citizens? Whose foot is to be the measure to which ours are all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or shall a layman, simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the rule of what we are to read, and what we must disbelieve?"
-- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to N. G. Dufief, Philadelphia bookseller, 1814
"We are told that it is only people's objective actions that matter, and their subjective feelings are of no importance. Thus pacifists, by obstructing the war effort,
are 'objectively' aiding the Nazis; and therefore the fact that they may be personally hostile to Fascism is irrelevant. I have been guilty of saying this myself more than once. The same argument is applied to Trotskyism. Trotskyists are often credited, at any rate by Communists, with being active and conscious agents of Hitler; but when you point out the many and obvious reasons why this is unlikely to be true,
the 'objectively' line of talk is brought forward again. To criticize the Soviet Union helps Hitler: therefore 'Trotskyism is Fascism'. And when this has been established, the accusation of conscious treachery is usually repeated.
This is not only dishonest; it also carries a severe penalty with it. If you disregard people's motives, it becomes much harder to foresee their actions."
-- George Orwell, "As I Please," Tribune, 8 December 1944
"Wouldn't this be a great world if insecurity and desperation made us more attractive? If 'needy' were a turn-on?"
-- "Aaron Altman," Broadcast News
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
-- Lewis Thomas
"To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. For what is man's lifetime unless the memory of past events is woven with those of earlier times?"
-- Cicero
"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it."
-- Samuel Johnson, Life Of Johnson
"Very well, what did my critics say in attacking my character? I must read out their affidavit, so to speak, as though they were my legal accusers: Socrates is guilty of criminal meddling, in that he inquires into things below the earth and in the sky, and makes the weaker argument defeat the stronger, and teaches others to follow his example."
-- Socrates, via Plato, The Republic
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, represents, in the final analysis, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself."
-- Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign
"Remember, Robin: evil is a pretty bad thing."
-- Batman
"Being evil is not a full-time job."
-- James Lileks
Gary Farber is now a licensed Double Super-Secret Master Pundit.
He does not always refer to himself in the third person.
Did he mention he was presently single?
The lutefisk is dead. Donate via the donation button on the top left
or I'll shoot this gefilte fish.
Current Total # of Donations Since Blog Began: 618
Subscribers to date at $5/month: 30 sign-ups; 24 cancellations; Total= 6
Supporter subscribers to date at $25/month: 7 sign-ups; 3 cancellation; Total= 4
Patron subscribers to date at $50/month: 10 sign-ups; 6 cancellations; Total= 4
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
Farber's First Fundamental of Blogging:
If your idea of making an insightful point is to make fun of people's
names, or refer to them by rilly clever labels such as "The Big Me" or "The Shrub,"
chances are high that I'm not reading your blog. The same applies if you refer
to a group of people by disparaging terms such as "the Donks" or "the pals." (Note: I have to say I don't give that much of a damn any more.)
Farber's Second Fundamental of Blogging:
The more interested you are in scoring a "point" for a political "team," a "side," than in exploring the validity or value of an idea, the less interested I am in what you're saying.
(Note: Partially suspended for the Duration. Later note: forget I ever said this.)
Farber's Third Fundamental of Blogging:
If you see a link on another blog, and use it, credit the blog.
Some places I go:
[weblogs, sites, and columns]
People I've known and still miss include Isaac Asimov, rich brown, Charles Burbee, F. M. "Buzz" Busby, Terry Carr, A. Vincent Clarke, George Alec Effinger, Abi Frost,
Bill & Sherry Fesselmeyer, George Flynn, John Milo "Mike" Ford. John Foyster, Jay Haldeman, Chuch Harris, Mike Hinge, Lee Hoffman, Terry Hughes, Damon Knight, Ross Pavlac, Bruce Pelz, Elmer Perdue, Tom Perry,
Larry Propp, Bill Rotsler, Art Saha, Bob Shaw, Martin Smith, Harry Stubbs, Bob Tucker, Harry Warner, Jr., Jack Williamson, Walter A. Willis, Susan Wood, Kate Worley, and Roger Zelazny.
It's just a start.
And She of whom I must write someday.
You Like Me, You Really Like Me
...Darn: I saw that Gary had commented on this thread, and thought: oh. my. god. Perfect storm. Unstoppable cannonball, immovable object.
-- Hilzoy
Guessing that Gary is ignorant of anything that has ever been written down is, in my experience, unwise.
Just saying.
-- Hilzoy
Where would the blogosphere be without the Guardian? Guardian fish-barreling is now a venerable tradition. Yet even within this tradition, I don't believe there has ever been a more extensive and thorough essay than this one, from Gary Farber's fine blog. Gary appears to have examined every single thing that Guardian/Observer columnist Mary Ridell has ever written. He ties it all together, reaches inevitable conclusion. An archive can be a weapon.
-- Dr. Frank
Isn't Gary a cracking blogger, apropos of nothing in particular?
-- Alison Scott
I usually read you and Patrick several times a day, and I always get something from them. You've got great links, intellectually honest commentary, and a sense of humor. What's not to like?
-- Ted Barlow
...writer[s] I find myself checking out repeatedly when I'm in the mood to play follow-the-links. They're not all people I agree with all the time, or even most of the time, but I've found them all to be thoughtful writers, and that's the important thing, or should be.
-- Tom Tomorrow
Amygdala - So much stuff it reminds Unqualified Offerings that UO sometimes thinks of Gary Farber as "the liberal Instapundit." -- Jim Henley
I look at it almost every day. I can't follow all the links, but I read most of your pieces. The blog format really seems to suit you. It also suits me; I am not a news junkie, so having smart people like you ferret out the interesting stuff and leave it where I can find it is wonderful.
-- Lydia Nickerson
Gary is certainly a non-idiotarian 'liberal'...
-- Perry deHaviland
...the thoughtful and highly intelligent Gary Farber... My first reaction was that I definitely need to appease Gary Farber of Amygdala, one of the geniuses of our age.
-- Brad deLong
My friend Gary Farber at Amygdala is the sort of liberal for whom I happily give three cheers. [...] Damned incisive blogging....
-- Midwest Conservative Journal
If I ever start a paper, Clueless writes the foreign affairs column, Layne handles the city beat, Welch has the roving-reporter job, Tom Tomorrow runs the comic section (which carries Treacher, of course). MediaMinded runs the slots - that's the type of editor I want as the last line of defense. InstantMan runs the edit page - and you can forget about your Ivins and Wills and Friedmans and Teepens on the edit page - it's all Blair, VodkaP, C. Johnson, Aspara, Farber, Galt, and a dozen other worthies, with Justin 'I am smoking in such a provocative fashion' Raimondo tossed in for balance and comic relief.
Who wouldn't buy that paper? Who wouldn't want to read it? Who wouldn't climb over their mother to be in it?
-- James Lileks
Gary is a perceptive, intelligent, nice guy. Some of the stuff he comes up with is insightful, witty, and stimulating. And sometimes he manages to make me groan.
-- Charlie Stross
One of my issues with many poli-blogs is the dickhead tone so many bloggers affect to express their sense of righteous indignation. Gary Farber's thoughtful leftie takes on the world stand in sharp contrast with the usual rhetorical bullying. Plus, he likes "Pogo," which clearly attests to his unassaultable good taste.
-- oakhaus.com
Gary Farber is a principled liberal....
-- Bill Quick, The Daily Pundit
I read Amygdala...with regularity, as do all sensible websurfers.
-- Jim Henley, Unqualified Offerings
Okay, he is annoying, but he still posts a lot of good stuff.
-- Avedon Carol, The Sideshow
The only trouble with reading Amygdala is that it makes me feel like such a slacker. That Man Farber's a linking, posting, commenting machine, I tell you!
-- John Robinson, Sore Eyes
Jaysus. I saw him do something like this before, on a thread about Israel. It was pretty brutal. It's like watching one of those old WWF wrestlers grab an opponent's
face and grind away until the guy starts crying. I mean that in a nice & admiring way, you know.
-- Fontana Labs, Unfogged
We read you Gary Farber! We read you all the time! Its just that we are lazy with our blogroll. We are so very very lazy. We are always the last ones to the party but we always have snazzy bow ties.
-- Fafnir, Fafblog!
Gary Farber you are a genius of mad scientist proportions. I will bet there are like huge brains growin in jars all over your house.
-- Fafnir, Fafblog!
Gary Farber is the hardest working man in show blog business. He's like a young Gene Hackman blogging with his hair on fire, or something.
-- Belle Waring, John & Belle Have A Blog
I bow before the shrillitudinousness of Gary Farber, who has been blogging like a fiend.
-- Ted Barlow, Crooked Timber
Gary Farber only has two blogging modes: not at all, and 20 billion interesting posts a day [...] someone on the interweb whose opinions I can trust....
-- Belle Waring, John & Belle Have A Blog
Gary Farber! Jeez, the guy is practically a blogging legend, and I'm always surprised at the breadth of what he writes about.
-- PZ Meyers, Pharyngula
Gary Farber takes me to task, in a way befitting the gentleman he is.
-- Stephen Green, Vodkapundit
I do appreciate your role and the role of Amygdala as a pioneering effort in the integration of fanwriters with social conscience into the larger blogosphere of social conscience.
-- Lenny Bailes
NATO'S BIG PROBLEM is what Tom Friedman's latest acute column is about.
"There is only one air force in the world that can operate so effectively in the pitch dark this way, using night-vision equipment: the U.S. Air Force."
