Stupidity, Dishonesty and Noise: Just Another Normal Day ...1:23 pm
The brouhaha over the Iraqi prime minister’s reaction to the Israel/Hezbollah war is of-course ridiculously disingenuous, at best. Al-Maliki has condemned Israel’s “hostile acts” and has pussy-footed about publicly putting the blame on Hezbollah. Anyone who acts surprised about this is illustrating a woeful and unforgivable ignorance about realities in the Middle East, and should really, at the very least, be laughed into a permanent silence (not that that will happen). Here’s a quick course in life on the street in the Middle East: the Arabs hate the Jews. Got that? They really, really hate Jews. Even more than Pat Buchanan does! Their religion tells them that Jews are descended from pigs and monkeys, and their teachers and leaders have told them since time immemorial that all of their problems are caused by — you got it — the Jews.
This is a problem (for the benefit of those out there, like Harry Reid, who are just getting used to this idea). In particular, it’s a problem for Israel, because it’s a Jewish country surrounded by people who hate Jews. It’s also a problem for the United States, not least in trying to push the Middle East into a future of relative democracy and peace. At some point, people need to be confronted and held to account for their persistent racist hatreds. Nevertheless, if we’re not yet holding the Saudis (and the rest of the oil-rich dictatorships) to account for their Jew-hatred, why in hell would we want to start by holding the first democratically elected prime minister of Iraq to account for it? Al-Maliki has one job, as far as the United States is concerned: SURVIVE! That is, he needs to survive, and the Iraqi government needs to survive, and democracy in Iraq needs to survive. To do that, al-Maliki needs to beat the terrorists and the sectarian death-squads, and to do that he needs to have and to retain the confidence of a critical mass of the Iraqi people.
Anyone who thinks that al-Maliki or anyone else would survive for five minutes in that country while waving an Israeli flag should please stand up so that the laughing can start. Reality isn’t what you want it to be. It is what it is, and you either deal with it or delude yourself. There’s plenty of delusion going around, even, obviously, in the halls of congress today.
There will be a time to pressure the government of a free Iraq to recognize Israel, open up diplomatic relations with Israel and trade with Israel. That time is self-evidently not now. Disagree with al-Maliki’s expressed point of view, by all means — but as for boycotting him, or trying to portray him as an enemy of the United States, that is just absurd, and says more about the wilful ignorance of those doing it than about their high principles.
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Dreams, Schemes and Themes ...11:13 am
Gotten behind on my brief summaries of the Theme Time Radio Hours, but plan on correcting that shortly. Last week’s “Cars” was a great show, as was today’s “Rich Man, Poor Man” — that’s a theme that really gave Bob free reign. Or should that be “free rein”? Funny how both of those work. Today’s show also featured the first tracks in the series so far from Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
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Tuesday, July 25, 2006
And Staying In Ireland … ...7:57 pm
While Israel was being confronted last week by attackers to the north (Lebanon) and to the south (Gaza) and even within (attempted suicide bombers), someone in Ireland was digging up a bog, in the name of developing commercial potting soil. Sitting in his bulldozer, he spotted something.
It turned out to be a 20 page book dating from about the years 800 - 1000 AD. According to experts in Ireland, it appears to be a book of Psalms.
The book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations’ attempts to wipe out the name of Israel.
From the Revised Standard Version of the Bible:
O God, do not keep silence; do not hold thy peace or be still, O God!
For lo, thy enemies are in tumult; those who hate thee have raised their heads.
They lay crafty plans against thy people; they consult together against thy protected ones.
They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”
Yea, they conspire with one accord; against thee they make a covenant –
the tents of Edom and the Ish’maelites, Moab and the Hagrites,
Gebal and Ammon and Am’alek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Assyria also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. [Selah]
Do to them as thou didst to Mid’ian, as to Sis’era and Jabin at the river Kishon,
who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground.
Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmun’na,
who said, “Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God.”
O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind.
As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
so do thou pursue them with thy tempest and terrify them with thy hurricane!
Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O LORD.
Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever; let them perish in disgrace.
Let them know that thou alone, whose name is the LORD, art the Most High over all the earth.
(emphasis added by RWB)
Some songs just never get old, huh?
Via LGF; the story here from the AP in the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
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Open Season in the Emerald Isle ...4:37 pm
In Ireland, five defendants, who were charged with causing “unlawful criminal damage” to a U.S. military aircraft at Ireland’s Shannon Airport in February of 2003, have been acquitted by a jury — despite admitting that they did indeed do the damage of which they were accused. Text story here from RTE, but you have to click on a video link to get the full details. Allow RWB to transcribe:
RTE News Anchor:
The five, who were protesting against U.S. military operations in Iraq, successfully argued during their trial that they had a lawful excuse in damaging the plane. It’s estimated around two and half million dollars worth of damage was caused to the plane during the incident over 3 years ago.
Switch to voice-over from a reporter while miscellaneous footage rolls:
The five people who walked free from court today are Ciaran O’Reilly from Australia, Damian Moran from Offaly, Nuin Dunlop from the United States, Karen Fallon from Scotland, and Irish woman Deirdre Clancy.
The five anti-war protesters agree they did damage the plane, in February 2003, but argued in court they had a lawful excuse, in that they were trying to save life and property in Iraq at a time of war.
When the five entered the hangar at Shannon Airport, they brought with them an axe, hammers, wire-cutters and paint. Extensive damage was caused to the nose of the plane. The five then knelt at the plane and prayed, and offered no resistance to Gardai when arrested.
After deliberating for over four hours a jury this afternoon returned a unanimous verdict, finding the five “not guilty” of causing criminal damage to the U.S. plane.
Switch to statement being made by “anti-war protester Deirdre Clancy”:
“The jury is the conscience of the community, chosen randomly from Irish society. Today, the conscience of the Irish community has spoken.”
Skip forward over a couple of other statements by the protesters, and the reporter resumes:
This was the third time the five had gone to trial over the incident. The jury verdict today means all court proceedings are now finished. Meanwhile, in response to today’s verdict, a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy this evening said the embassy is very disappointed with the verdict and will be discussing the implications of the case with Irish government officials when they have more information.
Ireland is not a member of N.A.T.O., and is traditionally a neutral nation. Shannon Airport has been very commonly utilized for refueling stop-overs by U.S. military aircraft on their way to points east. It is also commonly used for the same purpose by Air Force One, and U.S. diplomatic flights.
And one more note: the attack on the plane occurred, as indicated above, in February of 2003 — that is, in the month before the beginning of the war in Iraq (it started on March 20th of 2003).
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Monday, July 24, 2006
Don’t Blink ...5:34 pm
Treasure it. A brief moment of clarity from a U.N. official. U.N. Chief Calls Hezbollah ‘Cowards’ for Blending With Refugees. He’s the “U.N. Humanitarian Chief” and his name is Jan Egeland.
“Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending … among women and children,” he said. “I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don’t think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men.”
Nevertheless, the same gentleman has called Israel’s actions “disproportionate” and “a violation of international humanitarian law.” By so spreading the blame, he dilutes any effectiveness he might otherwise have had in condemning Hezbollah’s scum-of-the-earth tactics. They will hear what they want to hear: “U.N. Chief says Israel violates international law,” and just shrug off any criticism of their strategy of hiding behind civilians.
Well, I said not to blink.
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America’s Mayor ...2:59 pm
Kind of following up on my previous post about where things stand, poll-wise, for the GOP presidential nomination (… continue reading …)
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- Dog owners like McCain better?
- Federalism’s in fashion
- On Rudy Giuliani: “Told you so” and other matters
Hope ...2:26 pm
Just days after the neanderthal, creationist, theocratic Bushitler vetoed federal funding for the destruction of embryos in the name of stem cell research, the secular, enlightened and liberated ministers of the European Union have … done essentially the same thing.
