The comments to this blog posting about Obama reminded me of an old Jewish joke that elaborates on the title's idea:
"After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, a government official in Ukraine menacingly addressed the local rabbi, "I suppose you know in full detail who was behind it."
"Ach," the rabbi replied, "I have no idea, but the government's conclusion will be the same as always: they will blame the Jews and the chimneysweeps."
"Why the chimneysweeps?" asked the befuddled official.
"Why the Jews?" responded the rabbi. " (From Wikipedia)
I recognise that the author is some kind of right-wing nut, the very kind who clings to his guns and religion because he's afraid of the outside world. Or just jealous of the Jews, because while he was failing out of school, getting drunk with his friends and impregnating anything in sight, leading to his being a failure in life, *those damn Jews* were learning and making something of themselves. Go back to your moonshine and pickup truck, hillbilly.
But this Reverend is one of the reasons I'm not voting for Obama. I simply don't trust him enough to *really* distance himself from this crackpot. I suspect very strongly that, should be become president, god forbid, that he'd act like an African dictator, handing out spoils to all of his cronies (on a scale that would make even scandal-prone Washington cringe). That's simply what these people do. And, he'd be sure to funnel a large portion of the pork and patronage to his church buddies. Do we need this crackpot Reverend as a cabinent Secretary??
Think people. If it looks like a duck, smells like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.
Or elect him, and blame the Jews when everything goes to shit.
28 April 2008
27 April 2008
"Don't say 'what,' say 'pardon', dear"
The SFGate reports that the Bush Administration has been advised to be careful when referring to Al-Qaeda and other extremist movements of an Islamic bent. They've finally figured out that using words like 'jihad', 'mujahideen,' 'jidadist,' etc might accidentally give legitimacy to these movements that plan horrible things against civilians by engaging them on their terms.
Well shucks. They just figured this out??
On the list of 'banned' words for official use is the stupid term "Islamo-fascism"-- did anyone ever think to ask what that was supposed to mean before they just accepted the term like sheep? It's a propaganda term, nothing more, nothing less.
Since this is one of my personal words of ire that these clowns have coined, let's discuss it a bit.
If we break the word into its parts, we get Islamo- and fascism. The first part is easy: it's a prefix that shows a connection to Islamic culture or faith. It has the same meaning as Islamic, and could be used in contexts like, Islamic art, Islamic jurisprudence, but when a noun is being created, so maybe someone would come up with Islamo-art for an exhibition... (oh the joys of language!) Fair enuff.
Fascism. More tricky. It's a type of political system, that came to be famous in the 1920s and 1930s in Europe, eventually leading to the European part of World War II. Its philosophy can be described as embracing "anti-rationalism, struggle, leadership and elitism, socialism and militant nationalism." (Heywood 1992, 216) Think Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Horthy's Hungary and you've got (various kinds and degrees of) fascism.
How the hell does that describe Al-Qaeda? AQ might have some elements of fascism, but it is primarily a fascist organization? Is it motivated by militant nationalism? I think not.
AQ is a violent religious extremist group with geopolitical goals. They take aim at the west for supporting (often dictatorial) regimes in the Muslim world, wanting to remake those societies along Islamic lines, albeit a very severe strand of Islam. In some ways, they make valid criticisms of these countries; their downfall is in their extreme violence and brutality. If they were a political party and advocated peaceful change, no one would pay them much mind. (But, oops, in those countries, there are no/few independent political parties so there's no way for potential AQ-types to promote peaceful change... maybe that's the real way to defeat them...)
Islamo-fascism is, at best, a spin on the popular meaning of fascism, merely an ill-liberal worldview. At its worst, it's cheap propaganda for fear-mongering and making the unthinking, blindly-following masses afraid and, therefore, rally around you to "protect" them. We've been had, fellow Americans. Well, most of us have, anyway.
Well shucks. They just figured this out??
On the list of 'banned' words for official use is the stupid term "Islamo-fascism"-- did anyone ever think to ask what that was supposed to mean before they just accepted the term like sheep? It's a propaganda term, nothing more, nothing less.
Since this is one of my personal words of ire that these clowns have coined, let's discuss it a bit.
If we break the word into its parts, we get Islamo- and fascism. The first part is easy: it's a prefix that shows a connection to Islamic culture or faith. It has the same meaning as Islamic, and could be used in contexts like, Islamic art, Islamic jurisprudence, but when a noun is being created, so maybe someone would come up with Islamo-art for an exhibition... (oh the joys of language!) Fair enuff.