Europe, having had so many wars fought on its territory, long ago noticed that War Is Bad. So the modern solution was conceived: spend little money for war-fighting, and war won't happen, and thus a blow is struck towards stamping out evil. Domestic politics continued to provide evidence of the correctness, via votes, of the idea that since war is bad, money spent towards the military is bad, and, logically, if little money is spent towards war-fighting, the chance of war will be lessened, and thus evil will be lessened, and good strengthened.
Impeccable logic, eh? One result is that Europe spends a lot of energy complaining about how the US fights war, or, alternatively, doesn't. Well, let them get their own war, I say. And then they can time-travel into the past, after paying for a time machine, and do the right thing in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Rwanda,. I'd prefer to live in that timeline, myself. I'm all for the EU creating that 50,000-strong force that will be mobile around the world. Maybe we can take them seriously, then. (Cue Stalin on the Pope, here.) Meanwhile, they have an awful lot of airplanes to buy, to start.
"It is the great question, still waiting to be answered:
A hole is blown in the heart of downtown Manhattan. One hundred thousand workers and thousands of residents are abruptly displaced. Tourism founders, recession settles in. Which businesses survive? Which move away or close for good? And what takes root in their place?"
[...]
"Business was so slow for months, Ms. Luongo remembers going next door to the barber shop and saying: 'I'm not getting a haircut today. So, unless you want chocolate, we should all just pack up and go home for the day.' (They did.)"
[...]
"And, all in all, there are tens of thousands fewer people in Lower Manhattan every day than there were before Sept. 11.
'It's depressing to be down here,' said Mary Pisarkiewicz, managing director of Pisarkiewicz Mazur & Company, a marketing communications firm. 'It's sad, it's very sad. Yes, I think the area will definitely come back. But I think it's going to be a long time.'"
[...]
"But patterns are apparent. And though it is not necessarily insurmountable, the problem of proximity to ground zero is, for many businesses, the biggest hurdle."
There are business where approximately 100% of their prior clientele are now dead. There are other businesses now thriving because their main competitor is dead.
"'If anybody asks me specifically what I need, I don't think they really want to hear the answer,' Mr. Anzalone of St. Charlie's said the other day. 'I need the 50,000 to 100,000 people that are gone from that area back. And I know that nobody can give me that.'"
PLEASE KILL THESE PEOPLE: I'm working on what I want to say about people who profit from September 11th. I don't think kindly of them, is the short and immediate version.
I'd like them to at least walk through and breath what they could when the towers fell, is the next thought.
I'd probably be arrested if I posted further thoughts.
"Marketing" and "September 11th" are not words that go together well for me.
"On display [at the Smithsonian] are pictures of detainees, cooped up behind chain-link wire fencing. But these are not al-Qaida nor Taliban: they are people of Japanese extraction who were rounded up under the presidential order of Theodore Roosevelt. It was a knee-jerk response to Pearl Harbour."
The minor detail, of course, is that it's not bloody named "Pearl Harbour." But, yeah, that's right, it was Teddy Roosevelt. Y'know, he personally captured all the Japanese-Cubans he found on top of San Juan Hill, after the Japanese blew up the Maine.
"Remember the Alamo? Commissions were employed in the war with Mexico in 1847."
And those two facts have what to do with each other? Apparently Martin Thomas, Lord Thomas of Gresford, thinks the battle of the Alamo in 1836 between Mexico and the rebellious Republic of Texas was part of the Mexican-American War in 1847. Which makes about as much sense as referring to the Boer War as part of WWI.
"...after the second world war the US military suffered a rush of conscience about the fairness of those rules in courts martial. As a result, Congress passed the Unified Code of Military Justice...."
Whereas in our universe, the Uniform Code of Military Justice was created in 1950, but only because prior to that the Army and Navy had separate disciplinary codes, not to mention that the Air Force had recently been created. It had nothing, bupkis, to do with a "rush of conscience" about military tribunals.
[...]
"What can be done? The British government could request the return of British detainees, whether in Afghanistan or elsewhere, to this country for open trial at the Old Bailey or other convenient criminal court. Through our 36 years' experience of terrorism, we have both the legislation and the procedures ready to deal with them fairly and justly."
My attitude? When the US is finished questioning them, if you want them, you got them.
[Note: I originally accidentally linked elsewhere than the article; this is now fixed.]
BIN LADEN'S LATEST TAPE is described by CNN. Interestingly, this interview was conducted by Al-Jazeera on October 21, who decided not to air it. Thought it made him look bad? CNN decided to air it, which I think is correct.
"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed," bin Laden said as the U.S. war on terrorism raged in Afghanistan. "The U.S. government will lead the American people in -- and the West in general -- into an unbearable hell and a choking life."
[...]
"Once that videotape was in our possession, we felt we had to report on it, and show it because it is extremely newsworthy," said Eason Jordan, CNN's chief news executive. "And we really were dumbfounded as to why Al-Jazeera would decide not to air or even acknowledge the existence of the videotape."
Thursday, Al-Jazeera said it was severing its relationship with CNN and taking "the necessary action to punish the organizations and individuals who stole this video and distributed it illegally."
"Al-Jazeera does not feel it is obligated to explain its position and its reasoning of why it chose not to air the interview," it said in a statement.
PALESTINIAN POLL, PT.III: Looking very closely at the actual results, I see such discouragement as:
Is lasting peace possible between Israelis and Palestinians? 2.1% definitely possible; 25.5% possible; 41% impossible; 27.8% definitely impossible; 3.7% don't know/no opinon.
Only 15.3% "strongly agree" that the destruction of the WTC was a terrorist act.
Only 14.2% "strongly agree" that the destruction of Pam Am 109 over Lockerbie was a terrorist act.
17.8% believe that "In the long run [...] the effect of the September 11 Twin Towers destruction in New York [...] will be to speed up a peace agreement."
"If Palestinians would use chemical or biological weapons against Israel, would you consider it to be an act of terror?" 48.5% say "no" and 20.9% "definitely no."
"How many airplanes were hijacked and crushed on US targets by people suspected to be from Bin Laden's organization on Sept. 11?" 13.6% say "two planes"; 27.5% say "three planes"; 33.7% say "four planes"; 7.6% say "five planes"; 17.6% no opinion/don't care.
"How many times a week do you watch news on Palestinian or your local TV stations?" 50.1% almost every day.
"How many times a week do you watch news on Al-Jazeera satellite channel?" 65.4% almost every day.
"Which of the following forms of government do you want to have for the Palestinian state after the state is established?" 41.6% want "A system as in Arab countries like Egypt, Syria, or Jordan"; 18.9% want "A system as in the US, Europe or Israel"; 17.2% want "A system as in Iran"; 3.6% want "a democratic system."
PALESTINIAN POLL, PT. II: Looking over the poll results more thoroughly, I do see some positive signs, but also yet other negatives ones that Thomas Nephew didn't comment upon. Which to look at first? On the positive side:
A majority of 60% supports an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire as declared by president Arafat, and 71% support an immediate return to negotiations.
Almost three quarters (73%) would support reconciliation between the two peoples after reaching a peace agreement leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state recognized by Israel.
36% would support taking legal measures against incitement in the state of Palestine.
37% would invite an Israeli colleague to visit at home and 35% would visit an Israeli colleague at his home.
46% believe that reconciliation is possible, and 41% believe that it is not possible.
74% believe that corruption exists in PA institutions, and 60% believe that it will increase or remain the same in the future.
Positive evaluation of Palestinian democracy stands at 23% and 49% believe that people can not criticize the PA without fear.
36% willing to support legal measures against incitement is pretty large, in present context, and therefore seems quite buildable upon in a more positive envirornment. Ditto these other figures. The last two demonstrate self-awareness.
On the negative side:
A majority of 61% believes that armed confrontations have helped achieve Palestinian national rights in ways that negotiations could not.
An overwhelming majority, ranging between 91%-98%, views all Israeli violent acts against Palestinians as acts of terror.
An overwhelming majority, ranging between 81%-87%, does not view Palestinian violent acts against Israelis as acts of terrorism.
41% view the attack on the Twin Towers in New York on 11 September as acts of terrorism; 46% view as terrorism the bombing of a Pan Am plan over Lockerbie, Scotland; and 63% view the distribution of Anthrax envelopes in the US as an act of terrorism.
While 94% would view as an act of terrorism a future use by Israel of chemical and biological weapons against Palestinians, only 26% would view the same act as terrorism if carried out by Palestinians against Israelis.
An overwhelming majority, ranging between 81%-87%, does NOT view the following Palestinian violent acts as acts of terrorism: the assassination of the Israeli Minister Ze'evi by armed PFLP men, the shooting at Gilo in Jerusalem by armed Palestinians, the killing of 21 Israeli youths at the Dolphinarium club in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian suicide bomber, and the killing of 3 Israelis in Nahari in Israel at the hands of an Israeli Arab suicide bomber.
Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority (ranging between 81%-87%) does not view Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians or politicians as terrorism, 37% does agree that there are circumstances under which use of terrorism to achieve political goals would be justified. It is noticeable that while the majority of Palestinians does not agree that Palestinian attacks on Israelis are terrorist acts, an even larger majority (91%-98%) does agree that Israeli attacks on Palestinians are acts of terror. For example, while 98% view the 1994 Baruch Goldstein massacre against Palestinians as terrorism, 82% does not agree that the killing of 21 Israeli youths by a Palestinians in a Tel Aviv night club was an act of terror.