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Sunday, July 23, 2006
Tryin’ To Get To Heaven ...6:20 pm
On November 9th of 1980, after having conducted three “Gospel Tours” (… continue reading …)
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Friday, July 21, 2006
Musings On Modern Times ...4:51 pm
There’s something to be said for sitting down with a new album you haven’t heard and listening to it without prejudice, but all hope for that seems to be lost — more than 5 weeks before its release — when it comes to Bob Dylan’s Modern Times. I must admit I found Seth Rogovoy’s impressions (he was one of a small number of critics allowed to hear the album play once through recently in New York) today quite interesting and tantalizing. For instance:
Suffice it to say that when the album ended, the handful of us gathered in the room to hear the new album were stunned into silence by the impact and import of this work shot through with familiar but heightened apocalyptic imagery.
There are very specific references to the events of 9/11 on this album; there are poetic references to prophecy; there is much talk of religion and the moral (or immoral) state of humankind; blindness haunts the album and in some ways functions as the connecting thread, a running motif; and more than perhaps ever before, there are references to violence, vengeance, and murder, including many phrased in the first person.
I’m curious at to whether those references to 9/11 were in fact really specific, or just whether Dylan is using images that echo them very closely. (Of-course, some heard images that echoed that day on his previous album, which was released on that day.)
Rogovoy also comments on the overall feel (a mix of styles similar to those on “L & T”; more “live” sounding), and the relatively long length of some of the songs. A song Dylan wrote and released in the meantime (‘Cross The Green Mountain from the 2003 soundtrack to the film “Gods and Generals”) was also quite long, at 8 minutes or so. And funnily enough, you can hear 9/11 references in that too, without stretching all that much — though as to them being intentional, that’s another matter.
The track list for Modern Times has been out for a while, but, for the record, here it is as it’s appearing in various outlets, with the length of each track too:
1. Thunder on the Mountain - 5:55
2. Spirit on the Water - 7:42
3. Rollin’ and Tumblin’ - 6:01
4. When the Deal Goes Down - 5:04
5. Someday Baby - 4:55
6. Workingman’s Blues #2 - 6:07
7. Beyond the Horizon - 5:36
8. Nettie Moore - 6:52
9. The Levee’s Gonna Break - 5:43
10. Ain’t Talkin’ - 8:48
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Israeli Commander: “I suggest not counting the dead.” ...10:49 am
Does Israel have the stomach for what could follow in a ground war in Lebanon? It’s the perpetual calculation of the jihadists in their war against both the Jews and the West — i.e. that they themselves can tolerate any level of blood and death, while they believe that their enemy is weak and will flinch and ultimately surrender by inches before collapsing entirely. It has to be particularly hard for Israeli public opinion to remain staunch not only in the face of the sacrifices called for in conflict, but in the face of a world that generally tells them that they are the bad guys. One could stop the fighting in an effort to gain the approval of the world, and, in the short-term, end the bleeding and losses of war. The only problem is that the enemy sees that as victory, and sets about enthusiastically planning the next level of attack. A major difference in this instance is that international pressure on Israel is being kept at bay — thanks to the current occupant of the White House — and it’s a difference that could be decisive. However, these cold hard facts doesn’t make the decisions any easier for people who are sick of living with war — like any decent people would be.
Ynet has the story on the Israeli general, Udi Adam.
OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam noted Friday that the fighting in the north was highly demanding and casualties were unavoidable. “This is a demanding operation and we are at war. War costs lives. Civilians will be killed too. I suggest not counting the dead. We need to show strength and determination,” Adam said during a briefing Friday held near the site of an IAF helicopter accident Thursday night. Adam also addressed the battle in which Egoz unit fighters were killed.
The army officer clarified that in the past two days, the aim of army operations was to “find and locate terror nests, from where Hizbullah operatives fire Katyushas deep into Israel. These operations are carried out on Lebanese territory. They are not easy and are carried out with intense determination by the most elite soldiers. They are showing courage, strength of spirit, professionalism and uncompromising fighting.”
