News, views or whatever crosses your mind …
Back to Main
October 7, 2006
Weekend Open Thread
Comments
great segment on challenging columbus day celebrations on friday’s democracynow. glen morris nails it here
…if we could begin a little bit by just reducing the terms “hegemony” and “ideology” to their simplest forms: if an ideology is a set of ideas that allows a nation or a people to describe reality in terms that are comfortable for them, but more importantly, that describes the world as it should be, and hegemony is driven by a national ideology that is so comprehensive that it becomes almost invisible, like water to fish or air to human beings, and in a sense then, we can understand Columbus Day as a hegemonic tool, the way that Chomsky uses the term, because it makes no historical sense to have a national holiday to Columbus in a country that he never visited, in a state that he never knew existed.
And so, we have to ask the very simple question: why does the holiday even exist? And it exists in part to advance a national ideology of celebrating invasion, conquest and colonialism.
some things never change, eh?
AMY GOODMAN: Glenn Morris, we only have two more minutes, but when you came into the studio here today at Rocky Mountain PBS, you brought a large photograph of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld speaking in Fort Carson several years ago. Why?
GLENN MORRIS: To us, that represents this continuing ideology, this hegemony that Chomsky talks about. And it is confirmation that Rumsfeld and Cheney and the Rumsfeld-Cheney doctrine around the world is an expression that began — an expression of policy that began with Columbus, continued through the entire Indian war period of the United States and continues today. If you look at this picture, you’ll see that Rumsfeld is giving a speech, sending off U.S. soldiers from Fort Carson, which is itself, a semiotic — you know, this symbolism of colonialism. Kit Carson was not a hero to native people. Kit Carson was an Indian killer. He caused the relocation of Diné people to Bosque Redondo. He engaged in the Sacramento River Massacre in the 1840s. So Kit Carson was not a heroic figure either.
AMY GOODMAN: How was Kit Carson connected to Fort Carson? [dadblastit. she’s good, ain’t she 😉]
GLENN MORRIS: It’s named after Kit Carson. Fort Carson is named after Kit Carson. So Rumsfeld is giving this speech at Fort Carson, about to send off these soldiers immediately behind him to Iraq, but behind those soldiers is the color guard for Fort Carson. And you’ll notice that they’re in different uniforms. They’re in the uniforms of the Indian wars, of the 1870s, ’80s and ’90s. And those soldiers represent the continuity, the soldiers immediately behind Rumsfeld represent the continuity of the Indian wars. That is expressed by the color guard, still dressed in the uniform of Custer, of Sheridan, of Crook, of the other Indian killers of the 19th century.
And if you look at the picture, you’ll see that those soldiers have yellow kerchiefs around their neck. So all of these people that have the support the troops magnets on their car that are yellow ribbons? That’s the genesis of that, that they even made — I believe it was 1949 — John Wayne made a movie with John Ford called She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and the tradition of those yellow ribbons is that the cavalry that would go out to kill Indians, before they left, they would take that yellow kerchief off, tie it in their wife or their girlfriend’s hair, and say, “You wear this until I come back safely from killing Indians.” So the Indian wars continue even in these little icons. That’s hegemony. It’s so impervious — I mean, it’s so pervasive in this society that we don’t even recognize it.
this doesn’t have to continue
Posted by: b real | Oct 7 2006 5:02 utc | 1
This may well explode: Tensions Grow in Besieged Mexican City
Tensions grew in this besieged Mexican city Friday with police saying three officers were beaten by protesters a day after a teacher was hacked to death.
…
Thousands of state police have gathered outside the city in recent days, and helicopters and military planes have flown over the demonstrators.
About 2,000 leftists, labor activists and Indian groups have occupied the center of this historic city since May. They are demanding the resignation of Oaxaca Gov. Ulises Ruiz, whom they accuse of rigging the 2004 election.
The standoff began when teachers went on strike for higher wages, but it quickly mushroomed into a broad-based movement. Ruiz and local business groups have asked the army to intervene to end the standoff.
Impact of Bush-Nominated Appeals Court Judges
Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears. “Federal appeals court judges nominated by President Bush are threatening and undermining Americans’ rights and liberties, and working to reduce congressional authority to protect those rights and liberties, according to a legal analysis (PDF) published today by People For the American Way Foundation.”
You know, at this moment, I don’t even give a fuck anymore..that is subject to change, however right now at this time and space let em feast…
Oh, and a pox upon the house of Bush.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 7 2006 7:18 utc | 3
I think that the Mark Foley incident will come to be recognized as a defining moment in American Politics. Mark knows where all the bodies are buried and who put them there.
Posted by: thetan | Oct 7 2006 9:36 utc | 4
Mark knows where all the bodies are buried and who put them there.
And right now he is telling all these stories to the friendly folks with the Scientology rehab he fled to.
Der Spiegel, Germany’s biggest (weekly) news magazine, will be out tomorrow with the front page title:
“POWER AND LIES”
“George W. Bush and the lost war in Iraq.”
Thank God for Mark Foley.
It proves that the American people still care about something.It happens to be penises. But still.
They care about who talks about them, who plays with them, who covers them up, who uncovers them, who covers up the uncovering of them.
I would agree with 98% of this….except the Daily Show already did gloss over the torture bill, as I have come to realize that they usually do with most really IMPORTANT things, there were a few jokes monday or tuesday night….then more jaw jackin with the latest author on the circuit. Authors selling books , I’ve noticed it on Democracy Now w/Amy Goodman too.
The other disagreement is that there should be an equal fear of the vagina…..Hillary’s, Condi’s, Diane’s…..I could go on. The problem is not with anatomical parts but sex in general. America’s sexuality health is nothing if not twisted unhealthy dysfunction. This is what is being used to bully politicians into voting against their better judgement on BOTH sides of the isle. This is what motivates almost every souless bastard on that hill. Sexual Hill is what it should be called, and this in turn is what enthralls the Religious Public i.e. the blind masses. They feed on it. Its a kind of sickness. I am coming more and more to think ordinary people live vicariously through politicians via the media. I include myself in this. This gives them/us the liscense to revel in the horror of it all and then gives them a free pass out by being disgusted at the appropriate (dictated) time. I think if you want to be a politician you should have to also sacrifice your sexual life. Bring back eunichs. Bring back big chastity belts with wicked teeth and big pad-locks. Hell with all the compensation they get I think its only fair. You get 100k+ every yr for the rest of your life and fame, and we get your balls! Fuck it, its that drastic in my opinion.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 7 2006 10:19 utc | 7
b real: What do you find positive about that “interview”? To me it was a tedious slogan chant. I can’t imagine anyone being convinced by it or learning anything from it. Here we got one of the prime FM radio slots available for progressive point of view and it is being used for semi-literate discussions of “hegemony”. No wonder the audience is so miniscule.
