Daily Ramblings:
Man In The Long Black Coat ...02/15/2005 10:14:08 am
Via the Mesopotamian and via Rantburg, there is this story with some additional detail on a hero of Iraq's election day; namely, the policeman who jumped on a suicide bomber and saved Iraqi voters at a polling station from a massacre.
Abdelamir Najem Kazem, like all Iraqi policemen, had been warned to look out for the “clenched fist” sign of a suicide bomber.
But as he checked the man in a long black coat, he spotted a hand grenade and hurled him to the floor near a Baghdad polling station, according to Kazem’s commanding officier.
Kazem and the bomber, who was believed to be Sudanese, were both killed on the spot outside a polling station in the Al-Yarmuk district of western Baghdad during Sunday’s landmark election.
...
Kazem, who was 34 and unmarried, had been a policeman during the regime of Saddam Hussein“He signed up again for the new police,” said the officer in charge at the Al-Maamun police station, who gave his name as Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed, and refused to give his family name. The station covers the Al-Yarmuk district.
“He was very good,” said the colonel.
As a former member of the police force under Saddam, perhaps this man had once done things that made him despise himself. We can't know that, but we can know that he earned any redemption he may have needed with his act of selflessness. And he gave Iraqis a different image for what that word "martyr" means.
Mixed Up Confusion ...02/14/2005 03:57:41 pm
On Thursday last, the North Korean regime declared flatly that it possessed nuclear weapons.
Today, 4 days later, the South Korean "Minister Of Unification" declared peace in our time.
"There is no doubt that North Korea has 10 to 14 kg (22 lb to 31 lb) of plutonium, but there is no evidence that the
North has turned it into plutonium bombs," Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young told parliament on Monday.
"We see it as a claim to own nuclear weapons, not an official statement of being a nuclear weapons state," he
said.He added that only a spectacular public test would convince him that there was any cause for concern, and suggested downtown Seoul as a good staging area. (OK, I made that last sentence up.)
Chung affirmed that there was no need to change the current government's "sunshine" policy, wherein South Korea bends over backwards to be nice to the North Korean regime, and receives an endless series of threats, insults and broken promises in return.
"There is no reason to immediately change this policy direction," Chung said. "It is true that the situation has
worsened," he said, adding the government would analyse how to proceed on commercial projects.Just what standard should be applied to gauge whether a policy of engagement is working? When the fruit of being nice to your enemy is that your enemy has no fear of announcing that they now possess the weapons necessary to kill millions of your people, perhaps you might begin to acknowledge that you have been operating under a delusion with regard to their intentions?
The Winds Of Changes ...02/13/2005 05:53:18 pm
Right Wing Bob has been mulling over some cosmetic changes to the site and pulled the trigger today. Aside from color changes to the title text, I took away the "Ultra Right Wing Bob Dylan Fan Site" phrase. Now don't worry, RWB is not going all David Brooks on you. It's done mainly on the basis of the lovely British expression that "a change is as good as a rest." I am also cognizant, however, that to many Europeans, the notion of being "ultra right wing" implies gassing Jews and the like. As such a policy would result in the loss of this website's main subject matter, I certainly don't want to be associated with it. And although this website is centered in the USA, it does have international readers, just as Dylan has international listeners.
Enough navel gazing ...
Just Wondering ...02/11/2005 10:54:32 am
The NY Post reports gossip that Martin Scorsese is driving PBS crazy by telling them his much vaunted series on Bob Dylan (1961 - '66) will not be ready on time, and refusing to let them see any of what is so far completed.
Back here, RightWingBob.com mused on Scorsese's interesting attitude vis-à-vis wanting to "play it out the way I think it's right," and considered what influence his own political point of view might have on this documentary. I wonder if any of Scorsese's trouble may be that his own point of view is running up against the nitty gritty facts of his subject.
I don't mean to prejudge the project. I hope it'll be a wonderful film - and I expect it probably will. Scorsese is obviously extremely talented. However, the decision to limit the focus to that period, and apparently to draw in aspects of what was going on in society at the same time, inevitably compels some crucial editorial decisions. For example, do you portray Dylan as being on one side or another of the Vietnam war turmoil - i.e. "against the war" as most people would assume - or do you follow the facts that tell you he never endorsed the anti-war movement and indeed expressed what might be considered mixed feelings on this huge generational touchstone topic? What weight do you give to his own statements about this subject - both back then and now in the hours of interview footage that has to be edited - versus the presumptions of all those who needed to believe that he was their leader and shared their politics?
Tough choices, Marty. Take your time - get it right.
I hope.
Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief ...02/09/2005 10:48:16 am
The tedious story of the vile Ward Churchill, who said in an essay that the World Trade Center victims were "little Eichmanns," continues. Reuters reports on his rally last night in front of his cheering supporters. They quote him as telling the reporter, "Nowhere in there did I justify the killing of innocent people. Those words are not there."