Cheery attitude towards terrorism, eh? 59% think September 11th wasn't an act of terrorism. The survey didn't ask, apparently, what they thought it was, exactly, but presumably they feel it was a legitimate act of war. So much for the alleged general sympathy of Palestinians regarding September 11th, I'm sorry to say.
Meanwhile, other results of the survey indicate that the drop in support for Arafat and Fatah seems to have leveled off, though this leaves Fatah at 28% and the Islamists at 25%, whereas only a year ago, Fatah was at 41%, and Arafat in the ~70% level. Meanwhile, Marwan Barghouti's popularity has jumped up to 11%, from nothing.
DANIEL PEARL, kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter, has reportedly been killed, according to e-mail claiming to come from the kidnappers, received by CNN, FoxNews, and others.
"Pakistani authorities have said Pearl was most likely being held by a radical Muslim faction -- Harkat ul-Mujahedeen -- linked to al-Qaida."
Don't Islamic groups usually make references to Islam in their communiques? Do they really have as a top priority the obtainment of F-16s by the Pakistani government?
CNN reports:
"U.S. officials said Friday there are reasons to be skeptical about both the e-mail that claims kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl has been killed and a telephone call reportedly demanding a ransom for his life.
The e-mail message is unlike previous ones sent by those claiming to hold Pearl, U.S. officials said, suggesting it may have come from a different source. The message sent Friday, for example, did not include photographs, had better spelling and differed in other ways than previous e-mails, according to officials."
LATEST PALESTINIAN POLL: is something the eminently sane Thomas Nephew points to. The poll was conduted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah, questioning 1357 Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; margin of error +/- 3%. Among the most telling results:
92% support attacks against settlers, 58% support attacks against civilians inside Israel.
In the event of a peace agreement, 66% would support joint Palestinian-Israeli economic institutions and ventures -- but only 6% would support adopting school curriculum that recognizes Israel and teaches children not to demand return of all Palestine to Palestinians.
94% oppose the US campaign against Bin Laden; only 16% believe that Bin Laden was responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
Only 17% would support a political system "as in Iran" for the future Palestinian state. 42% said they would prefer a system "as in other Arab countries, like in Egypt, Jordan, and Syria;" and 19% said they would prefer a system "as in the US, Europe and Israel."
Thomas adds:
"It's hard to pick the most depressing item above, but I'd pick number 2; it tells me Israel's right to exist is not really acknowledged at all by 94% of Palestinians, that any settlement is just a preliminary truce before the next round of bombings. But maybe I'm missing something."
Nothing so important as I'd like, I think. I do note that polls are just snapshots, and people's opinions are immensely malleable, and change in response to events. Given the right circumstances, these numbers can surely change for the better. But I find only a little more comfort in them -- specifically, that 66% supporting joint institutions and businesses -- than Thomas does.
2/01/2002 07:20:00 PM |permanent link| | Main Page |
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BIZARRO WORLD ANN COULTER is writing to Ted Barlow:
"Did you hear about what the tax-and-spend Democrats are up to now? They want to spend $100 million dollars of your money to pay welfare queens to get married! Why do liberals think that poor people won’t fall in love unless Nanny Big Government acts as a matchmaker?"
RULES FOR SPACE TOURISTS: The major partners in the International Space Station -- the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe -- have set them. You can plunk down $20 million and go, but not if you are "drug abusers, alcoholics or guilty of 'notoriously disgraceful conduct.'"
I don't know about you, but I'm willing to give all that up for the sake of my trip. Now the trivial matter of making my first $20 million. I know, my blog donations will cover it! Please help! Act now! Click on the button! Click without thinking!
READ MACHIAVELLI urges reader Mark Brittingham, responding to my comments on "the axis of evil" by suggesting that
"Yes, of course it occurred to them. Of course they have to 'deny' that they really meant to compare these countries to countries who were beaten bloody in WWII and ultimately visited by nuclear weapons."
Mark asks and answers:
"Is it always better to avoid 'misunderstanding'? Or is it sometimes better to piss people off, get in their face, scare the bejezus out of them and then say 'oh, you MUST have misunderstood.' Diplomacy sometimes proceeds by the art of stating a position that is implied, then denied."
As a general point, he's spot-on, of course, and naturally this kind of coding is sine qua non for diplomatic intercourse. Whether he's correct that this was the calculated intent behind "the axis of evil," I can't say; I'd certainly prefer to believe it. I've read my Machiavelli, not to mention tons of diplomatic history. I expect Karl Rove has, as well as Powell and Cheney, amongst many others in the Administration. It's possible they were willing to balance confusing the world with an attempt to send a signal in choosing this usage, but if so, it doesn't strike me as the clearest signal, either. The rest of the words regarding Iraq, Iran, and North Korea weren't ambiguous or insufficient. The diplomatic world has had the bejeezus scared out of them by those alone; confusing them by the apparent linkage of using "axis" doesn't strike me as clearly adding value. But thanks for contributing the observation, Mark, which is a worthy one, and may be correct.
1/31/2002 03:12:00 PM |permanent link| | Main Page |
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THE PEARL KIDNAPPING: the latest story from the Times with the latest e-mail message. It contains this English-language paragraph:
"Some of our brothers in the pakstani government have assured us that they will do their best to ensure the rights of all pakstanis in custody the world over. May God enable them to fulfil their promise. If they break their promise then rest assured that there are many pakstanis who are ready to take steps for their wrongfully suffering brothers. and many amreekans who are sitting ducks."
The Pakistani government, from the mouth of Musharaff's top spokesman, no less, declared
"there is an establishment of an Indian linkage into this kidnapping."
EUROPE DOESN'T GET IT: That's a considerable over-generalization. But it's certainly true, so far as I can tell, for most of the usual suspects, such as the Grauniad. Today's leader is a point in evidence:
"George Bush's delusion"
"Tragedy does not give America a free hand"
"A tendency among politicians to exploit the September 11 tragedy has been apparent from the very first. In Israel, Russia and China, governments were quick to use America's agony to justify the unjustifiable in Palestine, Chechnya and in Xinjiang. Pakistan's ostracised regime found in September 11 a return route to international acceptance. Its arch rival India, in its turn, used one crisis to dramatise another, in Kashmir. From Tehran to Khartoum to Harare, political leaders climbed aboard the anti-terrorism bandwagon with a view to domestic advantage as well as Washington's aid and approbation. Even Tony Blair's post-September 11 empathy offensive was not totally devoid of similar calculations.
Such is the inevitable way, perhaps, of a hard-hearted, cynical world. But when George Bush, president of the very nation that was targeted, follows suit and begins to exploit and manipulate the September 11 tragedy for political advantage, alarm bells must ring out loud."
Absolutely. This is a classic motif at work: all the world can do this bad thing: it's the inevitable way of a hard-hearted, cynical world. Tsk, tsk, cluck, cluck. But when America and George Bush do it, then alarm bells must ring out loud.
Because America must be treated by a double-standard from the rest of the world.
And George W. Bush, well, say no more, say no more, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more.
"All US policy, both international and domestic, is now framed in terms of last autumn's emergency; all measures, however partisan and divisive, are justified in the name of patriotic unity and solidarity; all misgiving and dissent must be overridden for the sake of America's 'just cause.' This is a premise fortified by falsehoods and underpinned by a delusion. The principal falsehood is that the policies Mr Bush now advocates are dictated by an ongoing terrorist menace. They are not. Primarily they are the products of conservative Republicanism, set dangerously loose in September 11's aftermath."
This is what they don't get: this is largely untrue. Yes, it has some truth regarding domestic policy. I've pointed that out, and will go on pointing it out. But what they completely lack understanding of is that September 11th changed everything.
I'm not a Bush supporter. I'm a political eclectic, but I have a lot of left in my background, some in my foreground, and I've had no problem identifying at least partially as a liberal all my life. I don't regard Bush as legitimately elected, and I expect it's likely I'll work for the Democratic nominee in 2004. I oppose many of the Administration's domestic policies. I overwhelmingly support Democrats over Republicans, as a rule.
But post-September 11th, much of what goes on isn't partisan for me.
I'm a New Yorker, born and bred. Brooklyn, specifically, though I've also lived in Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. I've lived the overwhelming majority of my life in NYC, with time-outs for eight years in Seattle, a year in Boston, some months in East Lansing, Michigan, and a few other months here and there; I've only just found myself in Boulder, Colorado. I'm a New Yorker.
Most Europeans don't get, despite all they saw, what it meant to New Yorkers, and to many Americans, to see a sizable chunk of New York City reduced to a smoking ruin of incinerated bodies, leaving thousands of children and their elders weeping, looking for their lost ones.
Doing our best to prevent similar occurences ever happening again became, that day, the prime motivation in life for many people, and the prime driver of what government policy should be.
That's not a partisan idea.
It's not a falsehood that this is now the driving idea in American foreign policy. It's not a manipulation. It's not a trick. It's not a cover. It's not conservative Republicanism in the slightest. It's real. It's non-partisan. It's what most Americans, Democrats and Republicans, libertarians, sensible leftists, and independents, want. It doesn't mean we'll close our eyes to partisan issues, but neither will we confuse non-partisan issues with the partisan, for the most part. It's American.
