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April 09, 2004

Zomby Begathon (With Apologies)

I hate to do this. I've resisted doing this even when times were tight. I find myself in need of some serious hardware upgrades in very quick order, though, without the money on hand to make it possible.

If you've enjoyed my site, and if you have something to spare, and if you think it's worth helping me out in a moment of a little bit of need, then please consider a small donation.



This post will be up for a few days and will then be summarily executed, with ResurrectionSong going back to being the begging free zone that it has been for the rest of the last year.

And my apologies go out for this; I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't truly needed.

Posted by zombyboy at 10:00 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack (4)

Makin' Me Smile

Making me smile is remarkably easy.

Posted by zombyboy at 08:01 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Reading, Not Writing

Today, I think I would rather read than write. Luckily I have many friends who have written things well worth reading today.

Dean asks if the press wants us to lose. All I can say to this is that most journalists were opposed to the war and thought that it would bring catastrophe and hardship for America. Now they grasp at anything that might be used to support their assumptions.

Deb and Jay have a very different view of Bob Kerrey than I did. To be entirely fair, I didn't watch the exchange, I only read the transcripts. Perhaps something was lost in translation from live action to the printed page. I do respect both Deb and Jay enough to consider that my reaction might be wrong.

Just because I like to giggle. And my sense of humor is probably a little off.

Bill Cholenski writes about intrinsic value. Perfect.

Val has a talent for making me smile. So, yes, I'm a big old sentimentalist at heart. Shh. We don't need that getting around, do we?

Preparing for the arrival of a Little Earthling. Is there some theme running through my life today? Whatever, I would probably be feeling some of the same anxieties myself.

Part-time legislature. I'm all for the idea.

And then I remember that there are children in dangerous places. I'm gladdened by the knowledge that our soldiers are doing their best to help them out of these situations, and doing their damndest to make the world a better place.

The House of Ketchup rides again.

Here's another friend who could use your thoughts and support. I hope she knows that she has mine.

This makes me feel old. I never wanted to say it, but here it goes: Jeez, kids these days...

The Ocean Guy nails the 9/11 comission about perfectly, from my point of view.

I think that's enough reading to keep y'all going for now. Enjoy.

Posted by zombyboy at 01:19 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Could You Do Me A Favor?

Send your thoughts, love, prayers, and best wishes to Kelley. I stand amazed at her positive attitude.

Posted by zombyboy at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Why I Agree with Dennis Dutton (Or, Beating the Snot Out of a Sacred Cow)

Did you like the Lord of the Rings trilogy? So did I, although not quite to the same level that some people did. Dennis Dutton, in The Australian, has a slightly different point of view. Some selected quotes:


Acting? Elijah Wood plays Frodo with a repertoire of two wide-eyed expressions: his shocked-happy face and his shocked-hurt face. Women, as we'd expect from a geek epic, are merely an annoyance. As Clive James remarked, Middle-earth is "a place where even Cate Blanchett and Liv Tyler come to be boring".

Three words: longing hobbit glances.

Next month we'll get yet another remake of Homer's Iliad. Being Homer, not Tolkien, Troy could conceivably have convincing women to set off against Brad Pitt as Achilles. Don't get your hopes up for that; but do expect the computer-generated bone crunching, flesh-slicing battle scenes to exceed in quantity of pixel-soldiers and pints of fake blood those in Gladiator or Jackson's Rings.

And that's why the upward spiral of special effects has yielded a downward spiral in the storytelling quality of big-budget movies.


And that's precisely how The Matrix movies ended up going so far downhill. The first movie was about story and discovery; the next movies were about outdoing the first movie.

Continue reading "Why I Agree with Dennis Dutton (Or, Beating the Snot Out of a Sacred Cow)"
Posted by zombyboy at 10:50 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Today's "Oh, Isn't That Cute" Moment

One of my friends has a daughter who was particularly distressed about the upcoming Easter holiday. Her dad, the ex-husband of my friend, lives about half-way across Colorado, and she was worried that the Easter bunny would skip her if he couldn't find her.

The little girl--adorable, serious, and earnest--is still young enough to believe the Easter bunny is real (I won't be showing her Donnie Darko any time soon), but old enough to be a little skeptical. Still, a smart child, she didn't want to take any chances. My friend's boyfriend helped her immensely by helping her compose an email to the Easter bunny last night.