Well, that raises a couple of questions. Obviously if the victims were "little Eichmanns," then by definition they were not innocent people. And, if you're describing someone as a "little Eichmann," are you not clearly saying that they deserve death? Churchill is a buffoon, of-course, and has no idea of what any of these words mean.
It was interesting to me when reading Chronicles to see Dylan refer to the Holocaust on page 27, taking his cue from a remark his friend Ray made about a slaughterhouse he once worked in. Then, Dylan writes about Adolf Eichmann, who was being tried in Israel (with some international controversy) around that same time.
On the witness stand Eichmann declared he was merely following orders, but his prosecutors had no problem proving that he carried out his mission with monstrous zeal and relish. ... The State of Israel claimed the right to act as heir and executor of all who perished in the final solution. The trial reminds the whole world of what led to the formation of the Israeli state.
Of-course 1962 was just 17 years since the end of World War II and the full revelation of what had happened in the death camps. In pointing out that the trial reminded the world of what led to the formation of the Israeli state, Dylan is also pointing out how short is the world's memory.
With teachers like Ward Churchill loose in the universities, it's amazing that anyone comes out of them with an ability to think critically and discern anything like the truth.
Addendum 02/10/2005: If your stomach can stand it, all the detail you want on Ward Churchill can probably be found by following links collected here at PirateBallerina.com
Infinity Goes Up On Trial ...02/09/2005 09:57:08 am
There's a Reuters story this morning: Rock Museum Sues To Stop Jewish Rock Web Site. (That particular link goes to the "Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency." I wonder why they're picking up this little story?)
Some guys are putting up a website called the "Jewish Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame," where they're going to post articles on Jewish rockers, from Dylan to Billy Joel. The "real" Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame is upset:
The Cleveland-based museum has asked a federal judge to stop two journalists and a radio company executive from putting up a Web site called the Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saying the site will infringe on the original's trademark name and that the public would confuse the two.
One of the people involved with the proposed website is David Segal - a former rock critic for the Washington Post - who is quoted as saying, "The idea that anyone would confuse a large museum with a Web site run by a couple of Jewish guys with a computer is amazing to me, especially since it isn't even up yet."
What I want to know is this: how can a website that's not even up and running create such a stir and garner all this free publicity? Where did Right Wing Bob go wrong?
As for the actual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame - Dylan was asked what he thought about it in a September 1995 telephone interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. (He'd performed at the fame hall about a month previously.)
D: I never visited the actual building. I was just over at the concert, which was pretty long. So I have no comment on the interior or any of the exhibits inside.
Q: But how do you feel about the idea of a rock hall of fame itself?
D: Nothing surprises me anymore. It's a perfect time for anything to happen.
He sure was right about that.
Live-Blogging The Super Bowl Half-Time Show ...02/06/2005 08:34:05 pm
Was I the only one listening in confused silence as Paul McCartney delivered note-for-note perfect recreations of Beatles' recordings during the half-time show? He's doing "Hey Jude" as I type - but "Baby You Can Drive My Car" and "Get Back" left me slack-jawed. Why bother spending all the money to have him there? The NFL should've just hired a dee-jay to spin the original 45s.
I guess I've been listening to Dylan boots for way too long. Imagine Bob getting on stage and doing a note-perfect "Like A Rolling Stone?" With Al Kooper's improvised organ licks recreated precisely by some hired stand-in?
It's unbelievable.
Bomb Factory ...02/06/05 04:51:07 pm
Is it catching on at last? LGF has this story on "The Armageddon Conspiracy," and the possibility/probability that Pakistan's "father of the A-bomb" Abdul Qadeer Khan sold his services farther and wider than has thus far been confirmed. It is punctuated appropriately by Dylan's line:
So let us not talk falsely now,
The hour is getting late.
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum ...02/05/2005 01:05:14 pm
For those that didn't believe that there was an "axis" of evil, the North Korean News Agency might have some ... news.
Day of Victory in Iranian Islamic Revolution Marked
Pyongyang, February 4 (KCNA) -- The Korea-Iran Friendship Association sponsored a friendly gathering with staff members of the Iranian embassy here to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the victory in the Iranian Islamic revolution. The gathering took place at the Taedonggang Club for the Diplomatic Corps on Thursday.
The participants talked about the achievements made by the Iranian people in their efforts to build an independent and prosperous country for the last 26 years since the victory of the revolution and the need to boost the bilateral cooperative relations, deepening the friendship.
Then, they appreciated an art performance given by schoolchildren.
Present at the gathering on invitation were Ambassador Jalaleddin Namini Mianji and staff members of the Iranian embassy.