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Thursday, July 20, 2006
Squash Nasrallah ...5:58 pm
Oh, why not? Anticipate his popping up and bomb him here, or drop something on his clucking head here. (Via Ynet.)
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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Dubya’s First Veto ...10:48 pm
Minutes after President Bush’s veto of a bill from congress that would have provided federal funding for embryonic (… continue reading …)
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Clips of Modern Times Briefly Made Live ...3:36 pm
It looks like Sony put up 30 second clips of all the songs from Dylan’s forthcoming album today or yesterday, and then took them down. Too late: people at the Dylan Pool are already swapping mp3s. I do think that it was a bad idea to put the clips up over a month before the album is released — or rather, that it was obviously just somebody’s goof. The release should be an event, after all, not just a day when people say, “Oh, they’ve released the other parts of those songs, I see.”
But that’s modern times for you!
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It Polls For Thee ...1:05 pm
Interesting Gallup poll results on potential U.S. presidential candidates. The poll asked respondents of both parties to rate candidates according to their “acceptability” or “unacceptability,” in order to see, I guess, how things might shake out in the long run. Actual leaders and laggers in the overall horse race are somewhat less interesting at this stage — since the race hasn’t even started — but if particular candidates have very high “unacceptable” ratings, it’s presumably an indication that there is a real ceiling on how well they can ultimately do.
On that basis, the story of the poll is that the oft-considered most realistic front-runner for the Republicans — John McCain — was rated as “unacceptable” by a whopping 41% of Republican respondents. His championing of campaign finance “reform” (considered an attack on the First Amendment by many conservatives) and his perceived wishy-washiness on some conservative social issues has obviously defined him, and not in an advantageous way.
Rudy Giuliani, by contrast, only has an “unacceptable” rating of 25%. That’s interesting, since Rudy is known to be to the left of McCain on many social issues.
I think another factor in play is that of character. Rudy is perceived as direct and upfront. McCain is perceived as being a bit weaselly — the “straight-talk express” notwithstanding. It can also not have escaped any Republican voter’s perception that McCain is a media darling, and that he gives all that love right back. Whenever there’s a hint of an excuse, McCain is there on the talk shows making himself seen and heard, and not always in a way that helps conservative causes.
Other especially high “unacceptable” ratings were registered by Dick Cheney (61%) and Jeb Bush (52%). You might judge that those ratings come less from antipathy towards them as individuals, and more from a perception that they couldn’t win. In any case, neither seems to be running.
Someone else who is likely running is Mitt Romney, and he carries a weighty “unacceptable” rating of 42%. The Mormon factor, or the Massachusetts factor? Both seem likely to hamper his chances.
Condi Rice is the closest to Giuliani overall, with a 68% “acceptable” rating versus just 29% “unacceptable.” I haven’t expected that she is going to run, but I personally wouldn’t rule out the possibility that her position on that will evolve. Her candidacy would be so galvanizing, frankly, that she can probably afford to make a decision relatively late.
Many pundits’ presumed favorite “solid conservative” candidate, George Allen, has a seemingly less-than-significant balanced rating, of 36% “acceptable” versus 35% “unacceptable.” That’s probably more to do with people knowing very little about him than anything else. It seems about time he started getting out there in a big way. However, his Meet The Press appearance last Sunday seemed pretty anaemic to yours truly — based on that, it seems he will have to improve a great deal to assume the front-runner position that some believe is his to ultimately assume.
So, that’s RWB’s election handicapping for today. (Let me know if you need help managing your campaign! Get your order in now before rates go way up.)
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More Outage ...9:29 am
Continuing problems at my web host, attributed to municipal power failures, interrupted the availability of this web site yesterday for some hours. It could happen again.
As old Dan would say, “Courage!”
….
Addendum: You might wonder which “municipality” is having the power failures that are affecting RWB’s web servers. That makes two of us. “Lagos” might be a good guess.
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