Hi Easter Bunny.

I will be at my dad's house this weekend in ------, Colorado. Could you
please come to my mom's house in ------ tonight and hide a basket?

Thank you,


The grin on my face when I read this was huge.

Posted by zombyboy at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

April 08, 2004

New Homes

I failed to mention the new home of one of our friends a few days back, and thought that I would remedy my error in judgement. Then I realized that another friend moved homes, too.

Rae can now be found far, far away from Blogspot at her new home here. I should have said it before, but I'm awfully glad she found a new home.

And then there's Emma, who relocated from one place to another.

Posted by zombyboy at 10:34 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Investment Advice for the Stupid

Don't try this at home folks.


A British man who has sold all his possessions, including his clothes, will stand in a rented tuxedo on Sunday and bet everything on a single spin of the roulette wheel.

If he wins, he doubles his money. If he loses, he will be left with only the television crew documenting his every move.


If he loses, this guy is an idiot. If he wins, this guy is a lucky idiot.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at 04:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Nickleback Sucks

Of course, you knew that already. But if you had any doubts, this marriage of two of their songs should convince you.

In one speaker, you hear "Someday." In the other, you hear "This is How You Remind Me."

Sorta spooky, really.

I realize that most pop music exists on a limited number of templates. It seems that it would be good policy to vary the templates just a touch more than this, though.

(I got this from the Mefites. I feel sort of dirty.)

Posted by zombyboy at 11:53 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (2)

Rice Testifies, Kerrey Preaches (Julia)

The September 11 Commission was formed as a bipartisan way to understand the intelligence failures leading up to the attacks. It has officially turned into a three ring circus. I’m referring specifically to the Rice testimony. It’s obvious to me now why it would have been preferable for Dr. Rice to testify behind closed doors. Given the limited amount of time allotted to the procedure, no line of questioning will go deep enough to make Rice give any kind of shocking answers. But instead of relevant and truly helpful answers, we can get our fill of political grandstanding.

Bob Kerrey is the most egregious example. You have said that the President was ‘tired of swatting flies.’ What flies did he ever swat? How the hell could he be tired? He never even responded after the Cole. (That’s the best I can remember it, and I can’t seem to find the transcript yet)

Worse still, was his opening statement in which denounced the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq War. (again, paraphrasing) I supported the war in Iraq. But the military is being used in such a way that it’s going to cause a civil war in that country. Most of the soldiers are American. Most of the soldiers are Christian in a Muslim country. In the end it’s going to make it easier for Al Qaeda to recruit more terrorists. How on earth this is an appropriate topic for the 9/11 Commission, I don’t know. Maybe it’s too nuanced for my small understanding. Or maybe Bob Kerrey is a belligerent ass.

Posted by Julia at 09:56 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

What Were They Thinking?

This is something that I would have expected to see in some bad movie. And I would have mocked the script writer for writing such unbelievable crap.


A church trying to teach about the crucifixion of Jesus performed an Easter show with actors whipping the Easter bunny and breaking eggs, upsetting several parents and young children.

People who attended Saturday's performance at Glassport's memorial stadium quoted performers as saying, "There is no Easter bunny," and described the show as being a demonstration of how Jesus was crucified.


Whipping the Eater Bunny and breaking eggs?

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at 09:54 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Condi

Maybe all the conspiracy theorists are on to something this time. Maybe the Bush administration really did maneuver its enemies into apoplectic fits about Rice's original unwillingness to testify. The left wondered what the administration could be hiding with its stonewalling, and the right just stood around wondering what all the fuss was about.

Today, Rice is testifying, and it can't feel good to be John Kerry this morning.


She said confronting terrorists competed with other foreign policy concerns when the president came into office, but added that the administration's top national security advisers completed work on the first major national security policy directive of the administration on Sept. 4. The subject, she said, was "not Russia, not missile defense, not Iraq, but the elimination of al-Qaida."

Bush, she said, "understood the threat, and he understood its importance," she said.

"He made clear to me that he did not want to respond to al-Qaida one attack at a time. He told me he was 'tired of swatting flies'," Rice told the commission.