Vice-Chairman of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries Jon Yong Jin, who is vice-chairman of the friendship association, and members of the association were on hand.When extremist Islamists sit down for music and chat with Korean infidels who have banned all religion other than the deification of the "Dear Leader," you know it's not just about the wonderful socialist-paradise entertainment. Of-course the evidence of their malignant cooperation goes far beyond this little gathering. I just find it amusing that the North Korean regime can't keep themselves from trumpeting their ridiculous party with members of one of the few other regimes in the world vile enough to be seen in public with them.
Eager To Make A Mistake ...02/05/2005 09:18:04 am
Already out of date is yesterday's NY Times story, and some other press reports, indicating that Dylan has left open the date of March 18th, when that National Book Critics Circle Award will be bestowed. In fact, BobDylan.com has added a show to Dylan's tour with Merle Haggard on that day - in Reno, Nevada, at the Reno Hilton.
So, am I reporting this just for the sake of pointing out that the "paper of record" is wrong yet again?
Indeed.
Then Push And Then Crash ...02/03/2005 12:40:25 pm
I just wanted to reproduce some of the lines from the President's speech which will be echoing around the Middle East, amplified by the pictures already seen of proud Iraqis voting for their own future:
As a new Congress gathers, all of us in the elected branches of government share a great privilege: We've been placed in office by the votes of the people we serve. And tonight that is a privilege we share with newly-elected leaders of Afghanistan, the Palestinian Territories, Ukraine, and a free and sovereign Iraq.
(All of those successful democratic elections being a direct result of Bush adminstration policies, as anyone without blinders on knows.)
....
In the long-term, the peace we seek will only be achieved by eliminating the conditions that feed radicalism and ideologies of murder. If whole regions of the world remain in despair and grow in hatred, they will be the recruiting grounds for terror, and that terror will stalk America and other free nations for decades. The only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror, and replace hatred with hope, is the force of human freedom. Our enemies know this, and that is why the terrorist Zarqawi recently declared war on what he called the "evil principle" of democracy. And we've declared our own intention: America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
....
To promote peace and stability in the broader Middle East, the United States will work with our friends in the region to fight the common threat of terror, while we encourage a higher standard of freedom. Hopeful reform is already taking hold in an arc from Morocco to Jordan to Bahrain. The government of Saudi Arabia can demonstrate its leadership in the region by expanding the role of its people in determining their future. And the great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward democracy in the Middle East.
....
To promote peace in the broader Middle East, we must confront regimes that continue to harbor terrorists and pursue weapons of mass murder. Syria still allows its territory, and parts of Lebanon, to be used by terrorists who seek to destroy every chance of peace in the region. You have passed, and we are applying, the Syrian Accountability Act -- and we expect the Syrian government to end all support for terror and open the door to freedom. Today, Iran remains the world's primary state sponsor of terror -- pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve. We are working with European allies to make clear to the Iranian regime that it must give up its uranium enrichment program and any plutonium reprocessing, and end its support for terror. And to the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you.
This is the President's clearest statement yet of support for those seeking freedom in Iran, and I believe that it amounts to an implicit commitment to use American force in the event that there is a mass uprising that the mullahs attempt to crush. Note, in 2002's State Of The Union he said "Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom." In 2003, he said, "In Iran, we continue to see a government that represses its people ...Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their own government and determine their own destiny -- and the United States supports their aspirations to live in freedom." He did not speak to this issue in his 2004 address. But note the steadily increasing strength of the statements; first, calling the mullahs out on their repression of their people. Second, stating that the United States supports the people's "aspirations to live in freedom." And finally, last night, "As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you." All of these words were carefully weighed and calibrated. With substantial American forces right next door, there is no doubt as to how these words are heard by those who desire liberty in Iran.
There is also no question that in the wake of the last 4 years, and the inspiring Iraqi elections, President Bush senses the walls of tyranny beginning to lean, in Iran and possibly elsewhere, and he is unabashedly giving those walls a further, and very firm, shove.
Not Dark Yet ...02/02/2005 05:30:03 pm
With Pope John Paul deuce recovering (if God be willing) from the 'flu, it's just a chance to rewind their encounter in 1997. Dylan played in Bologna that year, for the Catholic Eucharistic Congress. No one's suggested Dylan is Roman Catholic, but it was a nice and respectful thing to do. Dylan performed Knockin' On Heaven's Door, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, and Forever Young.
During his sermon, the Pope mentioned Blowin' In The Wind, which I believe may have been sung earlier in the program (though not by Dylan). In any case, John Paul acknowledged that the answer is, indeed, blowing in the wind but amended it thus: "... the answer is not in the wind that disperses everything in the whirlwind of nothingness, but rather in the wind that is the breath and voice of the Spirit, the voice that calls and says, 'Come.' "
Dylan at that point took off his hat, flung it at the Pope, and left in a huff.
Well ... not exactly. And actually since the Pope was speaking in Italian, Dylan likely didn't even know what he had said. However, not an outrageous spin to put on this song, if you ask Right Wing Bob. So, peace to you, Pope.
Original text copyright © 2005 by RightWingBob.com
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