Posted by: citizen k | Oct 7 2006 10:23 utc | 8
@ Uncle $cam, who said:
The other disagreement is that there should be an equal fear of the vagina…..Hillary’s, Condi’s, Diane’s…..I could go on.
OK, I’ll go on: Nancy Pelosi. Remember, that intellectual giant Sean Hannity said that preventing Pelosi from becoming Speaker of the House was a cause worth dying for.
For the wingnuts, maybe he’s right, because if Pelosi does become Speaker, subpoenas will be issued and people will have to testify under oath. At that point, the whole rotten neocon enterprise will truly be doomed.
Neoliberalism and the Demise of Democracy
Resurrecting Hope in Dark Times
In its capacity to dehistoricize and depoliticize society, as well as in its aggressive attempts to destroy all of the public spheres necessary for the defense of a genuine democracy, neoliberalism reproduces the conditions for unleashing the most brutalizing forces of capitalism. Social Darwinism has been resurrected from the ashes of the 19th century sweatshops and can now be seen in full bloom in most reality TV programs and in the unfettered self-interests that now drives popular culture. As narcissism is replaced by unadulterated materialism, public concerns collapse into utterly private considerations and where public space does exist it is mainly used as a confessional for private woes, a cut throat game of winner take all, or a advertisement for consumerism. (…)
As the late Pierre Bourdieu argued, any viable politics that challenges neoliberalism must refigure the role of the state in limiting the excesses of capital and providing important social provisions. At the same time, social movements must address the crucial issue of education as it develops throughout the cultural sphere because the “power of the dominant order is not just economic, but intellectual–lying in the realm of beliefs,” and it is precisely within the domain of ideas that a sense of utopian possibility can be restored to the public realm. Most specifically, democracy necessitates forms of education that provide a new ethic of freedom and a reassertion of collective identity as central preoccupations of a vibrant democratic culture and society. Such a task, in part, suggests that intellectuals, artists, unions, and other progressive movements create teach-ins all over the country in order to name, critique, and connect the forces of market fundamentalism to the war at home and abroad, the shameful tax cuts for the rich, the dismantling of the welfare state, the attack on unions, the erosion of civil liberties, the incarceration of a generation of young black and brown men, the attack on public schools, and the growing militarization of public life. As Bush’s credibility crisis is growing, the time has come to link the matters of economics with the crisis of political culture, and to connect the latter to the crisis of democracy itself. We need a new language for politics, for analyzing where it can take place, and what it means to mobilize alliances of workers, intellectuals, academics, journalists, youth groups, and others to reclaim, as Cornel West has aptly put it, hope in dark times…. (more)
I posted this previously, I was sure it would have garnered some interesting discussion, however, it merely got one snide remark from the peanut gallery. Maybe I was wrong, but I was sure that it’s message and essense would have been right up most MOA’s ally.
How I’m feeling:
I’m at a point of utter disenchantment with my life, our society, this country, and everyone around me. I take solace in Moon, but have grown weary of spending so much time on the web, there was a point when I thought our words our deeds, our actions, and spirit would change things for the better. Perhaps the following says it better:
There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!
I’d like to be able to say, I will be spending more time taking action, getting involved, making a difference but it all seems like echoes in the abyss, as Bob Dylan said, To live outside the law you must be honest. The more the “law” fails us — which is to say, the everyday, mindless rules for how to navigate in this world — the more honest all of us need to get.
Fascists Don’t Resign; They Must Be Removed, and that is not going to happen. I have sd, before, it seems like AMERICA UNRAVELING, however maybe it’s me who is unraveling…
we are one quarter step this side of frank psychosis,or at least I am.
I dont have an ending to this, sufficit to say, I agree with Monolycus in that we have already lost. Only thing better than owning your own team is owning the team who step up against em as well. As I have commented before at this very site, the idea of a Left/Right divide is an illusion. The arrangement of seats in the French Assembly of 1791 has nothing to do with modern American politics and it’s beyond me why we should forevermore stuff our political discourse and thought into these hopelessly simplistic and misleading thought-boxes.
I don’t believe in beatles…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Oct 7 2006 13:00 utc | 11
Since this is supposed to be North Korea Weekend: here is a link to the Korean Friendship Association featuring the Democratic People’s Republic’s Song of National Defense (Click on the link to play the mp3).
Courtesy of Anecdotes from a Banana Republic.
Posted by: Guthman Bey | Oct 7 2006 13:01 utc | 12
Screwed up link sorry: Song of National Defense. This works.
Posted by: Guthman Bey | Oct 7 2006 13:06 utc | 13
Uncle $cam @11
“Most specifically, democracy necessitates forms of education that provide a new ethic of freedom and a reassertion of collective identity as central preoccupations of a vibrant democratic culture and society. Such a task, in part, suggests that intellectuals, artists, unions, and other progressive movements create teach-ins all over the country in order to name, critique, and connect the forces of market fundamentalism to the war at home and abroad, the shameful tax cuts for the rich, the dismantling of the welfare state, the attack on unions, the erosion of civil liberties, the incarceration of a generation of young black and brown men, the attack on public schools, and the growing militarization of public life.
Had never heard of Henry Giroux before. But not much of this (teach-ins) seems to be going on.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Oct 7 2006 13:21 utc | 14
@11 You see capitalism as substance ,something that is outside you but in my view capitalism is subject, we are it. We cannot reform it because we cannot observe it from the outside and make any changes that are not in themselves our own changes. The process has to go on and the result will be blindingly enlightening and perfectly unforeseen.
Posted by: jlcg | Oct 7 2006 13:39 utc | 15
jlcg@15
You are spot on.
And same applies to other incumbent belief systems.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Oct 7 2006 13:54 utc | 16
Posted by: Anonymous | Oct 7 2006 14:10 utc | 17
Anyone else around here a Battlestar Galactica fan? Last night was the season 3 opener – graphic political commentary about our present sorry slide to totalitarianism dressed up in scifi garb. Although perhaps a little too heavy-handed, I loved it. The cylons (evolved machines) are the USA, the suffering, occupied remnant of humanity is Iraq (and every other occupied nation), the cyclons ask “why do they hate us” as they round up innocent people for summary execution to create more fear and thereby increase control. A pesky insurgency won’t give up and keeps making it difficult for the cylon occupation to maintain control. Etc. Anyway, anyone else here catch last night’s epidsode?