"September 11 undoubtedly bound the American nation. But it did not blind it. Sooner or later, Mr Bush, self-styled universal soldier for truth, will have to stop pretending that tragedy gave him a free hand to remake America and the world to fit his simplistic, narrow vision - or risk having voters and US allies end the pretence for him. For this is the delusion under which he labours. And a very dangerous delusion it is too."
OPERATION MUMMIFIED SCULPURAL GENITALIA: John Aschroft announces:
ATTORNEY GENERAL: "AMERICA MUST CEASE TO BE A LURID STATUARY OF DEVIANT SEX"
Press Briefing by the Attorney General
[...]
"Beginning today, over four hundred (400) federal agents will begin fanning out across America, where they will storm the perverted ramparts of any and all public buildings, parks, and museums which harbor objectionable 'art.' While most offending works will be shrouded in draperies or clad in over-sized Brooks Brothers suits, some (most notably the Statue of Liberty) will undergo extensive artistic revisions, while yet others will find their repulsive intercourse muscles wrapped snugly and permanently in cocoons of industrial strength duct tape."
WHY TURKEY DOESN'T WANT WAR WITH IRAQ is explained by Fareed Zakaria. Because their overwhelming priority is to get into the European Union, first of all, which is a notion that surely jibes with the smatterings we here at Amygdala know about Turkey. Secondarily:
"If there is a war, it is impossible that Iraq will hold together.
Turkey’s nightmare is not that an invasion of Iraq will produce an independent Kurdish state on its southern border. 'That’s not an option,' a senior source close to the military explained. The nightmare is that the Army would be forced to preclude that option by occupying northern Iraq."
[...]
"Washington has told Ankara that it supports the principle that Iraq should remain one nation. Many Turkish generals don’t believe it. They think that once the war begins, all bets are off. The Iraqi Kurds have been the chief opposition to Saddam Hussein for a decade. Were they to declare independence, the United States would not crush them. We’re for self-determination, remember? As a result, Turkey wants assurances that no Afghan-style operation—bombing plus reliance on local forces—will be attempted."
JOE CONASONchimes in on pundit buck-raking, particularly knocking William Kristol, who deserves it.
"In fact, Mr. Kristol’s ethical code apparently applies to everyone but himself. This reflects poorly on someone who built his career on preaching about the liberal evasion of personal responsibility, the decline of public morality and the necessity of full disclosure by the Clinton administration.
But hypocrite and fraud that he is, even Bill Kristol isn’t beyond redemption. The first step would be to disclose all his corporate emoluments. Then he ought to give back that $100,000 to the Enron employees who were cheated."
ENRON HELPS WRITE TOM DELAY'S STIMULUS BILL: Jonathan Alter of Newsweekasks:
"Why did Enron (with the help of Ed Gillespie, a key Bush operative and company lobbyist) get to help write Tom DeLay’s stimulus bill? The last of these really blows my gaskets. [...] Get this: if the stimulus bill that passed the House, backed by the White House, somehow survives intact, the government would write a rebate check for $254 million to... Enron."
"That wording rocketed around the world today, and led to puzzled calls from diplomats here in Washington seeking to explain it in cables back to their capitals. The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said that in reaching for the word 'axis,' Mr. Bush meant no comparison to the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan during World War II."
The State of the Union Address is supposed to be vetted about 387.249 jillion times. It didn't occur to anyone that innumerable people would consider the comparison?
"He said the expression was 'more rhetorical than historical.'"
Do these people not know the most basic history? Keeping in mind that this is the crew that put "crusade" into a carefully vetted speech at one of the most critical times in the nation's history, and somehow never thought about the connotations for anyone with three brain cells to rub together. I just wave my hands helplessly in the air, and am thankful that more than not they've handled the war well, so far. But I'd definitely suggest Karen Hughes think about a new hire somewhere in her fief.
1/31/2002 01:47:00 AM |permanent link| | Main Page |
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HOWARD KURTZ AGREES WITH ME and god knows how many online pundits, not to mention Plain People.
"Now, there's some heated talk about journalistic finance reform -- that is, what are corporations buying when they lard their payrolls with prominent media folks? And should columnists and commentators be taking cash from companies such as Enron, about which they later find themselves delivering strong opinions?"
[...]
"I've been critical of journalistic buckraking since the mid-1990s, when I wrote about a $30,000 speech that Sam Donaldson had given to an insurance group. The gilded trail of corporate honoraria quickly led to such luminaries as David Brinkley, Robert Novak, David Gergen, Cokie Roberts, Christopher Matthews, Larry King, Mark Shields, Fred Barnes, George Will and Michael Kinsley, who memorably said: "I didn't do it for years, but it became more socially acceptable.'"
[...]
"New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who got $50,000 from an Enron advisory board before joining the Times, blamed the criticism on an 'effort by conservatives to sling Enron muck toward their left.' Unfortunately for this argument, most of the Enron journalists are free-marketeers on the right."
[...]
"Perhaps what rankles most is the notion that Enron was trying to do what it did with George W. Bush, John Ashcroft, Joe Lieberman, Lawrence Lindsey, Ralph Reed and about half of official Washington -- making an investment that could pay off later on. What, after all, did the commentators do for Enron? 'This was an advisory panel that had no function that I was aware of,' Krugman told his newspaper. Exactly.
It's hard for journalists who work for big companies, write books and appear on television to avoid all conflicts these days. But many of these commentators wax indignant when politicians of all stripes appear to be doing the bidding of those who fill their campaign coffers. For media people to line up at the same corporate trough is just asking for trouble."
THE FABLED ARAB STREET is what Neil MacFarquhar has been trying to find to listen to.
The first point hit heavily is that tons of Arabs think the US doesn't listen to them or understand them and this is evidenced by the lack of action taken by the US against Israel, which obviously shows the lack of care the US has for Palestinians and their national cause. Not exactly news, there. But:
"'The United States says that U.N. resolutions should be applied everywhere in the world except Israel. Why?' asked Muhammad Abdel Hadi, the editor of diplomatic news at the semiofficial daily Al Ahram. He complained that American officials brush him off when he makes this point. 'They say, 'Forget about the past, let's talk about the moment.'"
I surely hope that isn't true. Because one thing US officials, and everyone else, should say in reply is: "Sure, we want to see UN resolution 242 and 338 implemented. They call for acceptance by all the states of
"respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force" (242)
and
"calls upon all parties to present fighting to cease all firing" (338)
"Do you and your government support the idea that the Palestinians, as well as the Israelis, cease all firing? Do you and your government support the right of Israel to live in peace free from threats or acts of force? Good, so long as you and the Palestinian people and Authority live up to this, then we too shall pressure Israel to also live up to these Resolutions. But it's a two-sided deal, remember."
The other point hit upon in this piece is the vast popularity of Usama bin Laden.
"Even in a small hilltop town like Salt, Jordan, some feel so keenly that Muslim concerns are ignored that they heap praise on the 17 local men who went to join Osama bin Laden.
'I would like to be Osama and I would like to raise my son in the footsteps of Osama!' exclaimed Ibrahim Jelazi, a 58-year-old shopkeeper walking through Salt on a chilly night in a flowing brown robe. 'They may have stopped him from doing anything, but he had plans.'"
Again, the inferiority complex, the sense of impotence, and the sense of humiliation, are what I see here. Not "he accomplished some good" is what the man says -- not even "he accomplished something" -- it's simply the idea that "he had plans"; that alone is sufficient cause for pride. How sad. To attempt to make a serious point in a light way, this is an entire culture that desperately needs to take a self-esteem course, and then, better, actually start making serious contributions to world culture and technology, again, so they can take true pride in true achievements.
The last significant quote I find in this story is the following, from a merchant in Damascus:
"Every day you turn on the television and you see the Israelis killing Palestinians with U.S. weapons. No matter how much the U.S. tries to change its image in the Arab world, what we are seeing with our own eyes is much stronger."
That's what their tv shows them, and, of course, most people, particularly unsophisticated people without access to worldwide communications, believe their tv and their eyes. And their tv does not show them blown apart Israeli children, men, and women, heads lying next to bodies not their own, charred remains on fire as the blood sizzles. Only shot and suffering Palestinians.
We need a TV Free Islam, beamed in over the wishes of all the Arab and Islamic governments of the world, like it or not. It was a gung-ho idea while fighting Communism, and the effort is still being made for Cuba. We need it in Islamic lands far more than silly little Cuba, which threatens no one but its own people. Write your Congresscrittur. Write your newspaper. Write your tv station, and magazines, and newspaper columnists, and pundits, and online pundits. You don't even have to tell them Gary Farber sent you.
SELECTED HEADLINES OF ROBERT FISK: (I am aware he may not have written many or any of these himself.)
