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Saturday, September 13, 2003
posted by gbarto at 3:08 AM:
Common Sense and Wonder hopes Arafat will do something really stupid now that Israel has called for his expulsion. But I'm not sure one could act grossly enough - if one were Arafat - to keep certain UN and European diplomatic types from swooning in one's presence.Someone commented once that you could find Bill Clinton standing over a dead prostitute with an axe in his hand and Lanny Davis would recommend a medal for his valiant efforts to save her. Likewise, the UN, France and Germany are not likely to discover an outrage great enough to thwhart their preoccupation with protecting the Palestinians' rights right down to the death of the last Israeli.
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posted by gbarto at 2:58 AM:
A Dog's Life has some good historical perspective. Are we witnessing a quagmire in Iraq? Naah.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:47 AM:
Den Beste had quite a write-up the other day on Hamas/Palestinian escalation. He says the latest threats are most likely for show because Hamas would be acting, not chattering, if it were really capable of doing what it threatened. He also explains why the threat to attack houses is a load of cr--. Lots of good points.And here's Den Beste, earlier, on exiling Arafat:
Condi Rice said that "no good would be served" by forcing Arafat into exile. I don't agree. I think that a lot would be gained, both in the short term and in the long run. Having him be dead would be even better, but it isn't politically possible for Israel to send troops in to take Arafat away, for a private execution.But what if he died in a gun battle...?
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posted by gbarto at 2:33 AM:
French news headlines and all your anti-Arafat ranting needs:Le Monde: UN Calls On Israel for "Restraint". That's with respect with it's call to remove Arafat. We're wondering whether they'll match this call by asking the PLO to finally renounce it's vow to remove Israel from the face of the earth. Probably not. A couple million Jews just don't count for the UN the way a tyrant thug does. After all, France, Germany, Russia and other luminaries who roam its corridors are much more comfortable with the latter and would just as soon have somebody else take the mantle as top Jew-killer so they could pretend they were all in the Résistance a few generations back without anyone calling them on it.
Le Figaro: Threatened with Expulsion, Arafat Mobilizes His Partisans. And yet he spent how long proclaiming himself helpless as suicide bomber after suicide bomber slaughtered the Jews of Israel? This makes it plain that Arafat does have power, does have control. But only the power of death. As the voice of the Jew-killers he is king; as a voice for peace he is a miserable and useless worm. It is time the world recognized that and supported Israel's desire to have someone to work with who could at least convince his own political organizations to make their top political aim the improvement of the Palestinians' lot instead of the Israelis' annihilation. For it is clear with the latest mobilization that Arafat's goal is not peace but surviving to kill again; he only plays the peace game so that his fellow anti-Semites in the corridors of the French and German Foreign Ministries will have an excuse to sit on their hands as innoncents are slaughtered in a continuation of what began with the Third Reich and Vichy.
Libération: Why France Irritates Europe. Specifically its notions of exceptionalism meaning it doesn't have to follow the same rules as the rest of the EU and that it wants the EU to pick up the tab for the resultant nonsense.
Ouest-France is discussing a real shocker: No more smoking in high school!
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posted by gbarto at 2:15 AM:
This headline is no big surprise:World Condemns Israel for Arafat Removal Vote
Leaders of Jewish state shrug off criticism from international community -- including U.S.; Palestinians hold pro-Arafat rallies throughout West Bank, Gaza
Neither is this one:
Arafat Tells Supporters They Will Go to Jerusalem as Martyrs
But let's make it clear:
Arafat Tells Supporters They Will Go to Jerusalem as Martyrs
Come to the TurkeyBlog for the details that count. As we said the other night:
Arafat [has not gone] so far as to say that he would watch every other Palestinian live in bondage to Islamic fanaticism or fall to a useless death before he would budge. He [does] not have to.
Of course here's what Arafat said:
"To Jerusalem we are going as martyrs in the millions."I'll believe it when I see it, but I doubt Arafat would do either the Israelis or his own people the kindness of disappearing in a fit of the sort of abnegation he so readily prescribes for any Palestinian for whom he doesn't have other uses.