Posted by: Maxcrat | Oct 7 2006 14:33 utc | 18
uncle $cam
from the peanut gallery – there are many posts & links you offer – in your overwhelming generosity – is is not for absence of interest that we do not comment – they are used as a resource, a real resource
paradoxically, the material is offered here is often so rich & dense that it tequires the energy & capacity of research assistants but i would not want it any other way but sometimes it exercebates the melancholia
but can we be any madder & darker than those at the helm of the cheney bush junta
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 7 2006 14:34 utc | 19
maxcrat
no, stupidly, thoughtlessly & perhaps criminally i watched cnninternational as if i was going to learn something
instead – covered in the sea of shit the presume to be information – noticing andersoncooper has more in common with gorillas than de does with african people – i imagine they are only extras in his exercises in vanity
in such parlous times – to have ‘information’ screeched at you by turn either by a prettyboy or a bullyboy – not my idea of pleasure & certainly not of learning
when i want to understand the american empire i rewatch sam pechinpah, abraham polonsky or even thatt ball of bitterness, sam fuller
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 7 2006 14:41 utc | 20
Uncle Scam, yes. Concentrating on sex scandals is village gossip; partisan politics is BS; the left right divide is a scam; all serve to mask real issues.
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 7 2006 15:52 utc | 21
@ citizen k: What do you find positive about that “interview”? To me it was a tedious slogan chant. I can’t imagine anyone being convinced by it or learning anything from it. Here we got one of the prime FM radio slots available for progressive point of view and it is being used for semi-literate discussions of “hegemony”. No wonder the audience is so miniscule.
(could you please limit your predisposition toward logical fallacies to only one, maybe two, per comment?)
personally, i feel that the interviews were effective and useful. if you are at all engaged in the vindication of indigenous rights and struggles for self-determination, i fail to see how you could cast that segment as either negative or counterproductive to facilitating an educative & inspirational response. maybe it’s that you don’t think too highly of native americans (“slogan chant”, “semi-literate”) and your reality-tunnel confirms your personal semantic maps & models of what is/isn’t “convincing” or worthy of examination. or maybe you didn’t actually even read the transcript and/or follow the informative link to the picture & companion article, but, instead, saw yet another opportunity to dis DN & its audience. one can only guess, for your dismissive remarks neither shed light on why you feel that way nor what, in particular, you find “tedious” about glen & glen’s statements. if you have some better suggestions on how to point out the congruity of the imperialist mindset in specific examples of state-sanctioned indian killing, the celebration of columbus, and the current GWOT to mass audiences, i’m all ears. but to assume that everyone shares the same knowlege base from which to address the issue is the biggest fallacy of all. as for discussions of hegemony, i’m not aware that gramsci even offered one ultimate definition to operate with. it’s about how consent & coercion are conjoined in relationships of power, and, in the DN segment that i linked to, morris does an adequate job of simplifying what can become a most tedious & complicated subject to advance his points. that’s what should stick. not some digressive attempt to steer others away from my link.
Posted by: b real | Oct 7 2006 16:30 utc | 22
Uncle $cam (and others),
Don’t interpret the lack of response as lack of interest or agreement. Sometimes a post puts it so well that there’s little to add except, “Word.” (or whatever the kids are saying nowadays)
I’m feeling pretty much the same way as you. What do you do? Build community and gird oneself for the long haul, like monks in the dark ages but without the self-flagellation. To paraphrase James Tiptree Jr./Alice B. Sheldon: We are the opossums in their machinery.
Posted by: biklett | Oct 7 2006 16:31 utc | 23
uncle sometimes my words seem inadequate. it’s embarrassing frankly. earlier i isolated this :
I’m at a point of utter disenchantment with my life, our society, this country, and everyone around me. I take solace in Moon, but have grown weary of spending so much time on the web, there was a point when I thought our words our deeds, our actions, and spirit would change things for the better.
often i feel the same way. that is all i can say for the moment. don’t loose heart.
b real, i didn’t know that about the yellow ribbons. what a farce. personally, i loved the interview.
this is why i don’t comment alot of the time. brain lock.
Posted by: annie | Oct 7 2006 16:44 utc | 24
raw story 9/11 widows blast Bush Administration over Rice, Tenet meeting
check out video
Posted by: annie | Oct 7 2006 16:53 utc | 25
R’Giap: CNN? Well, I occasionally still tune it in too, only to switch it off pretty quickly, fuming at the lies, deliberate misleading, and sheer vapidity. Anyway, you missed a great tv show.
Uncle Scam: One of the episodes in last season’s Battlestar Galactica used that famous Mario Savio quote – they put it in the mouth of one of the leaders of the underground resistance movement.
Berkeley 1964. Time for round 2.
Posted by: Maxcrat | Oct 7 2006 17:07 utc | 26
i so have to stay away from this computer and get some things done today, but just read this and it must be shared. i bow to maureen dowd today:
Death by Instant Message
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: October 7, 2006
In a world where everything is instant, the delaying and censoring mechanisms that contributed to a civilized life are gone.
So now we have our first IM scandal.
We knew it was coming, all this personal information zinging back and forth across cyberspace at the speed of write, all this constantly streaming technology being inexorably adapted to the needs of desire.
IM-ing is like whispering, perfect for furtive, racy exchanges — or slimy, perverted ones. It’s as if your id had a typewriter. In a world where everything is instant, the delaying and censoring mechanisms that contributed to a civilized life are gone.
In the old days, there was a chance that career- or marriage-destroying letters would be, upon further consideration, thrown into the fireplace. IM’s, e-mails and BlackBerry billets-doux, more perilous forms of drunk dialing, have the wings of Mercury and the indestructibility of mercury.
But peripatetic pols, like gossipy high school girls, will not give up computer messaging just because creepy Mark Foley (a k a Maf54) got caught with his e-boxers down.
Indeed, the president and his top advisers were IM-ing just last night about the party’s meltdown. I hacked into the OVAL1600 chat room and prepared a transcript. Warning: politically explicit language, reader discretion advised.