Fascism. More tricky. It's a type of political system, that came to be famous in the 1920s and 1930s in Europe, eventually leading to the European part of World War II. Its philosophy can be described as embracing "anti-rationalism, struggle, leadership and elitism, socialism and militant nationalism." (Heywood 1992, 216) Think Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Horthy's Hungary and you've got (various kinds and degrees of) fascism.
How the hell does that describe Al-Qaeda? AQ might have some elements of fascism, but it is primarily a fascist organization? Is it motivated by militant nationalism? I think not.
AQ is a violent religious extremist group with geopolitical goals. They take aim at the west for supporting (often dictatorial) regimes in the Muslim world, wanting to remake those societies along Islamic lines, albeit a very severe strand of Islam. In some ways, they make valid criticisms of these countries; their downfall is in their extreme violence and brutality. If they were a political party and advocated peaceful change, no one would pay them much mind. (But, oops, in those countries, there are no/few independent political parties so there's no way for potential AQ-types to promote peaceful change... maybe that's the real way to defeat them...)
Islamo-fascism is, at best, a spin on the popular meaning of fascism, merely an ill-liberal worldview. At its worst, it's cheap propaganda for fear-mongering and making the unthinking, blindly-following masses afraid and, therefore, rally around you to "protect" them. We've been had, fellow Americans. Well, most of us have, anyway.
23 April 2008
What would Judge Judy Do?
OMG. This is seriously the funniest collection of Judge Judy clips. They make me want to become a judge when I grow up, so I can tell off stupid people.
(and this is what I do instead of going to bed at a decent hour. srsly??)
(and this is what I do instead of going to bed at a decent hour. srsly??)
19 April 2008
Oh, the irony...
"The U.S. military will televise the Guantanamo trial of accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and five other suspects so relatives of those killed in the attacks can watch on the U.S. mainland," so reports Reuters.
Not only is this a disgusting spectacle that uses the image of 9/11 to cast doubt over the defendants’' allegedly presumed innocence, it is a self-fulfilling political statement that seeks to justify the farsical "war on terror". (Whatever happened to the American principle of "innocent until proven guilty?" ...which was developed from precisely these sorts of show trials that colonists were subjected to by the Crown before independence...)
The bit I find amusing is the part where the military cites the Geneva Conventions' prohibition on subjecting prisoners to "insults and public curiosity" (GCIII, Art. 13) in its disapproval of taking photos of them, yet those pesky GC provisions on things like torture and degrading treatment are somehow not applicable.
The military seems to have forgotten that GCIII applies to POWs... but the Guantánamo detainees are not POWs, right? So they can be tortured and humiliated and degraded since they're not POWs subject to the GC, but no photos can be taken of them because the 3rd GC prohibits public humiliation of POWs? Hmm.
Maybe the real reason the military doesn't want anyone to see the detainees is to prevent the outside world from learning of their health and treatment.
I agree with the 9/11 relative that this process should be about justice, not vengeance. Closed show trials held for quasi-political purposes are the practice of non-democratic countries. We, as a democracy, as the self-appointed 'city on a hill', can do better: open trials in real courts, with real evidence not manufactured or derived from years of degrading treatment and physical violence.
Sorry for the strong, undiplomatic tone, I'm tired and seriously cranky.
10 April 2008
Someone actually won something they wanted on ebay? what?
Wired.com reports that the GAO made an undercover investigation to see if controlled defence-related items could be bought on the intertubes. They found that it was possible to buy sensitive and/or controlled items, including random parts for the retired F-14 airplane, still used by Iran, on ebay and craigslist.
Well, heck. Almost everytime I try to bid on something on ebay, I get outbid 3 minutes before the auction finishes or I end up spending WAY too much on whatever thing I'm impluse buying because I *HAD* to win that auction. (it's a guy thing, ps) This happened to me just last week in my attempt to impulse buy a random article of vintage-ish clothing.
And as for craigslist... having sold furniture on CL before, I can tell you that it's nothing short of a miracle that someone 1) responded to the ad with full sentences and complete contact details, 2) answered my response to them, either by email or phone, 3) came to look at the item for sale, 4) didn't reject it as being beneath them (like these bitchy old people who turned their nose up at my lovely Ikea bookcase that was a SONG at $20) and 5) turned over money for the furniture and took it away. It's some kind of a record-- the GAO found the only non-flakey, non-drunk, non-Nigerian/African-in-Britain-scammer selling stuff.
