Happy New Year ...3:40 pm
The very best wishes for Rosh Hashanah to all RWB’s Jewish readers — atheist and otherwise.
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Fark]](http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/fark.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Email]](http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
JFK knew ...10:36 am
And did nothing about it. Via Hot Air, via Screw Loose Change, there is this AP story on what’s contained in a new book which collects “Presidential Doodles.” Along with “Theodore Roosevelt’s rugged sketch of two dogs staring across a campfire; Dwight Eisenhower’s plain, practical illustrations; Ronald Reagan’s childlike portraits, including of himself in a cowboy hat,” there is this:
President Kennedy, known for separating his life into compartments, would enclose words and numbers inside circles and boxes. Events long after his death give one doodle an unintended chill: A small circle with the numbers “9–11″ contained within. Just to the lower left on the page, the word “conspiracy” is underlined.
It all fits, doesn’t it?
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Time Passes Slowly ...10:34 am
If you search Google News with the string [ "Bob Dylan" "Jewish atheist" ] you receive two results, as of this morning. One is the cached version of the original and erroneous Christian Science Monitor story by Jim Sullivan of September 1st, 2006. Click on it and you won’t find the mis-quote — though you will find a note from the editor referring to its removal. The other result is the current story on Voice of America, still uncorrected as of right now although the writer of the piece (Katherine Cole) has indicated in an e-mail received three days ago that a correction was run on the VOA “in-house wire.”
Original post relevant to the Christian Science Monitor mistake is here.
Note: if you search plain Google (not Google News) for [ "Bob Dylan" "Jewish atheist" ] you will receive a whole ton of results. If you click on and read them, you’ll find that virtually all are references to Jerry Wexler’s remarks to Dylan in 1979. One exception that I found is this Wikipedia entry, which uses the erroneous CSM quote and footnotes it to the (now corrected) CSM article. Another example of how this thing continues to spread in viral fashion. [update 09/27/2006: This Wikipedia entry now appears to have been corrected.]
…
Update 09/29/2006: Voice of America story corrected as of today
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
More charming every day ...9:29 pm
Dixie Chick Natalie Maines sends her love to her hometown of Lubbock, Texas.
The lead singer spoke to the Vancouver Sun recently, saying, “but if you live in Lubbock, Texas, where I’m from — you just have one paper and one radio station and unless you’re savvy on the Internet, that’s it for you. If Bush said get a gun and kill an Arab, they would do that.”
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
No kidding ...9:09 pm
Hot Air has the video of President Bush telling CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that, yes, if there was information as to exactly where Osama Bin Laden was, U.S. forces would go get him — i.e. no matter what, Pakistan’s sensitivities notwithstanding.
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
$20,000,000 and a dream ...8:36 pm
OK: we could all think of things we’d rather do with twenty million dollars — that is, rather than spend it on a trip to the International Space Station. Still, with everything that’s going on, it would be a shame to dismiss the feel-good story of the week — the story of Anousheh Ansari, the woman, born in Iran, now an American, who this week achieved her girlhood dream of flying into space. Having dropped her twenty million dollar token in the correct slot, and after the obligatory training, she was launched aboard a Russian Soyuz and docked earlier today with the ISS.
She must have been a sight for sore eyes.
In an interview at Space.com, she talks about some of the whys and wherefores of the whole thing.
SPACE.com: Do you consider yourself a role model for Iranian women and women in general?
AA: Well I certainly hope to be. In my work and everything that I have always done, I have tried to be an example.
I hope to inspire everyone—especially young people, women, and young girls all over the world, and in Middle Eastern countries that do not provide women with the same opportunities as men—to not give up their dreams and to pursue them.
It may seem impossible to them at times. But I believe they can realize their dreams if they keep it in their hearts, nurture it, and look for opportunities and make those opportunities happen. Looking back at my life, I’m hoping that I could give them a positive example how that could happen.
She also has a blog.
Reaction?
From the Khaleej Times in the United Arab Emirates, a columnist who calls her “a shining example for the Muslim world.”
On the other hand, an Iranian daily newspaper is reported to have attacked the coverage of the “rich Iranian woman” and warned that she creates a bad role model for Iranian children.