Decider: hey
Rover08: ya
Decider: Dick, u here? Don?
DarthV: ya, potus
Rumstud74: ditto, boss
Decider: I called denny to tell him i just can’t quit him …brokeback party … did we decide right?
Rover08: ya … even if we’re now the party of gays and a weak military, let’s not let the Dems paint us that way
DarthV: obvi
Rover08: btw, denny’s toll-free tip # was pretty lame … 1-800-HORNDOG or whatev … reporters r joking the spkr’s IM name is fatfallguy06 or CapitolRotunda
Decider: lol
Rumstud74: golly, dont care who gets voted off island, long as it’s not me 🙂
DarthV: dont worry, rummy, u know we’re BFFs
Decider: wait! I thought I was ur BFF …
sexylibrarian: hon, sorry to interrupt, but i think denny and rummy should BOTH go … they’re off the heez. women are hating on Foley and Iraq and it could ruin your admin
Rumstud74: ur a bigger pain than condi, laura … why dont you go rd a book? read wdwrd’s book … you sure helped him write it, litl ms tattletale
Decider: haha
sexylibrarian: george!
Decider: u know u r my First Babe … as that ad goes, u must know karate, cause your body’s kickin’
DarthV: brb …i’ve got kissinger on teh phone. Can u believe hes never heard of IM?
Rumstud74: hope the nsa’s not snoopin on that conversation
Decider: but I thought we only listened in on terrorists
Rumstud74: don’t ask, don’t tell, kid
DarthV: you’re a scream, rummy
Rumstud74: denny and I both wrestlers … you think he’d know how to handle some man-on-man grappling w/o all this Henny Penny nonsense. lay the smackdown on nancy pelosi and pin the puny press on the mat
DarthV: you’ve still got the muscles and the moves, Big Guy
Rumstud74: OMG, dick, we gotta shut up Warner on getting outta Iraq and shut up Frist about getting in bed w/the Taliban … and we gotta yank those pesky videos of snipers shooting at American soldiers off YouTube …let’s fire up the old censorship machine
DarthV: that’s hot … censorship is hot … torture is waaay hot
Rover08: knock it off, you two … back to biz … this man-boy lovefest on the Hill is def messing up my mojo with evangelicals … after all my hard work demonizing gays, my God-gap is shrinking
Decider: if the dems win the house, will they start investigating me?
Rover08: oh ya, that’s why we gotta get back on the offensive with our own agenda: pretending to keep the country safe
Decider: totes!
sexylibrarian: u coming to bed, Bushie?
Decider: do i have to read more shakespeares … promised boy genius we’d play w/ the fart machine for a few min … c u l8r …
Rover08: whoopeeee!
Posted by: conchita | Oct 7 2006 17:17 utc | 27
For ex. from Wapo Feb 2006:
325,000 Names on Terrorism List
link
So hard to find a new enemy to fight wars. Bush holds hands with and kisses Prince Bandar. Saudi is an ally, Jordan is a client state, etc. Tough sell.
So who are the people on the terra list? Anyone and everyone.
They might be Muslims, Arabs, ‘financiers’, NGO Islamists, or anyone with distant ties in that direction; they might be peaceniks, animal rightists; they might be local right wingers; they might be dissident intellectuals; they might be drug taking, ex-criminal students; religious people out of the mainstream; grannies who give to orphanages in Iran without knowing they are doing it; journalist who have a leaky pen; political opponents; those who have some suspicious trait, such as phoning SA, only paying in cash, or living off the grid and demonstrating with ragged banners in Maine…
What a mess. It won’t do. (Ask the Nazis. Hate as to be 1) organised, 2) financially advantageous, there has to be payback.)
No fly lists US (Oct 06):
CBS said a copy of the list obtained by ’60 Minutes’ included detained former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein; 14 of the 19 dead Sept. 11 hijackers; Nabih Berri, Lebanon`s parliamentary speaker; and Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia.
link
Saddam in first class! Sipping champagne and scuffing his calf leather shoes, identical to Bush’s as they order from the same Italian shoemaker! 14 dead hijackers (if on the list before, why allowed to fly? Why put dead terrorists on the list after?)
No one can doubt that these lists are a pathetic attempt at internal control, a need to individualise guilt and stigma according any criteria – won’t work. A liberal society, with its mainstream politics heavily invested in capitalism and atomistic individualism cannot create the kind of hate that shepherds people towards an apocalypse.
I hope. Faint. Quite.
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 7 2006 17:42 utc | 28
Her Socialist government is requiring political parties to allot 40 percent of their candidate lists to women and is telling big companies to give women 40 percent of the seats on corporate boards. Half of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero’s cabinet members are women — the highest proportion in any government in Europe.
New divorce laws not only make it easier for couples to split but stipulate that marital obligations require men to share the housework equally with their wives.
To draw more women into the armed forces, the government is shrinking the height requirements for women entering the National Guard and opening child-care centers on military bases.
Not even the royal family is immune: Zapatero wants to abolish the law giving male heirs first rights to the throne.
The push for gender equality in one of Europe’s most macho cultures comes as both internal and outside forces are creating seismic social shifts: Spanish women are taking greater control of their own lives by waiting longer to marry and having fewer children. The European Union is exerting more pressure on members to enforce equality. And the growth of high-tech businesses with a greater sensitivity to hiring women is expanding job opportunities.
The chief executives of Spain’s IBM, Microsoft and Google operations are all women. In many cases, they are not only hiring more female employees than traditional industries, but they are attempting to make the workplace more family-friendly.
…..
Zapatero, elected in part on his promises to improve the station of women, has said his mission is to make up for lost time.
“One thing that really awakens my rebellious streak is 20 centuries of one sex dominating the other,” Zapatero said shortly after his election. “We talk of slavery, feudalism, exploitation — but the most unjust domination is that of one-half of the human race over the other.”
Posted by: annie | Oct 7 2006 18:28 utc | 29
(could you please limit your predisposition toward logical fallacies to only one, maybe two, per comment?)
Perhaps if you could identify the logical fallacies, I could improve myself.
Here’s my objections. (1) the language is pointlessly ugly and unaccessible. You could just say “We shouldn’t glorify myths about people like Kit Carson who nearly killed of all the Navaho or other indian fighters – and it is a mistake to send soldiers to war with the idea in their heads that they are todays indian fighters. .” All this “hegemony”, “ideology” language adds nothing to the point.