Another question is, however, what kind of idiot sells things he shouldn't (possibly controlled, possibly stolen) on ebay or craigslist? Ebay can be oddly prudish about random things (cornflakes that look like Jesus and/or states are forbidden) and on craigslist, for all of its sinful ad-space, one is subject to the ruthlessness of fellow CLers who can veto ads they don't like. (too pretty? too expensive? too much skin/ikea showing? buh-bye!)
This is mildly ROW-related, in that there are international compacts on export controls that countries are supposed to follow, both as exporters and importers. One such example is the Wassenaar Arrangement, dealing with conventional arms and the grey area of dual-use goods. The presence or absence of these kinds of arrangements/agreements (they were stronger during the Cold War) can mean the adherence to or deviation from the Hague regime on the methods of warfare.
Dual-use goods pose an especially difficult problem, because they're items with both military and civilian potential. For example, industrial incubators can be used to produce vaccines and medicines (hurrah) or biological agents for weapons (boo). Chemical production equipment and precursors can be used for pesticides and civilian industry.. or chemical weapons. (Iraq was notorious for exploiting this area of goods during the Iran-Iraq War, even though everyone knew what was going on...) Ditto for satellite technology (and the rockets used for launching them) and a long list of other things. (This is one of the problems with Iran's nuclear interests-- it's not quite clear if they want a whole program that's mostly dual-use for civilian electricity and research or for nuclear weapons...)
What to do about the diversion of sensitive, dual-use equipment? It's difficult, to say the least. (I was going to write my capstone paper on this but I had to jettison that idea after reading my professor's 1991 book about the same thing...) One way of looking at it is as a commons-problem: how to best police ourselves and each other for the common good. (remember the grazing of the sheeps and cowses on the common lands?)
And aren't night-vision goggles a bit unsportsman-like for hunting? I'm just saying... if you want to hunt deer at night, do it with your car like the rest of us.
Well, heck. Almost everytime I try to bid on something on ebay, I get outbid 3 minutes before the auction finishes or I end up spending WAY too much on whatever thing I'm impluse buying because I *HAD* to win that auction. (it's a guy thing, ps) This happened to me just last week in my attempt to impulse buy a random article of vintage-ish clothing.
And as for craigslist... having sold furniture on CL before, I can tell you that it's nothing short of a miracle that someone 1) responded to the ad with full sentences and complete contact details, 2) answered my response to them, either by email or phone, 3) came to look at the item for sale, 4) didn't reject it as being beneath them (like these bitchy old people who turned their nose up at my lovely Ikea bookcase that was a SONG at $20) and 5) turned over money for the furniture and took it away. It's some kind of a record-- the GAO found the only non-flakey, non-drunk, non-Nigerian/African-in-Britain-scammer selling stuff.
Another question is, however, what kind of idiot sells things he shouldn't (possibly controlled, possibly stolen) on ebay or craigslist? Ebay can be oddly prudish about random things (cornflakes that look like Jesus and/or states are forbidden) and on craigslist, for all of its sinful ad-space, one is subject to the ruthlessness of fellow CLers who can veto ads they don't like. (too pretty? too expensive? too much skin/ikea showing? buh-bye!)
This is mildly ROW-related, in that there are international compacts on export controls that countries are supposed to follow, both as exporters and importers. One such example is the Wassenaar Arrangement, dealing with conventional arms and the grey area of dual-use goods. The presence or absence of these kinds of arrangements/agreements (they were stronger during the Cold War) can mean the adherence to or deviation from the Hague regime on the methods of warfare.
Dual-use goods pose an especially difficult problem, because they're items with both military and civilian potential. For example, industrial incubators can be used to produce vaccines and medicines (hurrah) or biological agents for weapons (boo). Chemical production equipment and precursors can be used for pesticides and civilian industry.. or chemical weapons. (Iraq was notorious for exploiting this area of goods during the Iran-Iraq War, even though everyone knew what was going on...) Ditto for satellite technology (and the rockets used for launching them) and a long list of other things. (This is one of the problems with Iran's nuclear interests-- it's not quite clear if they want a whole program that's mostly dual-use for civilian electricity and research or for nuclear weapons...)
What to do about the diversion of sensitive, dual-use equipment? It's difficult, to say the least. (I was going to write my capstone paper on this but I had to jettison that idea after reading my professor's 1991 book about the same thing...) One way of looking at it is as a commons-problem: how to best police ourselves and each other for the common good. (remember the grazing of the sheeps and cowses on the common lands?)