Congratulations, America. You have made bin Laden a happy man: 22 January 2002
Red Cross: US broke Geneva Conventions: 22 January 2002
It is shameful for Britain to support the degradation of these terrorist suspects: 22 January 2002
Robert Fisk: Brace yourself for Part Two of the War for Civilisation: 'The US air strikes have now killed more Afghans than the hijackers killed westerners and others': 22 December 2001
Who could forget
My beating by refugees is a symbol of the hatred and fury of this filthy war: 10 December 2001
Robert Fisk: This terrible conflict is the last colonial war: 04 December 2001
The river of victims runs through another war: 04 December 2001
Robert Fisk: We are the war criminals now: 29 November 2001
Robert Fisk: Forget the cliches, there is no easy way for the West to sort this out: 17 November 2001
A city of spiritual beauty broods in the rubble:15 November 2001
Robert Fisk: What will the Northern Alliance do in our name now? I dread to think...: 14 November 2001
Robert Fisk: No surprise at rumours of new atrocities by our 'foot-soldiers': 13 November 2001
Bin Laden: The target: So far, he hasn't put a foot wrong: 11 November 2001
Saifullah, man of peace, killed by American cruise missile: 30 October 2001
'The Taliban are not worried about being bombed': 27 October 2001
Robert Fisk: Farewell to democracy in Pakistan: 26 October 2001
Robert Fisk: As the refugees crowd the borders, we'll be blaming someone else: 'It is palpably evident that they are not fleeing the Taliban but our bombs and missiles': 23 October 2001
Robert Fisk: Slaughter of the innocent bolsters view that this is war against Islam: 15 October 2001
Robert Fisk: 'Will a few holes in the runway of Kandahar airport make a difference?': 14 October 2001
An original TV station that America wants to censor: Al-Jazeera: 11 October 2001
This next one is kinda self-referential
Robert Fisk: Lost in the rhetorical fog of war:'The Taliban have kept reporters out; does that mean we have to balance this distorted picture with our own half-truths?': 09 October 2001
Apparently the answer was "yes."
Robert Fisk: War disturbs the most dangerous political tectonic plate in the world: 08 October 2001
That was Afghanistan he means, mind.
Robert Fisk: Our friends are killers, crooks and torturers: 07 October 2001
Robert Fisk: This loose conjecture is unlikely to cut much ice with the Arab nations: 05 October 2001
That's the idea that bin Laden was responsible for September 11. You know, the idea that Prince Abdullah, ruler of Saudi Arabia, was expounding upon last week?
Backbenchers urge caution over military action: 05 October 2001
Robert Fisk: This is not a war on terror. It's a fight against America's enemies: 25 September 2001
Robert Fisk: How can the US bomb this tragic people?: 23 September 2001
If Bush wants an invasion, it could become more costly than Vietnam: 18 September 2001
Robert Fisk: Bush is walking into a trap: Retaliation is a trap: 16 September 2001
The lesson of history: Afghanistan always beats its invaders: 14 September 2001
KIDNAPPED AMERICAN JOURNALIST Daniel Pearl is a story the Times has been following, no matter that Pearl is a Wall Street Journal reporter. There are curious elements. Supposedly Pearl had been lured with promises of a meeting with
"Sheik Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani, who had ties with Muslim groups in the United States and who has disappeared from sight. He has a home in Rawalpindi and is described as the guardian of a mystical shrine in Lahore, Pakistan.
Mr. Pearl, who was reporting on the militant Islamic underground, apparently believed that the cleric had links to Al Qaeda, officials said. He may also have believed that the cleric had ties to Richard C. Reid, the shoe-bomb suspect, who studied Islam in Pakistan and was a focus of Mr. Pearl's inquiries, officials said."
[...]
"But, in one of many confusing aspects of the case, the police believe that the cleric was somewhere in northern Pakistan, not this southern port of Karachi, at the time of the abduction."
Although there's considerably more of interest in this story, what strikes me is what isn't said. Although there's an emphasis on how the police
"said they remained unsure about who kidnapped Mr. Pearl and why"
it's also said that the photos of Pearl and the e-mail sent to newspapers puzzle investigators, one reason being
"the text contained no references to God or any of the religious language and topics normally included in statements by militant Islamic organizations"
and further, the demand seem very moderate, such as a return of Pakistanis at Gitmo to Pakistan for trial, and here's the one that really strikes me: they want the delivery of the embargoed F-16s to Pakistan.
Call me wacky, but this smacks of one and only one group to me: ISI, the Pakistani Intelligence Service. Nowhere in the Times coverage is this even directly hinted at. But, pray tell me, who the hell else is going to want those planes delivered to the Pakistani Government? I'm likely talking through my hat, I suppose, since I've not yet seen anyone even hint at this. But I'm going to follow this with interest.
"was sent under the name 'kidnapperguy' via Hotmail, Microsoft's free e-mail service."
Isn't the Internet wonderful? Also,
"Text in Urdu attached to the e-mail message and translated by The New York Times began, 'A national movement to restore the dignity of Pakistan has been launched.' The demand related to the F-16's was made only in the Urdu text."
TWO COMMENTS ON THE SOTU SPEECH: I thought Gerson did a pretty decent job, overall. But two phrases struck me as truly badly chosen.
"Axis of evil" is a very poor way to describe Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Not because elements in their government couldn't fairly be described as "evil," of course, or at least "dangerous to us." But because unlike the "Axis" of WWII, these three powers have no treaty or anything else whatsoever linking them. There is simply no "axis" among them or between any two of them. So it seems to anal-me a weird and poor choice of term.
I suppose "melange of evil" doesn't have the same ring, though.
"Let's roll"? What, are we a nation. or a cop show?
"He's an uncontrollable amnesiac superpower on a mission from God. She's a sharp-shooting wisecracking bisexual goth zombie midsize power. They fight crime! Let's roll!"
DEAD MAN WALKING is what Tom Friedman calls Arafat today, quoting Middle East writer David Makovsky:
"'Everyone hoped Arafat would be Nelson Mandela, but he turns out to be Robert Mugabe.'"
Friedman continues:
"This leaves us with five options. Option one: The Arab leaders will get together and try to replace Mr. Arafat as the relevant negotiating partner with Israel and offer Israelis a pan-Arab comprehensive peace in return for total withdrawal. Option two: Palestine is Jordan — Israel will invite Jordan to replace Mr. Arafat and re-assume its sovereignty in the West Bank, as the only Arab party Israel could trust there. Option three: Jordan is Palestine — Ariel Sharon will reoccupy the West Bank and drive Palestinians into Jordan. Option four: the Palestinians will oust Mr. Arafat and replace him with a new leadership that will restore Palestinian credibility with Israel as a responsible peace partner and authority. Option five: NATO takes over the West Bank and Gaza."
I think option three is best avoided. It would be unspeakably brutal, destroy the moral nature of Israeli society, and be at least a small historic crime.
I'm not planning on holding my breath for option four, particularly the second part, though one never knows.
Option one also seems rather on the unlikely side, though again, not wholly impossible.
Option two, well, King Abdullah hasn't been reported to be insane, so I don't see him taking that one up.
Which leaves only option five. Though Pete McCutcheon in rec.arts.sf.fandom, on Usenet, keeps suggesting that the South Koreans would be a good neutral choice.
WOODWARD-BALZ "Ten Days In September" series continues in the Post. Today is up to the 14th:
"Many in the room were crying. The president was teary-eyed as he made his way from one family to the next. One man, cradling a child in his arms, was carrying a picture of his brother, a firefighter who had been killed. The child pointed at the photograph and said simply, 'My uncle.'"
IT'S STILL NOT A SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION: The controversy over Ed Kramer, founder of Dragon*Con, and accused of sexual contact with underage boys, is reported onhere. I have no dog in the fight, and no idea if Ed is innocent or guilty. I just hate that so many people have the idea that the sort of three-ring kitchen sink mass-media circus D*C is, is a science fiction convention, as opposed to a real sf convention. Not that I wish for anyone who likes D*C, or its junior imitators, to have anything but fun at it/them, of course. It's just that some of us actually like to read good books and short stories, he said boringly, and to hang out with those others in the sf community who do, as well as talk about Buffy, Trek, etc.
1/30/2002 01:55:00 PM |permanent link| | Main Page |
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IMPRECISE PRECISION: "Afghanistan proved that expensive precision weapons defeat the enemy and spare innocent lives, and we need more of them," said the President. But perhaps fewer or improved JDAMs and more laser-guided, instead?
"Nonetheless, there are good reasons, primae facie, to expect that the Afghanistan bombing campaign was less accurate than the one executed as part of Operation Allied Force [the Kosovo War]."
[...]
"The percentage of smart bombs used in Afghanistan was perhaps twice as high as in the 1999 Balkans conflict: 60 percent versus 30 percent. However, in Afghanistan, a much greater proportion of the smart weapons were guided by the Global Positioning System than was the case in the 1999 Yugoslavian war, where most were laser-guided."
[...]
"A greater emphasis on GPS-directed weapons."
"One development that distinguishes the Afghanistan bombing campaign that should have led to fewer civilian casualties than in the 1999 Kosovo war was an increase in the percentage of "smart" weapons used. However, within the category of 'smart" weapons, there also was a switch in emphasis from laser-guided bombs to bombs directed by means of the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Most current GPS directed weapons, such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), are simply less accurate than laser-guided bombs.15 Indeed, GPS-directed weapons are not routinely called "precision" weapons at all, but "accurate" or "near precision" ones. Under test conditions, JDAMs have been able to reliably achieve a Circular Error Probable (CEP) of approximately 10-13 meters -- meaning that fifty percent of the JDAMs dropped will hit within 32-42 feet of their programmed coordinates. By comparison, laser-guided bombs routinely achieve CEPs of 3-8 meters. Even a difference as small as an 8-meter versus a 10-meter CEP equates to being able to put 50 percent of expended weapons within a 2100 square foot circle versus being able to put them in a circle of 3300 square feet. Should an intended target sit among a cluster of buildings, the difference between these two circular areas is significant. And, of course, in either case 50 percent of the weapons fall outside the circles.