(2) The history is wrong. Hollywood apparently invented the yellow ribbon idea in the Wayne movie, but, get this, John Wayne movies were not always accurate! Deep research on google shows that there was no indian wars yellow ribbon tradition.
(3)The point itself is stupid. Wow! America glorifies its historical butchers. Hey and there’s even a war plane called a “crusader” and they weren’t nice people either, and every $20bill has the killer of the Cherokee on it, and there is a statue of Juan Onate in Sante Fe and he chopped off the hands of Pueblo indians and so on and even George Washington was, imagine it, a slaver! Its almost as if human history has been, you know, accompanied by episodes of violence and brutality. Why next we’ll find the English still glorify King Richard and the Zulus admire Chaka and the Danes glorify Sven Forkbeard. Someone fan me with a copy of the John Lennon songbook!
And it is confirmation that Rumsfeld and Cheney and the Rumsfeld-Cheney doctrine around the world is an expression that began — an expression of policy that began with Columbus, continued through the entire Indian war period of the United States and continues today.
What exactly is that policy that began with Columbus? He sailed from Spain which had just been in the “last throes” of expelling, torturing, murdering, and robbing, all of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants so he didn’t discover a new form of human relations for Europeans. And he came to a continent in which the Inca and Aztec had been building empires by mass slaughter, enslavement, and despotism, so he didn’t bring anything new to the continent other than diseases, new murder technologies.
Finally (3) who is to be educated and motivated by this use of the airwaves? Why nobody except the existing DN audience who will feel a warm glow of self-satisfaction about their own political correctness.
Posted by: citizen k | Oct 7 2006 18:51 utc | 30
Two German journalists have been killed by unidentified attackers in northern Afghanistan in an overnight attack.
horrible, in their tents w/ak47’s. this is disgusting. i wonder if their footage is preserved. unlikely
Posted by: annie | Oct 7 2006 18:52 utc | 31
stipulate that marital obligations require men to share the housework equally with their wives.
Its obviously the smart thing for a couple to share the housework especially if both are working.
But theres the matter of that natural human libertarian/independent streak in many people, male & female alike, that spontaneously rejects being told what to do or scrutinized intrusively by others on the outside.
I guess we are going to have to force people to suppress such feelings.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Oct 7 2006 19:29 utc | 32
jony, what can they do w/you if you don’t do your share of the dishes? throw you in jail? possibly it is legal grounds for divorce?
Posted by: annie | Oct 7 2006 19:42 utc | 33
annie@33
if not doing ones share of dishes can be grounds for divorce, maybe a spouse with a shopping/spending problem should also be grounds for divorce.
annie as you know, abortions are still generally banned in Spain. Now thats a law that needs work.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Oct 7 2006 20:27 utc | 34
Annie #33: I picture heavily armoured SWAT squads kicking down the door, knocking the criminal to the ground and carefully sweeping up the wreckage as they drag the culprit off to the Van screaming “I was just soaking the pots” .
Posted by: citizen k | Oct 7 2006 22:26 utc | 35
lol citizen K. i suppose there would be a surge in dishwasher sales.
abortions are still generally banned in Spain.
maybe they aren’t ready to take on the church. weird.
beam me up scotty
Beaming people in Star Trek fashion is still in the realms of science fiction, but physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter – bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality.
Until now, scientists have teleported similar objects, such as light or single atoms, over short distances from one spot to another in a split second. But Eugene Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter
“It is one step further because, for the first time, it involves teleportation between light and matter, two different objects. One is the carrier of information and the other one is the storage medium,” Professor Polzik said on Thursday.
The experiment involved for the first time a macroscopic atomic object containing thousands of billions of atoms. They teleported the information a distance of half a metre but believe it can be extended further.
But the achievement of Professor Polzik’s team, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, in Garching, Germany, marks an advancement in the field of quantum information and computers, which could transmit and process information in a way that was impossible before. ….
does this mean we can go back in time and save the planet?
Posted by: annie | Oct 7 2006 22:54 utc | 36
word, biklett – james tiptree jr! there is a name to conjure w/ – is she still alive?
Posted by: Dismal Science | Oct 8 2006 1:05 utc | 37
@citizen k
Deep research on google shows that there was no indian wars yellow ribbon tradition
i’d be interested in seeing something definitive, as i can pull up articles that say otherwise.
in the 1870’s, the girlfriends and wives of cavalrymen engaged in relentless assaults against Indigenous populations, initiated the practice of displaying yellow ribbons, as a show of support for their loved ones posted in “Indian Territory.” Thus the morbid U.S. tradition of displaying yellow ribbons with every military campaign, was established. [link]
unfortunately no helpful footnoted source
Although the exact origin of the yellow ribbon still remains a mystery, the tradition of wearing yellow ribbons may date back to the Civil War when the U.S. Cavalry was symbolized by yellow piping on their uniforms. Women who were married to or dating soldiers wore yellow ribbons as they waited for their sweethearts to return from battle. Historians believe this practice was commemorated in the 1917 song “Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.” [link]
i read the article at the library of congress that was inconclusive on the origins of the practice, but one of the references it used is behind a subscription wall so i wasn’t able to pursue that.
this article, however, traces the practice of wearing some article of yellow fabric back to the english civil war
The soldiers of Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan Army wore a yellow sash or yellow ribbon. These were worn onto the battlefield. This was necessary to identify friends and foes in the chaos of battle.
The Puritan Army was raised up in a hurry. These were middle class people of limited means. They and their families would have taken a hand in preparing their own battle dress. The Puritan ladies, with husbands, brothers, or sons in the Puritan Army, would have been busy. They would have made up those yellow sashes for their menfolk to wear over their heavy brown battle coat.
i’m sure there are more scholarly works on the indian war – yellow kerchief connection, and i doubt you’d find them via google. i’ll keep my eyes peeled & let you know if i turn up anything.
The point itself is stupid. Wow! America glorifies its historical butchers. …
damn. whitefella viagra-level cynicism there, dude. can’t follow you down that path, sorry.
What exactly is that policy that began with Columbus? … he didn’t bring anything new to the continent other than diseases, new murder technologies.
besides non-indigenes and a western worldview, another important thing that columbus brought w/ him was elio antonia de nebrija’s road map for domination via semantic imperialism, as outlined in his gramatica castellana. illich wrote quite a bit on the topic. and that brings us back to the realm of language, semiotics, ideologies & hegemony. native americans are tuned in to this aspect of western domination, and i can see nothing wrong w/ using these concepts to describe the type of semantic nonsequitors that they can open our eyes/minds to. so i’m not sure what it is about this perspective that you object to so adamantly.