See what I mean? Feel-good story of the week.
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
Another crack appears ...4:30 pm
That is, another crack by Bob Dylan about Bill Clinton. It’s almost becoming one of his specialties. I think I’m supposed to report such things, so here goes. On the new episode of “Theme Time Radio Hour,” Dylan’s XM Satellite Radio show, the theme today was “school.” One of the records Dylan spun was Lulu’s To Sir With Love. After it played he said the following:
That’s Lulu, with the title track to the Sidney Poitier movie from nineteen and sixty-seven, where he plays a schoolteacher in a tough London high school. Look for Lulu playing one of the students. I love this version of To Sir With Love.
Perhaps the weirdest version I ever heard was the one Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant sang during the presidential inauguration of Bill Clinton.
Definitely a man who could take you “from crayons to perfume.”
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
Doesn’t get any better than this ...12:26 pm
Fresh from being picked yesterday by RWB as second choice for new U.N. Secretary-General (after Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah), Hugo Chavez today kicked off his effort to win hearts and minds.
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
Il papa era corretto ...12:16 pm
George Weigel in the LA Times lucidly analyzes the thrust of Pope Benedict’s speech last week. Worth a full read, but here’s one of the later paragraphs:
The pope’s third point — which has been almost entirely ignored — was directed to the West. If the West’s high culture keeps playing in the sandbox of postmodern irrationalism — in which there is “your truth” and “my truth” but nothing such as “the truth” — the West will be unable to defend itself. Why? Because the West won’t be able to give reasons why its commitments to civility, tolerance, human rights and the rule of law are worth defending. A Western world stripped of convictions about the truths that make Western civilization possible cannot make a useful contribution to a genuine dialogue of civilizations, for any such dialogue must be based on a shared understanding that human beings can, however imperfectly, come to know the truth of things.
Reminds me of how dear old Bob put it in 1985’s Biograph interview, “That lie about everybody having their own truth inside of them has done a lot of damage and made people crazy.” Indeed.
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Peace in the Valley ...4:38 pm
The headline caught my eye: Valley rejects Pope’s apology, shuts. Wow. They’ve got strong feelings out in California. Oh. Not the San Fernando Valley. Kashmir.
Kashmir today observed complete shutdown. Even as the highest authority of the Catholic church, Pope Benedict XVI, apologised for his comments against Prophet Mohammad, there were no takers in the Valley. …
In Srinagar, all business establishments, government offices, school and colleges remained closed. Public transport too remained off the roads leaving only private vehicles to ply on the city roads.
Reports of complete shutdown also came in from other parts of Kashmir. In Sopore and Baramulla of north Kashmir, the shopkeepers today kept their shutters. Here too, traffic was off the roads. In south Kashmir, Anantnag, Pulwama, Bijbehara, Kulgam and Shopian towns too remained desolated. Even as the Pope Benedict apologised to the Muslim community, people in the Valley said it is not enough. “This is a part of a bigger conspiracy,’ said Aijaz Ahmad, a student of Kashmir University.
“First they hurt the sentiments of Muslims and then apologise. It has become a fashion with the West. A similar thing happened during the Denmark cartoon controversy. This all is a part of definite plan of the West against Muslims.”
Kashmir Valley witnessed several protests in last few days against the Pope. Hundreds of people on Saturday took to the streets. Demonstrators raised slogans against the Pope and the West and demanded severe action against him. The protestors held placards reading “Execute the Pope”. Police had to resort to baton-charge to disperse the protestors. A few were even put in jail.
Interesting. The Pope says something they don’t like — so Muslims in Kashmir close their businesses and stay home.
As referenced on Little Green Footballs today (but basically nowhere in the mainstream media), Iran’s supreme leader, Khamenei, has called for attacks on the U.S. . Now, that’s upsetting. Does this mean we can all take a day off, too?
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
Reality Check at the U.N. ...2:05 pm
Dubya’s speech today was right on, as it needed to be. After hearing Kofi Annan wax lyrical about all the rocks that have been “pushed to the top of the mountain” ( “though some have rolled back down”) while he’s been Secretary-General, President Bush was able to point out some real and enormous things which have happened in the last few years — no thanks to the U.N. .