There are several reasons for the increased US emphasis on GPS-directed weapons: they are cheaper than laser-guided bombs, they can be used in all weather conditions, they can be launched from much greater distances and, because their targets need not be designated while the weapons are in flight, they can be dispensed in large batches. As substitutes for "dumb bombs" they promise greater precision in attack. But if the present generation of GPS-directed munitions are used to substitute for more precise laser-guided weapons, the aggregate effect will be a reduction in the average accuracy of the smart weapon mix."
THE GUNS AND BUTTER UNION: Jacob Weisberg got it right in Slate:
"You could tell the speech was about to get more partisan when Bush disavowed any such intent. [...] For example, Bush no longer has a conservative economic agenda. He now has an 'economic security' package that's a domestic corollary to our fight overseas.
As delineated in Bush's speech, though, 'economic security,' sounds a lot like maxing out your credit cards. On top of 'the largest increase in defense spending in two decades' and 'nearly' doubling spending on homeland security, the president issued or renewed calls for the following items: a stimulus package, an acceleration of already-passed tax cuts, making all tax breaks permanent, all manner of new education spending, a prescription drug benefit for the elderly, private Social Security accounts for younger workers, an expansion of the Peace Corps, and about a dozen other not insignificant things."
FBI COUNTER-SPY OUT: Sheila Horan, acting head of FBI's National Security Division, aka "Counterintelligence," aka "the spycatchers," has been summarily drop-kicked by Director Mueller, according to the Times.
"...officials said [...] Mr. Mueller transferred Ms. Horan [...] to an administrative support position. They said she was expected to leave the bureau."
The passive voice is just the most useful voice in journalism, innit?
Reasons cited include Hanssen-reeling and an allegedly botched investigation of Chinese spying.:
"Mr. Mueller had lost patience [...] for [her] failing, in his view, to conduct a sufficiently aggressive inquiry into the accusations. Mr. Mueller was said to be especially displeased that she did not provide him sooner with details about the case."
Pissing off your boss is usual Reason Number One for getting shoved out.
"Other officials said that Mr. Mueller [...] had been impatient with the breezy and independent style of Ms. Horan...."
Moreover, her rabbi had left.
"Ms. Horan, an agent with more than two decades of experience at the F.B.I. [...] standing had eroded. She had been a deputy to Neil Gallagher, who before his retirement had headed the national security division and took much of the criticism from Congress concerning the Lee case. Under Mr. Gallagher, Ms. Horan had been in day-to-day charge of spy investigations."
GLOBAL ENRON CROSSING: The failure of Global Crossing has been much blogged and written about already, of course, as befits the largest US telecommunications bankruptcy ever, and one now being spun ("DNC chief profited from bankrupt firm") by the Republican side as damaging Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe as much as Enron allegedly damages Republicans (more than Democrats, but oh, there's plenty for all, boys and girls, that's one clear thing about All-Enron-All-The-Time). It's just possible that not all deregulation is always a good thing, and I suspect that view may push forward a bit again in the public discourse.
1/29/2002 08:21:00 PM |permanent link| | Main Page |
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OKAY, MAYBE A CRACKER JACK PRIZE?: Reader Roger Sweeny points out, perfectly politely, that Paul Krugman only won a Nobel Prize in my fertile imagination, and doesn't even ask me what drugs I was on to come up with that. I do wonder where I hallucinated that factoid from? As a result of this, our entire editorial staff at Amygdala has been fired.
Just like Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka. (Gotta pound those Japanese pegs down when they stand out.)
IT'S ALL RIGHT, THEN: The European Union has issued a statement defending Yasser Arafat.
"...and said it may demand compensation from Israel for EU-funded property it has destroyed in Palestine. [...] Some EU foreign ministers were more blunt, Sweden's Anna Lindh, being the most outspoken.
As she arrived for yesterday's meeting of EU foreign ministers, she said: 'I think it is very dangerous if the United States is supportive of the Israeli government and of the confrontation [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon has tried to use instead of supporting peace talks.'
Diplomats said the EU declaration was balanced and pointed out that it called on Mr Arafat to 'do everything to put an end to terrorism and the armed intifada; dismantle all the terrorist networks and arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of terrorist acts'"
KRUGMAN ARCHIVE: I've belatedly noticed the Paul Krugman archive, set up by a fan (hey, some people do Madonna, or Gillian Anderson, or wosshername, that Taiwanese politician, and some people do economists). A variety of interesting stuff, particularly if you want to learn about macroeconomics. The fellow who runs the page has a critical letter to Krugman here. One trivial point struck me when he said "[Krugman's] column on the AOL Time Warner merger was rock solid." So I looked at that piece from 1999, and read the Nobel Prize winner saying:
"The Fortune site, part of Pathfinder, was deeply flawed in at least two ways: Much of it was in unreadable yellow type (when I inquired about that, I was told it looked better on a Macintosh, suggesting a slight lack of consumer orientation)...."
I always wonder when I run across someone who doesn't know that they can set a browser's, any browser's, text they're reading, or the background for it, to be any damn color they like. True, web designers shouldn't suggest bad choices, just as they shouldn't, tsk, set absolute text sizes. But these are all under the control of one's browsers, under ordinary circumstances, so far as I know, and it doesn't take a Nobel Prize to know this.
1/29/2002 06:48:00 AM |permanent link| | Main Page |
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"'The president will focus on priorities like jobs and the war, while others will focus on politics,' said Jim Wilkinson, White House deputy communications director."
BIG MONEY JOURNALISM: Howard Kurtz has another entry on columnists taking Enron money. But there's a far larger issue here. It's commonly considered unseemly for politicians to have to scrabble to raise vast sums to run for office.
This is because, of course, theoretically a politician is supposed to represent people, not money, but, unsurprisingly, since they need that money to stay in office, they do, in fact, end up being highly influenced to grant access and favors to those responsible for steering money and favors towards them.
We could just sigh about this being the inevitable way of the world, but in fact this has a pretty bad effect unless one favors plutocracy over democracy.
The same problems afflict journalism and professional punditry. Big Names are commonly put into the six figure income range by dint of having money steered to them by the same, dare I say it, monied interests, by such means as payments for "speeches" and "consultancies."
In this Kurtz column, which offers no revelations beyond some handy examples for me to hang this on, he quotes:
"Lawrence Kudlow, a National Review contributing editor and co-host of CNBC's 'America Now,' disclosed last week that he'd gotten $50,000 from Enron -- two $15,000 speaking fees and a $20,000 subscription to his New York economic research firm.
Kudlow, who has been denouncing Enron, says he has 'nothing to hide' and has been 'tougher' on the bankrupt company because he feels 'betrayed. . . I felt compelled to speak up because I had been involved there.'
Kudlow says he should have disclosed the payments in a National Review piece on Enron the previous week. 'If I had to do it over again, I would have put it in there. I acknowledge that,' he says."
How about every journalist and pundit publish a complete list of whom they've taken money from, every quarter?
"Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, was paid $100,000 for serving on an Enron advisory board over two years. In November, the Standard disclosed his service in a largely positive article about Enron by contributing editor Irwin Stelzer, who served on the same advisory board, which was assembled by former CEO Kenneth Lay.
'What Enron and Lay deserve to be remembered for is leading the fight for competition. . .. Enron fought to allow customers and suppliers to strike whatever bargains they found mutually advantageous. . . Enron did challenge and defeat the establishment,' Stelzer wrote.
Kristol says he does 'a fair amount' of speaking to corporate groups and doesn't normally disclose it, but decided it would be 'prudent' in this case. What did Enron get? 'I don't know -- why do a lot of trade associations and companies feel it's appropriate to pay me and a million other people to give speeches?'"
He asks this as if it's a rhetorical question, but it's not. It's a key question to what's wrong with mass journalism and punditry and "opinion-making" in this country (not that the US is unusual in this, of course). Why do people give Big Money to journalists/"opinion leaders"? Well, duh, to make them feel favorably inclined to the interests of the people giving the money. It's what's commonly called a "bribe," save that it's not for a direct quid pro quo. And unless we want politicians and journalists to be taking bribes, so long as it's just not for a direct quid pro quo, don't you think that the least we can do is start by asking for full disclosure?
"He says he may let his deputy handle future Enron articles 'just to be super-clean about it.'"
How about not just Enron, Bill? How about disclose everyone who gives you money? I'll hold off on the horrific idea of suggesting maybe journalists shouldn't be taking money from anyone but the employers they write for, as the sun would likely go nova before we get to that radical an idea.
"Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, who got $25,000 to $50,000 for helping Lay with a speech and annual report, says, 'Whether I had worked with Ken Lay or not,' the company's behavior 'would have made me angry and I would have thought about it for a while and then done a column. The only thing I think my Enron experience gave me was a sense of the corporate culture, which I tried to paint [. . . ] I brought it up myself, deliberately, knowing I might expose myself to woe -- because I had strong opinions and couldn't dodge them.'"
Which is pretty much exactly, of course, the story from:
"New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who got $50,000 from the Enron advisory board, blames the flap on 'conservative newspapers and columnists. . . . Reading those attacks, you would think I was a major-league white-collar criminal. . . . Part of a broader effort by conservatives to sling Enron muck toward their left,' he writes.