Posted by: b real | Oct 8 2006 5:50 utc | 38
Dismal Science- Tiptree/Sheldon died a while ago. There’s a good bio of her in Wikipedia. Murder/suicide pact with her husband, both former CIA.
Posted by: biklett | Oct 8 2006 6:24 utc | 39
British hire anti-Taliban mercenaries
The districts will be guarded by new auxiliary police made up of local militiamen. They will initially receive $70 (£37) a month, although it is hoped that this will rise to $120 to compete with the $5 per fighting day believed to be paid by the Taliban. “These are the same people who two weeks ago would have been vulnerable to be recruited as Taliban fighters,” said Richards.
So the Brits will pay me $70 and maybe $120 while the Taliban will pay me $150. Hmmm…
Then again why not take the $70-$120 AND take the $150? Now that could be a good deal. Lets see the local drug lord maybe he is willing to even add to that.
Idiots …
Kim’s message: War is coming to US soil
… The fifth and last point is a long, overdue farewell to the nuclear non-proliferation regime, with the Bush administration standing in the dock as prime defendant accused of sabotaging nuclear non-proliferation. Had the Americans been steadfast in upholding the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty by reducing their nuclear weapons and respecting the sovereignty and independence of the non-nuclear states, North Korea would not have felt any need to defend itself with nuclear weapons.
Kim Myong-chol is author of a number of books and papers in Korean, Japanese and English on North Korea. He is executive director of the Center for Korean-American Peace. He has a PhD from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Academy of Social Sciences and is often called an “unofficial” spokesman of Kim Jong-il and North Korea.
Posted by: DM | Oct 8 2006 9:53 utc | 41
I haven’t read this particular Democracy Now! interview… but I think that the problems folks have with this stuff is that they somehow see themselves in those Custers, Washingtons, Columbuses, and Sharons of yore and reflexively defend “themselves” against… not “the truth”, because who has that… but against the deconstruction of the hagiography that “we” have built around these earlier versions of “ourselves”.
I used to feel the same way reading Chomsky or Howard Zinn’s historical writings.
But these guys are not trying to run down America or Israel or the “hegemon” du jour. I can remember reading Chomsky’s explicitly stating, in the forward of a book of lectures given in Nicaragua, that the US is in his opinion probably no worse and in some respects better than your run of the mill “superpower”. That it’s par for the course to demonize the other, to murder them with nary a second thought, and to steal all their stuff. Given the power to do so, and to get away with it.
But some folks, unwilling to give up the spoils, latch onto such observations as testimony to a bestial “human nature” and so, too, dismiss the results of these investigations with appeals like… hey they did it… we do it… that’s just the way it is.
But the irksome idea remains, that it doesn’t have to be this way.
That there is no “human nature” from which all this behavior depends, or rather that our “rational component”… how about our better lights?.. are as much a part of our nature as any other, and could play as strong a role in our “civilization” as any other.
If we ever decide to get off the endless wheel of amnesiac, willful, suffering.
“We” are not “them”. We can choose not to repeat the same mistakes endlessly.
But this does require admitting that they were mistakes.
Perhaps “mistakes have been made” will do?
The hard part is letting go of the spoils.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Oct 8 2006 11:49 utc | 42
Posted by: Anonymous | Oct 8 2006 13:09 utc | 43
JFL #42 but I think that the problems folks have with this stuff is that they somehow see themselves in those Custers, Washingtons, Columbuses, and Sharons of yore and reflexively defend “themselves” against… not “the truth”, because who has that… but against the deconstruction of the hagiography that “we” have built around these earlier versions of “ourselves”.
Not guilty. My objection is to the ponderous academic language that conveys no information and the hand-wringing political framing. One of the things that lefties whine about all the time is how the media is controlled by corporate apologists. Here is DN on some absolutely prime radio bandwidth, drawing a tiny audience. Why? From this report you can see three things. First, there is use of obscure language. What precisely do we gain from the terms “hegemony” and “ideology” and the kind of “let me try to explain these complex concepts in simple words” condescension of the report? Second, there is the ritualized confirmation of what the audience already knows – look at that “what does fort carson have to do with kit carson”? Are we supposed to “amen” this crap? Third, there is the “america is bad” message. Well, no shit. But as Neumann pointed out in his article, you build a political movement by convincing people why it is in their interest, not by insulting them and crowing about how ethically superior you are for sneering at their mythology. Remember, we’re not looking at a transcript of Native America Calling. What do you expect is the effect of this jargonish hectoring on a bus driver in Bronx or a secretary in Staten Island when they run into this on the WBAI channel?
How about: On Columbus day, with another american army filled with poor and minority kids off fighting some people far away, we should think about what’s worth fighting for and what’s not. There’re a picture of Rumsfeld at Fort Carson, sending the troops off with an honor guard dressed in Indian Fighter cavalry and its really sad. What Kit Carson did in our name was not honorable and what Rumsfeld is doing in our name is not honorable. If you think about how the Buffalo Soldiers fought so valiantly for a country that didn’t get around to basic civil rights for black people until 100 years later, you wonder if our soldiers in Iraq not repeating history by fighting for a government that is violating their civil rights and shipping their jobs overseas and …
Posted by: citizen k | Oct 8 2006 13:46 utc | 44
b real #28: your first cite sources John Wayne. Your second says it was a civil war tradition, not an indian war tradition. Your third sez it was even more distant from the indians – as far as I know the Puritans were into genocide against the Irish not having any Indians nearby. No much of a case. Try this.
So what is this “policy” that began with Columbus? If it is racial/religious/linguistic domination, I think you’d be out of luck showing it to be innovative. As I noted, 1492 is a famous historical date not just for Columbus arriving in America but for the final solution to the Islamic/Jewish civilization in Spain. The castilian grammar was important for a nation that had been writing its major works in Arabic just 50 years before and now was on a mission to provide christian//european purity.
Posted by: citizen k | Oct 8 2006 14:07 utc | 45
Zapatero did not expect to be elected. He was elected because Aznar was stupid enough to lie about terrorism that was false-flag – Aznar did not follow the script! Z has done a tremendous amount for ‘gender’ issues. I’m surprised no one mentioned that gay marriage is legal in Spain (in Spain!) since 2005. Z has implemented some very clever measures, as he listens to women and heads of associations and so on. For example, women beaten by their husbands are given a free cell phone (baldly stated, of course it is complicated), top o the line. Very sweet, very smart.