And aren't night-vision goggles a bit unsportsman-like for hunting? I'm just saying... if you want to hunt deer at night, do it with your car like the rest of us.
08 April 2008
when alcohol companies make maps...
It would seem that Absolut vodka has po'd a number of people (again) with this cheeky advert. This time, an ad designed for the Mexican market that shows Mexico's borders with the US before the Gasden Purchase of 1838 and Mexican-American War of 1848 has offended American sensibilities in the southwest and has "patriots" pouring Absolut vodka down the drain.
Wow.
This is merely an expression of people's unease with the fact that Mexicans and Central and South Americans are drawn to the US for our high standard of living, political and social stability and, until recently, an economy that had lots of work, formal and informal.
And we need these workers as much as they need us. We have lots of work to be done that natives are not queuing up to do, an ageing population that will require lots of younger workers to pay all of those Social Security and Medicare taxes and an open, mixing-pot culture that invites new foods, music and people (if not ideas) in.
However, in the Southwest, many people seem to feel that they're being "overrun" by dangerous Mexicans who are all some form of terrorist, waiting to strike at the heart of America (Kansas?) on behalf of Al-Qaeda.
Please.
The drug trade is a problem in that region, and further measures on both sides of the border would be welcome to stop the flow and the associated gang violence. But do we *really* need a 3000-mile wall to keep out aspiring nannies, gardeners, construction workers and kitchen staff? Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just grant them non-immigrant work visas (either in the existing H-2b category or a new category), let them come with their tasty recipes, work to send money home then leave when they're ready in a couple of years?
Second. What's with these idiots who do silly things under the banner of "patriotism"? Does it mean that I love my country and culture less than the "patriots" who are staging mini-Houston Vodka Parties? They're just stupid and wasteful. I enjoy my Absolut, and am reminded that even my duty-free bottle from my lolToronto trip and lolNigara crossing production was 18 bucks. Howzabout this. They can send me their "unpatriotic" vodka and clear their minds. I'll be sure to serve it on Cinco de mayo. In a margarita.
Wow.
This is merely an expression of people's unease with the fact that Mexicans and Central and South Americans are drawn to the US for our high standard of living, political and social stability and, until recently, an economy that had lots of work, formal and informal.
And we need these workers as much as they need us. We have lots of work to be done that natives are not queuing up to do, an ageing population that will require lots of younger workers to pay all of those Social Security and Medicare taxes and an open, mixing-pot culture that invites new foods, music and people (if not ideas) in.
However, in the Southwest, many people seem to feel that they're being "overrun" by dangerous Mexicans who are all some form of terrorist, waiting to strike at the heart of America (Kansas?) on behalf of Al-Qaeda.
Please.
The drug trade is a problem in that region, and further measures on both sides of the border would be welcome to stop the flow and the associated gang violence. But do we *really* need a 3000-mile wall to keep out aspiring nannies, gardeners, construction workers and kitchen staff? Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just grant them non-immigrant work visas (either in the existing H-2b category or a new category), let them come with their tasty recipes, work to send money home then leave when they're ready in a couple of years?
Second. What's with these idiots who do silly things under the banner of "patriotism"? Does it mean that I love my country and culture less than the "patriots" who are staging mini-Houston Vodka Parties? They're just stupid and wasteful. I enjoy my Absolut, and am reminded that even my duty-free bottle from my lolToronto trip and lolNigara crossing production was 18 bucks. Howzabout this. They can send me their "unpatriotic" vodka and clear their minds. I'll be sure to serve it on Cinco de mayo. In a margarita.
04 April 2008
Octopuses (octopi?) in an interesting, night-time telly kind of way...
Apparently octopuses (or is it octopi?) are jealous lovers and favour plumper partners.
Maybe we people aren't so unlike the rest of the world's creatures. (except we don't taste very nice as calamari with lemon)
There's not really a ROW connection here, except that violent and horny octopuses amuse me and take away the pallor of Monday's film about the horrible, dreadful things people do to each other.
Maybe the key to international peace is a greater appreciation for nature and more tasty snacks. Calamari with lemon, even.
Maybe we people aren't so unlike the rest of the world's creatures. (except we don't taste very nice as calamari with lemon)
There's not really a ROW connection here, except that violent and horny octopuses amuse me and take away the pallor of Monday's film about the horrible, dreadful things people do to each other.
Maybe the key to international peace is a greater appreciation for nature and more tasty snacks. Calamari with lemon, even.
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