Little pisses me off more than people squeezing every damn issue into a matter of handedness, as if all the world were divisible by what place a person or stance is findable at on a simple one-dimensional yard-stick. I'm disgusted by the hypocrisy of those who choose whom to find fault with over an identical issue by how much they identify with how closely on that yardstick they find themselves near someone. Kristol, Krugman, Noonan, all the big name journalist-pundits, they're all guilty of bribe-taking, and although more money flows more heavily towards "rightist" writers, as a rule, for obvious reasons, largely the issue here is that those with big megaphones get bribed more heavily, for equally obvious reasons. And it's all equally right or wrong, just as it's equally as right or wrong be it a politician or a journalist/pundit taking the money. I think it's largely wrong. At the least, I think we'd be better served by disclosure.
1/29/2002 02:09:00 AM |permanent link| | Main Page |
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DEMANDS AND REQUESTS: Ah, the language of diplomacy. The lovely and becoming Arab News covers the press conference of Saudi Arabian Interior Minister Prince Naif, who said of the over one hundred Saudi Arabians detained at Camp X-Ray:
"We’ll demand that the Saudi detainees be handed over, because they are subject to the Kingdom’s rules."
The charming and talented Washington Post also covered this, save he's "Prince Nayef" to them, and, having noted the "demand," follow with:
"Bush responded to Nayef's demand by saying, 'I appreciate his request.'"
Among some of Naif/Nayef's other words, by the way:
"He defended the Salafi school and Wahhabism saying 'Wahhabism is only a reform movement aimed at clearing Islam of misconceptions.'
Prince Naif described Israeli attacks against the Palestinian people as 'harsh and horrible terrorist attacks.' [...] He said that the Arab and Islamic world was facing a 'savage' Western media attack led by US media."
ABDULLAH SPEAKS: The ruler of Saudi Arabia had a royal audience with the NY Times and the Washington Post today. He referred to the "so-called tension" between the Kingdom and the US (if we say it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist), and then blamed the nonexistent tension on the Usual Suspects, the "media."
"A lot of what is described as so-called tension is really the result of some in the media and statements by some members of the U.S. Congress."
"A deviant is a deviant regardless of nationality. Bin Laden is a deviant regardless of his nationality. I also believe that bin Laden had an objective in this case. Bin Laden's objective was to drive a wedge between the Kingdom and the United States. He picked young Saudis, and he was able to brainwash them, he was able to program them for an evil cause. The proof is that he was able to name them and say what regions they came from. That is proof that he planned this very carefully."
Now, cast your mind back just a few weeks ago, a month or two or more ago: remember how across the Islamic world were endless denials that bin Laden could be responsible for September 11th? The endless demands for "proof"? The insistence that no attack on Afghanistan could possibly be just, as there was no "proof" against bin Laden or al Queda? How the goalposts move! Now the "proof" that Saudi Arabians are good and that bin Laden is a simple deviant, only coincidentally a Saudi Arabian, just as the 15 Saudi terrorists were only coincidentally Saudi Arabian, is that bin Laden "planned this very carefully." Isn't logic a flexible tool?
The Post also noted that:
"Several hours before the interview with Abdullah, Interior Minister Prince Nayef drew a comparison between Israeli actions and terrorism committed by Muslims. Declaring in an address carried on state television that 'Islam is against terrorism,' he then asked, 'Why is it not said that Israeli terrorism is the fiercest and most heinous terrorism being committed now?'"
NYPD COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTER-TERRORISM: New top johnnies with clout have been appointed.
"...the two new deputy commissioners have a combined 70 years of experience sneaking spies into foreign countries, landing soldiers on foreign shores and navigating the bureaucratic back alleys in Washington where policy and politics intersect."
[...]
"the two new positions, deputy commissioner[s] [...will be filled by] a retired Marine Corps general to oversee counterterrorism efforts and a former C.I.A. spymaster to head the department's intelligence division...."
WYCHE FOWLER, former Senator from Georgia, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, was absolutely nailed to the wall, put through the wall, and nailed to the next wall, by Matt Welch, in this devastating collection of apologetics for the Kingdom.
"...for my money, no single misguided pundit has done as much harm to the country in this time of crisis as Wyche Fowler."
WAR DEATHS: Old news to some, but I'm catching up to these rebuttals to Marc Herold’s assertions of over 4,000 Afghani war dead killed by the US. Matt Welch quoted Mark Steyn quoting Human Rights Watch at under 1,000, and also Bruce Ralston and Charles Johnson. I also see Ralston again, quoting a study and The Globe and Mail, among others:
Reuters: 1,000 (a month ago)
Human Rights Watch: 1,000 (also a month ago)
Project on Defense Alternatives: 1,000-1,300
Marc Herold: 4,000+
BOOK DEAL, SCHMOOK DEAL: Matt Welch asks that we should all note the way the repression inherent in the system affects him, too, really, trulio, or, at least, wishes it would so he could get some of the goodies, too, which I'll agree he surely deserves. In passing, he notes
"Bestselling author and long-toiling intellectual Susan Sontag also made the conceptually daring connection between criticism of her foolish reactions to September 11 and the domestic victory of the Thought Police: 'It turns out,' she concluded, 'we have increasingly become incredibly conformist, and very afraid of debate and criticism.' Too true! Pass the book deal!"
"UCLA Acquires Archive of Susan Sontag. [...] Author Susan Sontag's literary archive, which includes essays, film scripts and diaries, has been purchased by the UCLA Library, the university announced Saturday.
An anonymous alumna of the University of California at Los Angeles donated $1.1 million to purchase the work from Sontag, the Los Angeles Times reported."
Rather more than any advances Sontag has ever been contracted for, I'm quite sure. I'm pretty darn sure more than her combined total royalties, as well, though conceivably I'm wrong. Go for the platinum, Matt, and get that University library papers deal; follow the money. Gosh knows I'm not as reliable as AP, which included this graf further down in the story:
"Her first collection of essays, Against Interpretation, was published in 1996 and is considered a modern classic for its discussion of the arts and contemporary culture."
"The images of John Walker Lindh's grimy face among captured Taliban fighters helped make him one of the most hated figures in America's war on terrorism.
"'Looks like a rat, talks like a rat ... must be a rat,' read the New York Post headline" [...] "with Lindh back on American soil and facing charge that could bring life in prison, his defense team is battling to reshape his public image." [quotes from the weeping parents] "'John loves America [...] He never meant to harm any American, and he never did harm any American.'"
Much etc. More about the impossibilty of reshaping the image of this loathed and hated figure.
"In a mid-December Gallup poll, 70 percent of respondents thought Lindh should be imprisoned or executed. A newer poll released Friday by CNN-Time Magazine found only 3 percent of 1,017 adults said Lindh 'did not do anything seriously wrong.'
Succeeding in humanizing the 'American Taliban' in the public's eyes may be impossible, say some of the nation's top image crafters."
Again, much etc.
"By his return, Lindh had become, along with Osama bin Laden, one of the most hated figures to emerge from the war."
"John Walker Lindh has captured the imagination of the American press. Since his delivery to the media circus two months ago, the details of his life, background, hairstyle, and musical tastes have been recounted in detail by fascinated reporters.
Example: His first appearance at a US District Court last Friday in Alexandria, Virginia, was one of a 'boyish and meek' young man, noted the Boston Globe.
Though no one has yet to conjure up images of a modern day Robin Hood, John Walker’s title, 'American Taleban,' has caught on quickly throughout the United States, and websites have already been registered for Internet use.
National accounts of his recent court appearance focused on his appearance and mannerisms, and marked the makeover from soiled captive to model prisoner.
Lindh was 'clean-cut,' 'shorn,' and 'baby faced' among other things. National Public Radio referred to him as 'an intelligent and curious young man' and 'an inquisitive soul,' while CBS billed Lindh as 'very calm, very polite... not at all the grubby renegade.' Reuters called him 'America’s home-grown holy warrior.'"
Etc., etc., etc., as Yul Brynner used to say. Yes, the trusty Arab News has sussed out what America's press missed: that America's press loves John Walker Lindh, and admires his adoption of Islam and his bold and dashing ways.
Meanwhile, Instapundit Glen Reynolds seconds a question from a reader noting that Walker
"...changed his name to Sulayman al-Lindh, according to early news reports on CNN and elsewhere. Yet all the media are now referring to al-Lindh exclusively by his former name.
Why is this? Perhaps, just perhaps, refusing to use his real name --Sulayman al-Lindh -- preserves a patina of innocence for the Taliban fighter formerly known as John Walker. It marginalizes the fact that al-Lindh took intentional steps over a period of three years to place himself in the heart of violent Islamic fundamentalism, a process so deliberate that he changed his name to begin it."
To which the trusty Arab News notes
"And, just to toss things up, Lindh’s attorney, James Brosnahan, announced that his client now wanted to be called 'John Lindh,' rather than John Walker, John Walker Lindh, Suleyman Al-Lindh, Suleyman Al-Faris or Abdul Hamid — all previously given names."
With respect to the sagacious Glen Reynolds, I thought this was a "duh" category question. Lindh has a lawyer. He, his associates, and Lindh's parents want the Talib to seem as sympathetic as possible. Duh. Of course they're going to clean him up and re-bill him with his American name. Like he'd get better promo in the US press as "Suleyman Al-Lindh"? Duh? And just to finish with that marvelous Arab News, since they'd believe "Suleyman" would rilly work swell for Al-Lind:
"Whatever you want to call him, there is a readymade audience for him across the US. 'If you shaved him and gave him a haircut and taught him some dance moves, he would become the most popular guy on campus, with all the girls going for him,' said one participant in a recent CNN 'Talk Back Live' show. Meanwhile, conspiracy-driven observers continue to speculate that, in reality, Lindh is a paid CIA plant, or a fall guy. Stay tuned."