Some of the changes in the Middle East have been dramatic, and we see the results in this chamber. Five years ago, Afghanistan was ruled by the brutal Taliban regime, and its seat in this body was contested. Now this seat is held by the freely elected government of Afghanistan, which is represented today by President Karzai. Five years ago, Iraq’s seat in this body was held by a dictator who killed his citizens, invaded his neighbors, and showed his contempt for the world by defying more than a dozen U.N. Security Council resolutions. Now Iraq’s seat is held by a democratic government that embodies the aspirations of the Iraq people, who’s represented today by President Talabani. With these changes, more than 50 million people have been given a voice in this chamber for the first time in decades.
He potently summarized the rationale behind the struggle for liberty in the Middle East that the United States chose (generously) as its response to the September 11th, 2001 attacks:
Imagine what it’s like to be a young person living in a country that is not moving toward reform. You’re 21 years old, and while your peers in other parts of the world are casting their ballots for the first time, you are powerless to change the course of your government. While your peers in other parts of the world have received educations that prepare them for the opportunities of a global economy, you have been fed propaganda and conspiracy theories that blame others for your country’s shortcomings. And everywhere you turn, you hear extremists who tell you that you can escape your misery and regain your dignity through violence and terror and martyrdom. For many across the broader Middle East, this is the dismal choice presented every day.
He addressed the people of Iran and Syria directly, while their respective regimes’ lackeys sat and stewed — telling them all that they can have a better future as free citizens of democratic nations, and that the United States, at least, is not operating under the delusion that their current leaders actually represent them.
He posed the right question to the motley gathering in front of him:
From Beirut to Baghdad, people are making the choice for freedom. And the nations gathered in this chamber must make a choice, as well: Will we support the moderates and reformers who are working for change across the Middle East — or will we yield the future to the terrorists and extremists?
You have to hand it to President Bush for continuing to give the U.N. a chance. Now we get to sit back and watch this collection of liars and cowards do nothing (or worse) yet again.
…
Kofi Annan’s reference to his upcoming departure puts me in mind of the question: Who should succeed him as Secretary-General? My vote is for Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. We should quit the pretense and just have a Secretary-General who is not shy about saying what he means. If Nasrallah is too busy hiding in a sewer somewhere, then my second choice is Hugh Chavez. Let’s just get it on.
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
The Daily Atheist Update ...10:15 am
Thanks much to Voice of America correspondent Katherine Cole for following up on the “Jewish atheist” mis-quote, which originated with the Christian Science Monitor (though she believes she saw it elsewhere as well) and found its way into her piece on Dylan’s new album. In an e-mail she says:
Our in-house wire, which feeds our 40+ language services, ran a correction today, and I’m told the web version is to be updated as well. I think the voiced version will have to be pulled from the website, as I am heading out of town for a ten day reporting trip, and don’t have time to re-produce it before leaving. Upon my return, I’ll voice a corrected version for the archives.
For the record, she also states that she actually wrote that piece on September 1st (note that the CSM didn’t issue its correction until September 8th). The VOA just didn’t get around to putting it out until September 17th.
So, that’s where we stand, kids. Tune in next time for another exciting episode of “The Mis-quote That Can Never Be Killed.”
…
Update 09/29/2006: Voice of America story corrected as of today
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
Monday, September 18, 2006
VOA is not MIA ...3:34 pm
The Voice of America correspondent (Katherine Cole) who apparently used, in her piece yesterday, the now retracted quote from the Christian Science Monitor in which Bob Dylan supposedly called himself an atheist, has replied to my e-mail query and says, “I will do a bit of checking, and then change where needed.” Her quick reply is very much appreciated. Clearly, assuming that I’m correct in my judgment as to what happened here, she’s guilty of nothing more than thinking that the CSM had its facts straight in the first place (original post on all that here). That’s the tragedy of the initial misquote — or, more specifically, the misattribution of something Jerry Wexler said about himself in 1979 to Bob Dylan in 2003.
It has crossed my mind that challenging the reappearances of this mistake is going to become my life’s work. Now all I need is to get a grant from someone to fund the effort. ExxonMobil, are you listening?