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posted by gbarto at 2:06 AM:
I know this isn't an entertainment blog, but there's been so much happening the past few days:Letterman to Become a Daddy
That's with longtime girlfriend Regina Lasko, who is about six months pregnant.* * *
Friday, September 12, 2003
posted by gbarto at 5:56 AM:
One bad day:Earlier tonight, the headlines started about this:
John Ritter Dies at 54
'Three's Company' star had heart flaw; dies of dissection of aorta
Now we get this news:
Johnny Cash Dies at 71
American music legend, known to many as 'The Man in Black,' loses battle with diabetes
The second is less of a surprise; I'm still in shock over the first. Still, a bad start to the twelfth we're having.
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posted by gbarto at 2:55 AM:
Emmy-winning actor John Ritter dead at 54According to CNN, Ritter died of an "aortic dissection," which as near as I can tell is improperly formed tissue in the aorta that is at risk for rupture.
Ritter was known to my generation as Jack Tripper from the sitcom "Three's Company." Younger folk will know him as the father on "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter." He would have turned 55 next week.
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posted by gbarto at 2:42 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: Yassir Arafat Promised Exile By Israel. Arafat says he won't go and Al-Aqsa says the suicide attacks will go up if he does, however.
Le Figaro: Sweden Weeps For Anna Lindh.
Libération: Sweden Stabbed a Second Time - with the assassination of Anna Lindh seventeen years after that of PM Olaf Palme.
Ouest-France: All Sweden Weeps For Anna Lindh. Ouest-France beats Le Figaro for universality.
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posted by gbarto at 2:33 AM:
If you're looking for someone with more to offer about 9/11 than blather (see item below), try Neil Cavuto's Common Sense from yesterday, in which he sorts out what we should take from 9/11 and what we should just leave back there.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:28 AM:
Solemn Day Doesn't Halt Attacks on BushI'm not sure it should have. We are now two years out, and while remembering the day has its purposes, President Bush would be the first to remind that if we let this affect us and our civil processes too much the terrorists will have won.
The TurkeyBlog, incidentally, didn't do anything special for 9/11 this year. Nor, I noticed, did most of the comics (admittedly among my leading barometers of what's up with society). It's not that we should be over it; it's not that it's not a solemn occasion. It's just that there's a limit to what more can be said before testimony becomes blather, and the victims and heroes alike of that fateful day deserve better than a commemoration of mishmash.
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posted by gbarto at 2:19 AM:
'No One Can Kick Me Out'Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat remains defiant after Israeli security Cabinet votes in favor of expelling him; Palestinians demonstrate against decision throughout West Bank, Gaza
Arafat did not go so far as to say that he would watch every other Palestinian live in bondage to Islamic fanaticism or fall to a useless death before he would budge. He did not have to.
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posted by gbarto at 2:15 AM:
Sweeping Changes Urged to Curb Youth DrinkingHealthDay - Sep 10 11:47 PM
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDayNews) -- In a report with some explosive recommendations, a government-appointed committee says a basic requirement of a program to combat underage drinking is more responsible behavior by adults and the alcohol industry -- and higher taxes on booze, wine and beer.
New taxes... that'll keep kids out of the liquor cabinet. Almost as well as it will keep government out of our pockets, I'd say.
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posted by gbarto at 2:14 AM:
Does this sound familiar?Allies Line Up with U.S. to Set Iran Nuke Deadline
Reuters - 32 minutes ago
The United States has gathered more than two dozen allies to force the U.N. nuclear watchdog to set an Oct. 31 deadline for Iran Friday to demonstrate it is not secretly developing nuclear weapons, diplomats said.
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posted by gbarto at 2:12 AM:
TV Sitcom Star John Ritter DeadReuters - 29 minutes ago
Actor John Ritter, who gained fame playing bumbling and lovable characters in a pair of television comedies decades apart, has died, a representative said on Friday.
Yikes! No news on cause of death, etc. I'm not even sure how old he was, but I didn't think he was that old. Having grown up on Three's Company, I was surprised by the movie Tadpole (from last year), where his character was much older. But still...
Update: FNC says he was 55.
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Thursday, September 11, 2003
posted by gbarto at 6:16 AM:
McClintock: I'll Never Drop OutCalif. candidate blasts Arnold
Because for California conservatives, it's better to be right than governor, even if the chances of conservative bills being signed are a hundred times better with a Republican working with both wings of his party than with a Democrat who can score points with his base by deliberate obstruction of conservative causes.
McClintock is an ass whose approach will most likely benefit the party of the donkey.