And Rice always comes across as a credible voice. Unlike Clarke, who seems to be the disgruntled former employee that he actually is. Clarke spent time with an empty apology, acrimony, and no harsh words for a Clinton administration that had eight years to combat terrorism and failed to do so in any meaningful manner.

Then he apologized, but it was an empty thing. Apologies, admissions of guilt, aren't usually surrounded by so much self promotion. His went something like this: "Gosh, I had some great ideas. For all those years in office, I was telling people what to do, but no one really listened to me. If only they had listened to me, September 11 may not have happened. I'm sorry America. I'm sorry no one listened to me. It was really all President Bush's fault, though."

The simple, utterly human and tragic fact that lies underneath all the testimony is that no one in a position to make policy really understood the threat fully until 9/11. No one got it in the White House, no one got it on the street, and only a few policy geeks who everyone else thought were part of the tinfoil hat brigade understood the growing threat. No matter what anyone else says in the testimonies, that is the basis of what I believe to be true. We just didn't understand.

I'm not feeling so quick to lay blame on the subject, though. What I am looking for now is leadership that does get it. I want leadership that took the wake-up call and actually woke up, facing the seriousness and immediacy of this threat with the gravity that it deserves. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the leadership of the left is offering up only blame and exit strategies when it should be defining its plans for continuing the war to its conclusion.

Someday, the greater portion of the threat will be over. Terrorism will still exist, but we'll have minimized the threats and found ways to combat terror effectively--this I believe. When that day comes, we can go back to our normal partisan sniping over the tiniest issues of law. Until then, though, we have more important things to think about.

Read about Condi's early testimony.

Posted by zombyboy at 08:06 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

April 07, 2004

"Abandoned All Restraint"

From the Telegraph:


America abandoned restraint in Iraq yesterday and launched an all-out attempt to impose its will on the country, bombing a mosque compound and promising to destroy the militia of the rebel Shia leader, Moqtada al-Sadr.

Firstly, I think that the people who wrote this are a little confused on the subject of American restraint. What would I think are signs that America has truly abandoned restraint? Funny you should ask.

  1. You know those weapons of mass destruction that all the mini-tyrants of the world seem to cover so much? Well, ours work and their delivery systems are something more impressive than some twisted terrorist with a death wish...
  2. Special delivery MOAB in downtown Fallujah.
  3. New Iraqi constitution has "Official English" provisions.
  4. Bruce "Don't Call Me Ash" Campbell is dropped into Fallujah with nothing but a mechanical hand, shotgun shell reloading equipment, and a few spare boomsticks.

If anyone abandoned restraint, it was those Iraqis who mutilated the bodies of men who were trying to help them build a future for their nation. No, we haven't abandoned restraint, nor will we. Americans (and the rest of the coalition) are manned by basically decent human beings who really want Iraq to grow up and behave itself.

From September 12, 2001, though, I think our leaders have shown amazing restraint--restraint that continues to this day.

On the other hand, are we trying to force our will on Iraq? We didn't topple a dictatorship because we wanted Iraq to continue business as usual. Yes, we do want to force our will on them to an extent.

We want them to liberalize and learn to respect individual freedom. We don't want them to choose a leader who will destabilize the region. We want Iraq to rejoin the civilized world as a productive, not destructive, member of the community. How that all ends up looking, in relation to their form of government and their constitution, is largely up to the Iraqis themselves.

I can't really work up a lot of guilt on that subject.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at 10:37 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Why I Am Not a Student of "Herstory"

From the UConn's Daily Campus:


For the past month UConn's Women Center honored Women's "Herstory" month. The theme for March was women inspiring hope and possibility.

The month had various activities including lectures, activities and guided meditation which celebrated women, more specifically women who have changed and inspired history.


Setting aside my belief that guided meditation isn't really the best methodology for teaching history; I think the value of any reputable educational institution teaching "herstory" is limited at best.

In the same sense that I don't think there is a problem with studying specific movement and moments in history (let's just use the proper word, shall we?), I think there is actually value in studying feminism and women's contributions to science, arts, and politics. Of course, I also think that the value comes not in studying those things in isolation, but in context with other historical events and movements.