YOU SHOULD BE READING JAMES LILEKS' BLEATSregularly.
"Today I put batteries in Gnat’s Sesame Street Kitchen Playset. Her Nana picked it up at a garage sale, and the batteries had long run dry. As I installed new batteries I realized this was a stupid thing to do, since it guaranteed more bleepin’ bleeping, and I try to keep the pointless electronic chatter in the house to a minimum. It’s a small piece with a little stove and a sink, and buttons with Gove, Eem, and Dutdut (Grover, Elmo, and Big Bird, or Big Duck as she has named him, bravely recontextualizing his identity to bring out the polymorphous transspecies essence that simultaneously comments on and stays apart from the corporatist branding paradigm whose capitalistic imperatives underscore, yet slyly invalidate, the tortured dichotomy of a public television system wholly dependant on both the market and the government, and can I have my grant now? Please?)
As I have mentioned before, I do not mind Elmo. I think he’s actually cute - although of course if I had no idea what Elmo was, and he turned up in the basement, I would beat him with a shoe. Every Elmo show follows the same strict sequence. There's always a segment with Mr. Noodles, a befuddled and much put-upon man in baggy clothes. I first met Mr. Noodles during the bout of pneumonia, and for some reason he was a comfort, perhaps because he seemed to be sweating as much as I was. Then - inexplicably - he was replaced with another Mr. Noodles, who looked nothing at all like the Real Mr. Noodles. It would be like replacing Mr. Greenjeans with a short fat guy. This really bothered me; it was one of those Dick York - Dick Sargent swapouts that required an explanation. And sure enough: eventually I saw an Elmo episode in which both Mr. Noodles appeared side by side. You could tell they were different because one had a bandaid on his forehead; then they grappled forever in an energy corridor between two universes. But what of Mr. Noodles? I asked myself. What of Mr. Noodles?"
BLOGGER HISTORY: Fascinating to see here that Cameron Barrett properly credited
"Like fanzine editors before them, weblog editors embrace a topic or theme and run with it."
As a longtime historian of decades standing of the fanzine and sf fanzine field, I'm pleased to see ancestry noted here (just as so many "internet" terms were invented back in the 1940's and '50's by sf fans in sf fanzines, such as "IMHO" and "Real Soon Now" and so on, and are properly credited in The Jargon File).
If you've not figured it out yet, by the way, my "topic or theme" is "Stuff That Interests Or Amuses Or Pisses Off Gary." Though I probably need to get around to a second page for rants that don't particularly hang on links.
"JEDDAH, 22 January — Neil Bush, brother of US President George Bush, said here yesterday that the distorted image of the Arab world could be removed through the sustained lobbying of US politicians."
Translation: give me money.
"The US media campaign against the interests of Arabs and Muslims and the American public opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be influenced through a sustained lobbying and PR effort."
Translation: well, you don't need it again.
[...] "[Bush] began his speech on 'The corporate challenges of human resources in a complex global environment.'"
Translation: how's that for a title for a meaningless speech so you Can Give Me Money?
"In the speech, he called for the root causes of terror to be explored."
Yes, that was certainly the first thing to leap to, eh? Gosh, and who knew Neil Bush was such a gooey lefty?
"There could be economic disparities, social unrest or unemployment causing growing dissatisfaction in the region. But I have been told that the bigger issue is the resolving of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Good to have his expert opinion.
"There was only lip service for ending the conflict, but since Sept. 11 there has been a difference. There seems to be a sense of urgency. The difference is public opinion has shifted."
Well, good thing September 11th, happened, then, eh? Now there is no longer lip service, but a sense of urgency. Who knows how much more things might improve with a few more weapons of mass destruction hitting the US, eh? People might realize the US should just dump Israel entirely, and the problem will be solved, urgency and all. And then the Middle East will be filled with naught but joy and happiness, richness and goodness. And never again will there be terrorism. The end.
And Snow White lived with the Prince happily ever after.
SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET are one result of Taliban rule.
"One student, Muhammad Salim, 25, was overjoyed when he found his skeleton amid the debris in a large room. 'My grandma!' Mr. Salim exclaimed in English, as he picked up a large plastic bag in which a skull, femur and other bones rattled against one another."
"Rotating nozzles are fixed to the ceilings, designed to spray soap and water in a circular motion like an indoor carwash. After the rinse cycle, hot air blows everything dry.
The floors are slanted imperceptibly toward corner drains. In the living room, where the sprinklers are not at the moment operating, paintings are coated in plastic. [...] Ms. Gabe's patent for Self-Cleaning Building Construction, which hangs on the living room wall, shrouded in plastic wrap, contains 68 separate components. Among them is the Gabe Waterless Self-Cleaning Toilet and the Gabe Self-Cleaning Book Jacket. The most intriguing notion may be the Gabe Washer-Dryer Closet, which washes and dries clothes while they are still on hangers."
NON-DAVOS: Interesting little bit buried in this story about the current World Economic Forum meeting:
"Saudi Arabia plans to send a delegation of some 50 princes, high-ranking officials and other dignitaries to undertake a charm offensive in the wake of the terrorist attacks, said Hassan Yassin, a Saudi businessman and former head of the Saudi Information Office in Washington. [...] After the forum, the Saudis plan to fan out across the country in an effort to mend fences and repair their country's tattered image here. 'Unfortunately, there were Saudi citizens among those who attacked America,' Mr. Yassin said. 'We want to show we are not all siblings of those terrorists.'"
THERE JUST CAN'T BE ENOUGH STORIES about buzkashi, don't you think? But I'd not read before the rules of Qarajai and tudabarai. You probably have, though.
"...the team from Parwan discovered an interloper, an extra rider who had sneaked onto the field to aid the losing Kabul side. In an instant, the Parwan team set upon him, lashing and pummeling the man as he spurred his horse desperately to get away.
The would-be savior's soldiers leaped from the bleachers and began running to the aid of their commander, their AK-47s at the ready. Spectators dropped to the ground, taking cover."
Yes, sports are back in Afghanistan! It's not just amputations, stonings, and beheadings any more!
I'm no sports person, but I seriously think we need a major movement to make buzkashi an Olympic event; don't you?
"Before his death in 4 BC, Herod suffered intense itching, painful intestinal problems, breathlessness, fever, swelling in the feet, convulsions and, finally, genital gangrene."
That's, like, the worst place to have it, don't you think?
But the annual Historical Clinicopathological Conference is always fun, and especially for an event with such a humdinger of a name.
"At the conference, doctors apply their diagnostic skills to historical figures whose deaths have not been satisfactorily explained. Previous conferences concluded rabies killed Edgar Allan Poe and that the Roman emperor Claudius died after eating poisonous mushrooms."
JAPANESE EXPECT CULTURE CLASH with British "hooligans" when the World Cup commences in Tokyo.
"The Japanese got a professional soccer league only six years ago. While spontaneous singing and chanting may be typical throughout matches in England, fans here offer up their enthusiasm in carefully controlled chants delivered in unison and led by a cheerleader. Rather than the chorused profanities one might hear in England, Japanese fans repeat such simple phrases as 'Japan, Japan, Japan' to the rhythm of a large bass drum. The opposing teams' cheerleaders bow to each other after the match."
WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DADDY?: Beginning of a long Dan Balz/Bob Woodward series on a minute by minute account of "10 Days in September: Inside the War Cabinet." Interestingly, it has another account of the story that there had been a threat against AF 1 using the code name "Angel," a claim later reportedly debunked; the new spin:
"The threat to the plane turned out to be false. Someone inside the White House had heard a threat to Air Force One, perhaps in a phoned-in call, and passed it up the line using the code word 'Angel.' Others thought the threatening caller had used the code word. It took days for the incident to be sorted out and weeks before the White House publicly acknowledged it."
It also quotes Bush as telling Cheney, during the Barksdale stopover that
"Government is not chaotic. It's functioning smoothly."
THOSE WACKY SAUDIS: Quite significant interview with the head of Saudi Arabian intelligence, Prince Nawwaf bin Abdul Aziz, by Elaine Sciolino. Although the piece is full of the usual staggering quotes about how
"I'm telling the Americans: You can accuse Arafat of anything except that he is not a man of peace,"
here's the real kicker:
"A classified American intelligence report taken from a Saudi intelligence survey in mid-October of educated Saudis between the ages of 25 and 41 concluded that 95 percent of them supported Mr. bin Laden's cause...."
The prince acknowedged this during the interview:
"He attributed the support to what he called feelings of the people against the United States, largely, he said, because of its unflinching support of Israel against the Palestinians. [...] On the Saudi side, Saudis said in interviews that they expected support from the United States and instead felt that they had been isolated and branded as terrorists."
BOLLYWOO BOWL: Amusing, if sobering, take on Bollywood's current spate of patriotic action flicks, in which muscle-bulging action stars wielding grenade launchers staunchly defend the nation of India against the vile terrorist and Pakistani villains, though still pausing for some major singing and dancing interludes, with a bit of a love story worked in.
1/27/2002 02:34:00 AM |permanent link| | Main Page |
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