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posted by gbarto at 6:11 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: The Other September 11: Chile, 1973. When Allende's government fell and Pinochet took over.
Also: Drama in Sweden: Anna Lindh Assassinated in Broad Daylight. That's the Foreign Minister of Sweden, a big promoter of Europe and the Euro, and possibly a future Prime Minister. The assassination came four days before a referendum on the Euro which has been postponed. The kicker: It was a knife attack in a clothing store where she was shopping with a friend - and without her bodyguard. The identity, motive, etc, of the assassin are unknown. So: Anna Lindh, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Sweden, dead at 46 of multiple stabbing wounds.
Le Figaro: Al-Qaeda Still Defies World. Al-Jazeera runs new Bin Laden photos.
Libé: Anna Lindh Succumbs to her Wounds. About which read the Le Monde entry.
Also: Bombing Kills Eight in Columbian Market. That bombing thought to be the work of the Armed Forces of Columbian Revolution (FARC), which has been systematically massacring the people - in the name of the people - for quite some time now.
Ouest-France: New York Still Fears Attacks.
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Wednesday, September 10, 2003
posted by gbarto at 1:23 PM:
Left wing liberal bias?
Damn straight. How else to explain the media's attempt to make a fuss over Schwarznegger's use of the word "fag." Matt Welch plays truth detector in a column that shows that Schwarznegger, far from being intolerant, may be the most gay-friendly, gay-sensitive candidate, running in the California race. And that the media making the charge is either dishonest or didn't bother to read the interview.* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:52 PM:
I'm way behind in mentioning this one, but if you haven't, go read Andrew Sullivan's piece about The Flypaper Strategy.* * *
posted by gbarto at 12:05 PM:
RIAA Settles With 12-Year-Old GirlMom agrees to pay $2,000, admit daughter illegally shared music
Here's what we should do next. Anyone who does pay under these things should demand a receipt showing exactly what damages are being repaid, starting with an accounting of what portion of the settlement will go to the artists whose records were downloaded for free instead of being sold.
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posted by gbarto at 12:02 PM:
Car Bombing Near U.S. Office in Iraq3 Iraqis killed, several Americans hurt
Just one more death wail from a culture of death that is, despite the pessimistic news reports, dying. Islam may be a strong and enduring faith, but the Islam these schmucks are selling is on its way out, confronted with forces greater than itself. Like Mattel...
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posted by gbarto at 11:53 AM:
'Let Us Beware of Her Dangers'Saudi religious police declare 'Jewish' Barbie dolls a threat to morality
That's because Jewish Barbie can drive, vote and pick out her own clothes. Imagine if the little Saudi girls found out...
The danger was identified by the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, who last demonstrated their concern for the moral health of young girls by burning them to death so that firemen wouldn't see their faces. No word on how many of the committee members who were involved in pushing them back into the building tore out their own eyes to resist the temptations of young flesh - young flesh they deemed better singed and seared than seen.
If I had the comprehensive dictionary of all the vulgarities in all the world's languages, it couldn't contain enough to describe these people. May Allah remember well what they did to the daughters of Islam when their number is up.
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posted by gbarto at 11:40 AM:
The French news was late, but I included a bonus Israel-Palestine rant to make up for it. But as happens occasionally the US press is actually as worked up over the Middle East as the French press today. Here's some more on what the fuss is all about over at Fox News:Hamas Threatens to Blow Up Israeli Homes
Group says Israeli attack on leader's house makes private residences legitimate targets
Hmm. I guess that means that Israel can start going after cafes, restaurants, grocery stores and buses with its weapons, huh? And when we're done, the whole damn thing will be a pile of rubble.
And Hamas will have won. Because Israel seeks a safe and peaceable life for its citizens. And Hamas seeks their death. But neither the Arab world nor Hamas gives a damn what happens to the Palestinians. That's why they load them up with bombs and send them off to die. Because for Hamas, so long as there remain Jews to blow up in Israel, the only good Palestinian is a dead one.
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posted by gbarto at 11:34 AM:
Very late French news update:Long day yesterday; long story. And I'm always nervous about running late; the last time I missed, someone took a shot at Chirac. In any case, here are the headlines:
Le Monde: At Summit of Cancun, WTO Questioned. Even Kofi Annan took a shot. When the leader of the UN accuses you of unfulfilled promises, that's pretty rough condemnation. Or incredible chutzpah.