What I don't like is the typical sense of victimization and the antagonistic undertones of the events. The foolish need to re-style "history" as "herstory" simply makes it seems as if there are separate versions of historical events and that women have to define themselves outside of anything in that flow of events that might be masculine in nature. Perhaps it's just my view, but that comes out as a pretty us against them attitude.


"I hope they learned a lot about the women who contributed to our history," LeBel said, "It's all too often in history classes that women get left out. This month was really dedicated to educating people about women's history."

And if that isn't quite good enough for you, you might also be interested in Black Herstory.

Don't get me wrong--I think the idea of celebrating women's contributions to our society is wonderful. I just don't like the sense of isolation in the event that I think engenders that adversarial attitude in academia. Focus instead on bringing that recognition into the general curriculum.

But, please, leave the guided meditations at home.

Read the story.

PS—Congratulations to the Huskies for winning both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. Amazing.

Posted by zombyboy at 08:26 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

Five Minutes in a Locked Room...

Assuming the accusation is true, I would love to have a shot at this punk. Just give me a few minutes in a locked room with this jackass and see how he feels with some of the same treatment in return.


Chad Daniel Crawford, 23, was charged with cruelty to animals and vandalism Tuesday in the death of Gizmo, a 2-pound miniature Yorkshire terrier. Crawford was freed on $25,000 bail.

Jalani Lewis said he was in his apartment complex when he saw one of three men holding the dog like a football and then saw Crawford kick the animal.

Lewis said the dog flew through the air in a high arc, hit the pavement and rolled under a parked car. The dog was apparently dead when it hit the ground and the men were laughing, Lewis said.


Don't worry: I guarantee he'll survive the experience.

Trust me.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at 07:21 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (1)

Forehead Slapping Fun

Rice Rice Baby?

The only really bad thing here is that it was one of the worst songs of all time. I'm just sayin'...

Posted by zombyboy at 04:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A Rare Bird, Indeed

You all know what a fascination I have with Condoleezza Rice, so it should come as no surprise thatthis post caught my attention.

Posted by zombyboy at 01:54 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Didn't See This Coming...

Peter Coors has always been a supporter of the GOP in Colorado, and now the Rocky Mountain News is reporting that he's going to become a participant.


Brewery giant Pete Coors will enter Colorado's U.S. Senate race today, according to Gov. Bill Owens. The candidacy potentially gives Republicans a well-known and well-financed candidate to challenge Ken Salazar, the Democratic attorney general.

Aside from the fact that I don't know many specifics about his political beliefs, it is nice to see a well-known name in the race. I'll look forward to reading more about what he wants to accomplish if he is elected.

For now, though, I'll give my conditional support by drinking a few Killians this weekend.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at 01:27 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Nice Pass (and Not in the Clintonian Sense)

So, just maybe, the pass and catch skills test doesn't translate to presidential leadership abilities. But which of these two do you want on your team?




bushThrow.jpg

kerryCatch.jpg

I'm just sayin'...

(Thanks to my Secret Corespondent.)

Posted by zombyboy at 10:28 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Open Source Pisser Offer

Steve Ballmer is probably going to rile some open source advocates with this recent exchange:


With your concept of integrated innovation, is Windows becoming more closed?
There has never been a platform more open than ours, as evidenced by the fact that there has never been a platform on which people have written more applications or supported more devices.

You can make an argument from the open-source side that.
No, no, nobody can make the argument that open source is actually more open and sensitive to encourage more third-party innovation. You could say all the things about open source, but clearly, more people have used more application programming interfaces and interfaces in Windows by several orders of magnitude than any other product ever written.


The backlash should be fun to watch.

As for me, well, I just thought that it was striking how much he reminds me of Big Gay Al whenever he says things like "I am in a super-optimistic kind of mindset ..."

That's just me, though.

Read the interview.

Posted by zombyboy at 09:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Get the Hell Over Yourselves

Privacy advocates are somewhat like anti-fast food activists at times: they are overwhelmed with a need to protect consumers from their own decisions.

Google's new proposed free email service would be funded in part by showing users ads. Those ads, though, are served up based on Google's scanning of the user's emails to target users with ads that might be of some interest. I don't really like the idea of that and I probably won't use the service for precisely that reason--but privacy advocates are taking their dislike a few steps further.