…
Update 09/29/2006: Voice of America story corrected as of today
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
- Correction issued by Christian Science Monitor (in print edition, at this point)
- Correction now made to the Christian Science Monitor online as well
- Jerry Wexler dies at age 91
Touché ...8:51 am
In a clever rebuttal to Pope Benedict’s quotation from a Byzantine emperor alleging that Mohammed commanded his followers to “spread by the sword the faith he preached,” al-Qaeda in Iraq has issued a statement:
“We shall break the cross and spill the wine. … (you will have no choice but) Islam or death,” said the statement, citing a hadith (saying of the Prophet Mohammed) promising Muslims that they would “conquer Rome… as they conquered Constantinople”.
“We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya. God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the Mujahideen.”
Another jihadist group, Ansar al-Sunnah, also delivered this devastating riposte to those who fail to perceive Islam as the religion of peace:
“You will only see our swords until you go back to God’s true faith Islam,” it said in a separate statement, which called the Pope “Satan’s hellhound in the Vatican”, saying he was “proud today of his hatred towards Muslims”.
“The day is coming when the armies of Islam will destroy the ramparts of Rome,” it added in the statement addressed to “Crusaders”.
…
Addendum 3:54 pm: At On the Square, Richard John Neuhaus, who knows a bit about Popes — especially the current one — has a post on the current situation that is worth a read in full.
And, at the same blog, Robert Louis Wilken provides the rather important context of those fateful remarks from Manuel II Palaeologus.
…
Addendum 5:40 pm: Via Tammy Bruce, there’s this link to a story in the International Herald Tribune on the last words of Sister Leonella — the nun murdered by Somali Islamists in an attack apparently inspired by the Pope’s address. Her last whisper was, “I forgive, I forgive.”
Note to jihadists preparing to strap on explosives and self-detonate somewhere today: You might want to reconsider the meaning of “martyrdom.” I think Sister Leonella just gave you a hint.
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Duck? Or Just Lame? ...3:59 pm
Speaking of the world not standing long, Allahpundit at Hot Air is looking at angles on a story in WorldNetDaily that says Muslims are being warned to leave New York and Washington, in advance of a possible nuclear attack by al-Qaeda sleeper agents. Just a lot of, um, hot air? Or not? You decide. Read the various stories and you may find more to it than you would prefer to find. Still, there remains no reason to buy into it wholesale either.
A question does occur to me in this context, however. What would the U.S. response be to such an attack, killing hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans? No one knows, of-course. Why is that the case? In the interests of having at least some kind of deterrent factor against this most horrifying of possible scenarios, shouldn’t there be some kind of public understanding that the U.S. would use its own nuclear weapons against targets that this enemy would value? I think we all could come up with a couple of examples. Without an at least potentially deterrent threat on the table, what’s the point in having these weapons and this vast nuclear superiority?
A question for the next “9/11 Commission,” or its equivalent, I guess.
…
Addendum : Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo did take a stab at addressing this scenario about a year ago. After the fact, the notion of punishing uninvolved people for the attacks of a terrorist organization would provide a serious moral dilemma. Many would argue that there is no point in unleashing vast destruction on innocent people — albeit that many of them would have cheered the destruction in the U.S. — even after so many Americans were killed.
Yet, the issue, as I’ve said, is one of deterrence — which is by definition having an effect before the fact. People have already argued that there is no such thing as deterrence against terrorists who are of no particular nation. In the absence of any real deterrent threat, however, that has not been fully proved, has it?
…
Addendum II: I realize that the above involves some very hard thoughts — but the thought of the city that I and millions of others live in being attacked with a nuclear weapon is also quite a hard thought — and it’s one that we know fills the minds and hearts of some people out there with lust and anticipatory glee. To avoid the unthinkable, I would suggest, it helps to think about it at least a little bit.
Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:
BACK TO MAIN
Original text copyright ©
2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 by RightWingBob.com
Quotes from the works of others are linked to their
source or are as otherwise attributed, and are used
in accordance with Fair Use guidelines. Contact:
rightwingbob(at)gmail.com