Le Figaro: Middle East: Bush Stands By "Road Map". And why not? It will work as well as anything else. I.e. not at all until the world sanctions Israel's self-defense and denounces the lack of moral uncertainty with which Palestine teaches its young men that they've no better purpose in life than to spill Jewish blood - because what nobler purpose could there be?
Libération: Israel Responds In Gaza and Trans-Jordan. 15 Israelis dead in two bombings; they went after a Hamas leader and arrested 17 Palestinians. ... Arrested... There are some people who can count their blessings that the Israelis aren't exactly like the Palestians. I still want to see the world's response when an angry Israeli blows himself up in a crowd of Palestinians. Would we see sighs about how frustrated he must have been watching his own people blown up? Would we see worrying about how stressful life is for an Israeli people whose destruction is actively sought by her neighbors? Would we see an exploration into what makes the Palestinians so damned impossible for the Israelis to make peace with? Naah. But it's not likely to happen anyway. 1) If word got out, the Israelis would stop it, not make sure his explosives were properly rigged and get a commendation ready for the family. 2) The Israeli outlook values life, since Israelis haven't spent the last 20 years hearing that they're more treasured as Jew-murderers than living young men and women.
Ouest-France: World Trade Looking For Second Wind. Well, a new life-energy, but I though my translation was appropriate.
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posted by gbarto at 11:13 AM:
Way of the future - the e-book?From a BarnesandNoble.com e-mail:
As of September 9, 2003, Barnes & Noble.com will no longer sell eBooks...So, is Barnes and Noble giving up on the future, or is the e-book not the stuff of the future? Either way, I'd be pretty ticked if I were one of those people who bought a special reader because of all of Barnes and Noble's promotion of the e-book a few years ago.
After December 9, 2003, eBook titles that have not been downloaded to the appropriate Readers will no longer be accessible.
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Tuesday, September 09, 2003
posted by gbarto at 2:07 AM:
Animal Rights Run Amok - A Dog's Life has the tail of a PETA mall owner whose philosophy is just a bit much for someone running a commercial enterprise.* * *
posted by gbarto at 2:04 AM:
French news headlines:Le Monde: North Korea Reclaims Right to be Nuclear Power.
Libé: Autopsy for a Heat Wave. So the latest determination is that they were unprepared, slow to respond and not particularly effective throughout at helping ameliorate the problems caused by the heat wave.
Le Figaro: Who Wants to Help George Bush? Well, Kofi Annan is trying to put together the representatives of some UN Sec. Council countries in Geneva to work things out.
Ouest-France: "A lack of anticipation" is the major source of woe in the heat wave in August, says Ouest-France, referring to the report alsom mentioned under Libération.
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Monday, September 08, 2003
posted by gbarto at 12:52 PM:
And so he finally sleeps:Keep Me in Your Heart
Warren Zevon, politically incorrect singer, dies of lung cancer at 56
Truth be told, I don't know much about the music of the man who sang "I'll sleep when I'm dead." I knew him from television, where he sat in for Paul Schaeffer on David Letterman. I always enjoyed his appearances there. He struck me as the sort of laid-back cool that knows it's cool and is just having fun with it, particularly as opposed to the too hip, too snarky cool of Paul Schaeffer. So there you have it from my soulless generation: Warren Zevon, a real cool cat who used to be on Letterman sometimes, has died of lung cancer. And we'll miss him.
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posted by gbarto at 4:28 AM:
French news headlines:Ouest-France: How Israel Just Missed Liquidating Hamas deals with Israel's attempts to get the founder of Hamas and the threats of reprisals it has set off between Palestinians (even as Arafat pushes a new PM) and Israelis.
Le Monde: Israel and Palestine: Hope In Mourning. Says Le Monde, the peace process launched in June in Akaba is severely threatened. Ummm... we've had a massive suicide bombing and Israel's response. I'd say the peace process begun in June is dead. That some in foreign governments and foreign press don't want to say so does not mean that it isn't so. The only question is how long they'll try to breathe life into a process that's dead and how many will be endangered by their preference for fantasy to an interest in ameliorating what's actually there.
Le Figaro: Bush seeks support and credit.
Libération: Middle-East: On Each Side, the Politics of the Worst Carry the Day.