Google Inc. hails its new e-mail service as a breakthrough in online communication, but consumer watchdogs are attacking it as a creepy invasion of privacy that threatens to set a troubling precedent.

Although Google's free "Gmail" service isn't even available yet, critics already are pressuring the popular search engine maker to drop its plans to electronically scan e-mail content so it can distribute relevant ads alongside incoming messages.
[...]
"Consumers really need to look this gift horse in the mouth because it has rotten teeth and bad breath," said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a watchdog group.

The Gmail backlash has inspired Orwellian comparisons likening Google to Big Brother, a disturbing development for a privately held company committed to making money "without doing evil."


If you don't like it, don't use it. Google is considering offering a service that people either will or won't use. The privacy policy and use policy will be published and presented for agreement whenever anyone signs up, and the consumer will make their own choices.

Listening to some of the privacy advocates is like listening to the Center for Science in the Public Interest talking about Ben and Jerry's ice cream. To both groups I say: look, I'm all growed up and I can decide what's good or bad for me all on my own. Say your piece and go the hell away.

Thank you very much.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at 12:38 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Tax Freedom Day

I've become accustomed to the freedom from tax day coming later and later in the year. But this year, we get a nice surprise: the day of freedom is coming pretty early.


Come April 11, Americans will have earned enough money to pay their federal, state and local tax bills for 2004. On average, Americans will work 65 days to pay their federal taxes and 36 more days to pay their state and local taxes.

Those are the findings of the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit tax policy research organization that, among other things, advocates tax simplification.

Every year, the Foundation calculates when Tax Freedom Day will occur. This year it comes at its earliest point in 37 years, the Foundation noted in its report released Wednesday, due to recent federal tax reductions and the fact that tax revenue growth has not kept pace with the growth rate of a post-recession economy.


Of course, that still leaves us with an average tax burden of more than a quarter of a person's income. It also doesn't account for the deficit that is building from ballooning spending--a deficit that will likely be less than estimated over the next few years if economic growth continues to be so strong, but will likely expand surprisingly after the baby boomers start to retire and start collecting their Social Security and government subsidized pills.

I'm glad that my day of tax freedom (assuming that I was a completely and utterly average American) is coming early this year. In 2000 (just consider the significance of that) the day of freedom came on May 2. Under Bush, our tax burden really has decreased significantly. I just wish there weren't that slightly bitter undercurrent to the long-term economic outlook.

Read the story.
See the historical data.

Posted by zombyboy at 12:07 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

April 06, 2004

American Idol (9)

Speedy look at the contest tonight:

Fantasia Barrino. Fantastic again, if not quite as good as last week. She has a powerful voice and she's a good performer.

Jasmine Trias. Her talent seems to diminish the further she gets into the contest.

Jon Peter Lewis. Please vote this guy off. Please. He is boring, he can't perform, and his voice reminds me of Dan Fogleberg. In a bad way.

John Stevens. Another unfortunate choice in songs that played to absolutely none of his strengths. It served only to make his voice sound weak, his performance sound strained, and his chances seem awfully dim. It was pure luck (and really bad voting on the part of America) that he survived last week. If Jon Peter Lewis doesn't go this week, it has to be John Stevens.

Camile Velasco. Boring. Better than last week, but boring.

Diana DeGarmo. She was a great high school performer, I'm sure, but she needs to grow up before she is even marginally interesting as a professional singer.

George Huff. Good--even really good--but not worth the standing ovation that he recieved. I like the guy, but he isn't close to the best of this group.

La Toya London. Wow. This performance was right up there with Fantasia's for the evening. Really good stuff, and she really should end up as one of the best of the show.

Jennifer Hudson. Maybe I just didn't like the song, but I thought it was sort of bland. "The Circle of Life" was crappy movie music and really wasn't a great pop song, either. Her voice was strong, and her performance was solid, but it still left me a little cold.

I love Elton John's music (with the exception of most of the stuff that appears in Disney movies), but it's interesting that it seemed exceptionally hard for most of the singers to really do the songs justice. I think that says as much about what Elton John writes, and his exceptional voice, as it does about the contestants themselves.

Posted by zombyboy at 08:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Who Woulda Thought?

Jacob Laskin, writing for The American Spectator makes me laugh. In that mirthless, bitter, head-shaking kind of way.