Detractors snigger that all he can do is set BMI (body mass index) for models who strut on the podium. They are set to become less skeletal, “Madrid bans waifs from catwalks” as the BBC puts it.
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 8 2006 15:20 utc | 46
pour b real – another politcal class so venal they would rob even their own dignity
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 8 2006 17:30 utc | 48
So lawmakers are actually reading the blogosphere now? ‘Cos I just know I’ve read a few times that they should be the ones being shipped off. Well, I can’t call Jason Brown a hypocrite… but I’m not looking forward to the McCain-esque angle this is going to take in a few years when he launches a platform based exclusively on the fact that he can tell war stories (“… and they didn’t even cut our lobster tails in half! The horror! The horror!)
Posted by: Monolycus | Oct 8 2006 17:34 utc | 49
monolycus
against all advice, & being a mad dog – i watched the dwarf blitzer & the talk so degraded – that i imagine a flight over iraq constitutes bravery in their language, their gutlessness so obvious on this or that affair – you would imagine – a people who could see that & make the appropriate response this november – but they won’t & for all that is ecstatic elsewhere in the blogosphere – i imagine the republicans – so crooked they cannot lie in bed straight – will retain their majorities & worse – they will be applauded for doing so
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 8 2006 17:46 utc | 50
@beq
Nice one at #47… thanks!
@r’giap
I don’t even want to prognosticate about November. The dems I am listening to are doing the “more boots on the ground” tough talk that the repubs have trained them to. Even Murtha isn’t throwing himself back into the “cut our losses” fray, so I’m not all that optimistic that November is going to be that long-awaited accountability moment no matter which direction it goes. This ride looks like it’s a ways from being over yet.
Posted by: Monolycus | Oct 8 2006 18:08 utc | 54
Most Profound Man in Iraq — an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied “Yes, you.”
@M – I’m not all that optimistic that November is going to be that long-awaited accountability moment no matter which direction it goes. This ride looks like it’s a ways from being over yet.
Oh, I really do expect a “joint” bipartisan call for a draft and an increase of troops in Iraq to 500,000 if not after this election, then in 2009 with a dem president.
Interesting take on NoKo
North Korea is stable and there is more economic activity in Pyongyang than I have ever seen—more cars and bicycles, better-dressed people, more restaurants, more small mom and pop stores, and above all more interest in making money. That’s the result of reform policies that give more autonomy and profit incentives to economic enterprises. Everything is still formally owned by the state, but enterprises are leased to managers who pay less to the state than they used to and can keep much more if they make a profit.
In contrast to Pyongyang, the countryside is stagnant and impoverished in many areas. But this has not affected the political stability of the regime. The belief that regime change is possible is rooted in the assumption that North Korea is an economic basket case. But the country does have significant natural resources like gold, iron ore and potential seabed oil and gas reserves.
beq, i really needed that.
november, i am completely w/out thrill about any aspect of this election. theonly positive would be conyers if dems took the senate, conyers going after bush. the rest i have no faith, but it could be just my mood w/the seattle fog.
Posted by: annie | Oct 8 2006 18:50 utc | 58
beq, loved 47. so much can be said with hands. and b, love the time cover. dm, sobering point about north korea. b, thanks for the additional link. monolycus, sadly i’m with you on november. i once believed the dems might make a difference. no longer. noirette, thanks for the european view of zapatero. you have all been very busy while i have been reading/snoozing in the sun in my roof garden. guthman bey was right – it is a stunning day in manhattan. thank you all for keeping me up to date.
Posted by: conchita | Oct 8 2006 19:10 utc | 59
@b (#57)
As I said in the NoKo Nukes thread, the streets of the ROK aren’t currently buzzing over their kith and kin in the North (even though about forty rounds were fired into the DMZ the other day at five mostly unarmed North Koreans on a fishing trip… sorry, can not find the link). It’s hard to get a solid take on exactly how South Korea thinks international politics are supposed to work. Their foreign minister right now is threatening to fuck up a perfectly good United Nations by making it work the way it’s supposed to.
At least Shinzo “Is it 1930 yet?” Abe has persuaded some folk to take a hard line against North Korea. The US has offically given Kim Jong-Il a stern finger waggling (which would have been upgraded to a stern lecture and disappointed shake of the head if they still had an army), and the United Nations is threatening not to ask North Korea out on a third date if they proceed with nuclear tests.
Posted by: Monolycus | Oct 8 2006 19:11 utc | 60
monolycus
yes, seen from here – the south koreans seem to have a sober & non hysterical response to kim jong il
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 8 2006 19:36 utc | 61
A long piece by Robert Fisk. I have not read it yet and may only do so tomoorow but it is always good to read him, ageeing or not, he HAS the experience where we have none: Robert Fisk: The Age of Terror – a landmark report
the fisk is strong – very strong – a form of synthes of his book but which is coulored by the urgency of these last few months
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 8 2006 20:37 utc | 63
@citizen k
your first cite sources John Wayne.
that article mentions the wayne flick. it does not cite it as the source of the quotation which i extracted. it’s nearly impossible to find any web article on yellow ribbons and indians that doesn’t mention the movie somewhere in the text.
Your second says it was a civil war tradition, not an indian war tradition.
civil war preceeded & then overlapped indian wars. cavalry was involved in both. cavalry uniforms included yellow trim & accoutrements. if there were instances of leaving a yellow kerchief or symbolic yellow ribbon w/ someone at home during the civil war when they went off to kill the enemy, why not allow for the possibility of the same practice for the continuing years?
Your third sez it was even more distant from the indians – as far as I know the Puritans were into genocide against the Irish not having any Indians nearby.
sorry if i wasn’t clear before, but this reference didn’t have anything to do w/ the indian wars, instead showing that yellow articles & soldiers has a precedent at least back to the era documented by that author.
the urban legends article is entirely based on the article at the library of congress site that i already acknowledged & pointed out was still inconclusive. that a folk historian attributes the current usage of the yellow ribbon to folklore, and even folklore from his era, is not entirely surprising, but it makes for a comforting explanation/story. will dig for sources of the claims that were made by the native americans. but it’ll take time.
also try to address more on columbus when time
thx for the perth link, r’giap.