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Sunday, September 07, 2003
posted by gbarto at 3:56 AM:
Latest mini-essay below. Written too late at night. I will correct to make it coherent later if I can find time. The TurkeyBlogger* * *
posted by gbarto at 3:55 AM:
Cicero has a good dissection of a Lew Rockwell column dissecting the neo-cons over excessive delight in warmongering and asserting they've lapsed into ancient barbarisms about life as struggle, life as war, etc. Marcus rightly points out that the involved barbarisms are all too modern, having raised their heads throughout the Christian era up to the fascist movements of the early-mid 20th century and beyond. However, I don't think it's necessarily the neocons who are savages here.To start: life as war and struggle is very ancient, but also very much with us. It is not for nothing that Orwell satirized the idea of perpetual struggle with his references to "We've always been at war with Oceania" and such in 1984: Hitler's perpetual struggles against the Jews were quite recent in memory and there was a "workers' movement" in Russia pledged to eternal struggle until History itself ended. One can chatter about Hitler's obsession with Teutonic myth as proof of primitivism, but "immanentizing the eschaton" was a thoroughly modern goal based on the assumption that a revolutionary historiographical approach could be used to determine the future, rather than explain the past. This conception of knowledge becoming power did not owe to ideas of oracles, words of power, etc., but to overly generalizing from the ability of the Industrial Revolution to harness materials and sources of energy as the Scientific Revolution explained them.
The late 20th century saw the latest perpetual struggle's beginnings, and no, I'm not talking about the War on Terrorism. This one's a bit old, but hardly prehistoric. We're talking 622 AD for its genesis with the current version getting its start after the recreation of Israel as a Jewish state. The perpetual struggle, of course, is to annihilate that state and any Jews with plans for keeping or reestablishing it. And then to build an Islamic paradise in a world freed of taint and corruption. Call it Islamofascism for short. There are those who look at this portrait as a bit frenzied, a bit hyped, a product of the "more aid for Israel" machine. These people were quite convinced that notwithstanding bombings at the WTC and Dharan and on the USS Cole there was no terrorism problem. The Neocons - whose Jewish ties were most unflatteringly asserted in Pat Buchanan's comments about Israel's Amen corner - were dismissed during these times. But America took 3,000 casualties a few years back, which makes it a little harder to dismiss the dangerousness of these people as a Kabbalist fantasy. Why are the neocons prominent? Umm... because when you say that people who threaten Israel also threaten the US and need to be dealt with and then said people kill 3,000 people on US soil, it sure looks like they were right. And a lot of other people blew the call. So, the neocons say there's a new perpetual struggle to be rendered finite - as we rendered the perpetual struggle for communism finite. One can agree or disagree with this larger judgment, but it stretches credulity to assert the neocons have just been spoiling for a fight, as though they or Israel had explicitly solicited the bombing of the WTC so they'd have an excuse to launch their perpetual struggle (if you believe they did, please don't bother writing). Just to take two names not entirely at random: George W. Bush and Ann Coulter. Of the latter, I don't recall hearing a single world about forced conversions until hell rained down on New York and on the Washington she loves to hate. Of the former, I don't recollect seeing him take an interest in knowing, much less determining, the names of the leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc, until 3,000 people in a nation he was sworn to defend died in hours. The second of these is among the shrillest proponents of regime change; the first has literally sent armies to effect regime change in two nations since 9/11. And the two are firmly on board with the neocons in this regard. Are they dupes of a sinister conspiracy of Jews and intellectuals and intellectual Jews, the likes of which even Pat Robertson would have trouble dreaming up? Or are they reacting as they see fit to an attack by a group that truly is committed to fighting until we are dead or - literally, given Islam's etymology - in submission?
9/11 happened. And that changed a lot about how a lot of people see the world. Where we go from here is a matter for debate - debate that will drive our history and in its way determine the future of the world. In such a debate, I can disagree with Marcus over what we should be doing. But Lew Rockwell seems to be saying there's no need for debate because this is a made up war, made up so warriors and their cheerleaders will have something to do. He's nuts. I don't think even the folks I call Islamofascists are in it just for the sake of perpetual struggle and an ideology that has no purpose but to find ways to shed blood. But, Lew Rockwell is entitled to his opinion. After all, you know what they say about opinions...
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