Posted by: b real | Oct 8 2006 22:19 utc | 64
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, in town for a fund-raiser for Sen. Rick Santorum, had a close encounter with a large group of anti-Republican protesters as he was making his way to the Duquesne Club, Downtown.
It was about 4:15 yesterday when Mr. Bush met up with the protesters near the corner of Liberty and Sixth avenues. The protesters were marching to join other pickets already gathered in front of the exclusive club, a little more than a block away at 325 Sixth Ave.
Protesters said Gov. Bush blew them a kiss, acknowledging the crowd of about 30 chanting pickets that was made up of United Steelworkers and members of Uprise Counter Recruitment, a tour traveling through 22 cities to support anti-war efforts.
The protesters came closer.
“Jeb, go home,” they shouted.
Mr. Bush, accompanied by a security guard and a female aide, made a slow retreat toward the T-station at Wood Street.
“We don’t want you here,” protesters chanted.
Mr. Grove said a Port Authority canine unit was called in to help with crowd control. Two officers used their tasers to stun two protesters who “were asked to leave, but did not go,” Mr. Grove said.
“It was a very tense situation. They were very close to the governor and shouting on top of him.”
As a precaution, the governor was ushered into a T-station supply closet and stayed there until the crowd left.
The two men who were tasered were shaken and left the protest, said David Meieran, with the Thomas Merton Center and one of the protesters with Uprise Counter Recruitment.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Oct 8 2006 23:22 utc | 65
@ b real (#1) – A bit slow here but I thought the yellow ribbons started here. Our “culture” being what it is, you know. It’s always seemed strange to me; this transposing a convict into a soldier.
Nevermind.
Posted by: beq | Oct 8 2006 23:53 utc | 66
just read Robert Fisks article. In contrast to Nir Rosens, Fisk, as much as I respect and admire him, seems kind of left-behind. The world Fisk would like to see has slipped away. And from his intro about looking back through his old notes – maybe he senses it.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Oct 9 2006 1:03 utc | 68
Sen. Allen is toast: Virginia Senator Did Not Disclose Stock Options
For the past five years, Senator George Allen, Republican of Virginia, has failed to tell Congress about stock options he got for his work as a director of a high-tech company.
Congressional rules require senators to disclose to the Senate all deferred compensation, like stock options. The rules also urge senators to avoid taking any official action that could benefit them financially or appear to do so.
Mr. Allen’s stock options date to the period from January 1998 to January 2001, after his term as governor of Virginia and before he took office as senator.
The Associated Press reviewed his financial dealings from that time and found that he had twice failed to promptly alert the Securities and Exchange Commission of insider stock transactions as a director of Xybernaut and of Commonwealth Biotechnologies.
Upps N. Korea Reports 1st Nuclear Arms Test
North Korea said Monday it has performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test. U.S. and South Korean officials could not immediately confirm the report.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said information still needed to be analyzed to determine whether North Korea truly conducted the test.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said the underground test was performed successfully and there was no radioactive leakage from the site.
South Korean intelligence officials said a seismic wave of magnitude-3.58 had been detected in North Hamkyung province, according to Yonhap. It said the test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT Sunday) in Hwaderi near Kilju city on the northeast coast, citing defense officials.
Fuck it. I was bad enough when Britain France and the US exploded their poisonous fucking penis extensions in the Pacific. Now by stint of stupidity working in hand in hand with hubris and cupidity as it is wont to do the fuckwits in BushCo pushed a Pacific state into a corner where it had to explode a nuclear weapon, the best these fuckwits can do is pretend it hasn’t happened:
South Korea’s presidential Blue House said a tremor of magnitude 3.58 to 3.7 had been detected in North Korea at 12.35pm NZT on Monday.
However, the US Geological Survey said it had detected no seismic activity such as might be expected from a nuclear test on the Korean peninsula within the past 48 hours.
Abe, speaking in Seoul after arriving from an ice-breaking visit to Beijing, also said Japan had no confirmation of a test by North Korea.
If they keep that up Kim Jong-il will stick a warhead on one of his missiles and fire it at someone, most likely Japan but maybe South Korea.
As this BBC report articulates Jong-il has been playing the nuclear card for a while trying to get the US to pay attention, stop killing arabs and sit down one on one with Pyonyang and resolve that shit which has been left unresolved for 50 years.
Of course if the US was to pay attention to the other 4 year old across the playfround it may not be taken seriously by the grown-ups who it is trying to impress by threatening Iran, which doesn’t have nuclear weapons and couldn’t get them for at least 10 years even if it wanted to.
Reality is what you make it in the land of BushCo so Bin-laden lives as does Al Quaeda in Iraq leader Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, not because they are alive but because if they are dead there is a shortage of bogeymen to keep the voters scared with. But now North Korea doesn’t have a nuclear weapon because if it did, then the BushCo strategy of making the planet safe by killing Arabs might not seem to be a a successful strategy.
Madness. The bad arabs must live to keep people scared enough to want to keep killing Arabs that aren’t bad, then bad people who aren’t Arabs must be ignored so people will still want to keep killing good arabs. People vote for this?
Posted by: Debs is dead | Oct 9 2006 4:26 utc | 71
I do not know how Robert Fisk carries on. He saw Sabra and Chatila in the 1980s, and a couple of decades later, in 2006 Lebanon is blasted to fuck. Talk about one step forward, two steps back.
His friends have been maimed, murdered in cold blood, assassinated, including Hariri. He must have expended a goodly portion of his own nine lives already.
And to cap it all, he cannot even go to do the job he loves in places like Iraq because it is too bloody dangerous.
Posted by: Dismal Science | Oct 9 2006 15:16 utc | 72
jony and others;
Fisk is a good man. One cannot but like him, feel sympathy.
Taking into account his position as an Anglo, friend of Hariri, believer in the 9/11 official conspiracy, it becomes a little difficult to adhere…. In the last video I saw, he pushed the softie leftie thing, implying that Muslims were justified in attacking the US, and that the international community was not willing to look at ‘motives’. Very old England. Treading on a thin line. He makes the point that ‘we get our historical narratives from our presidents and prime ministers, generals, journalists’ (paraphrase) and we should refuse that… audience claps… but hey ho! It all depends on what parts you accept.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OBZUgJGO0E
(slow internet couldn’t get the link to work but copy pasting the above should do it)
Posted by: Noirette | Oct 9 2006 19:22 utc | 73