This weekend Spain learned what truckling to terrorists will get you: a big bomb on a busy rail line. That's precisely what a Spanish railway worker discovered in a bag under the track at Mocejon, a station close to the town of Toledo -- 26 pounds of dynamite readied to serve its fatal purpose.

But how could that be? After all, the jihadis had promised to play nice. Prior to the election of the Socialist party, a statement released by a group purporting to be al Qaeda said the Islamist brain trust would be content to leave the infidel-infested kingdom of Al Andalus -- that is, er, Spain -- in peace.


How many times will history have to prove to us that capitulation to aggressors simply doesn't work? Obviously, a large portion of polite society still thinks that appeasement is the best path to peace. In Spain, the desire to look the other way seems to be taking a particularly strong root, though.

Unfortunately, this reality seems not to have dawned on Mr. Zapatero's incoming government. Miguel Angel Moratinos, likely Spain's new foreign minister, said Monday: "We, Germany and France share the same conclusion. We want to turn to the future and not to the past." My Spanish never amounted to much, but let me venture a translation: this whole terrorism thing never happened.

Here's a hint: terrorists aren't like Amway salesmen, Hare Krishnas, and beggars on the Sixteenth Street Mall. The "don't make eye contact" rule isn't going to work in this situation.

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at 11:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tiny, But Proud

Emphasis on the "tiny."

Posted by zombyboy at 10:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

April 05, 2004

Bestest or Worstest Pun of the Day (I'm Not Sure Which)

Just be sure to follow the link...

Posted by zombyboy at 06:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Fox Disappoints

Shawn points out that Wonderfalls has been cancelled. That's disappointing; I thought the show had the potential to build a strong cult following.

It was quirky, smart, and funny. Of course, when it seems like every other show on network TV is "reality" based, something creative probably stands very little chance of success. It also goes a long way toward explaining why I watch so little network TV; it's very rarely worth the effort.

Posted by zombyboy at 05:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Happy Blogosversarybirthday Thing

It's one year for our friend and compatriot, Patrick, and I want to say congratulations (even though it actually happened yesterday when I wasn't really around to give proper appreciation to the gentleman).

Go wish Patrick a happy blogosversarybirthday thing.

Posted by zombyboy at 04:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Well. Goodness.

Tequila.
Wonkette.
Michele.
And then there was something in there about catfights, jello wrestling, and bikinis.

Yeah.

Posted by zombyboy at 04:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Fly the Flag

Flag.jpg
An idea I wholly support.
Posted by zombyboy at 03:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Islam's Internal Struggle

While the US and the coalition of the willing (yes, I do like that phrase) continues to fight terrorism and tyranny in Afghanistan and Iraq, while our diplomats apply pressure for reform in Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, Islam continues to fight its own internal war. The line between the warped view of the supposed fundamentalists (who twist the teachings of Islam to suit their calls for war and destruction) and more liberal believers has never been quite so dramatic.

That internal struggle is far from confined to the Middle East, though. While bombs and plots are being discovered seemingly every week through Western Europe, Islamic communities in the UK are starting to speak out against those of their faith that support terrorism.

One article in the Telegraph highlights the calls coming from Muslim leaders in the UK.


Britain's most prominent Muslim leader last night demanded a crackdown on "rogue" Islamic preachers, blaming them for brainwashing young men with sermons promoting holy war against the West.

Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, was backed by the families of some of the eight men arrested in Tuesday's anti-terrorism raids in south-east England.

This is precisely the kind of action needed from Muslim leaders throughout the West to make the point that not all Muslims are devoted to violence and destruction for political gain. The seeming silence from Islamic communities when there is an attack like that seen in Madrid stands in a harsh contrast to the image of jubilation seen after the 9/11 attacks. When the West is shown pictures of Muslims celebrating the death of Westerners, then local communities need to be louder and stronger in their denunciation of horrors committed in Islam's name.

Talking about it isn't good enough, though. Those leaders also need to show a willingness to help authorities ferret out the "rogue" Imams and their followers. Silence and weak replies only helps to convince the world that Muslims support the acts of terrorists, even if only by their unwillingness to help combat those terrorists.

I truly do not believe that the majority of Muslims are supportive of terrorism. If they were, then the bloodshed would truly be awesome, and the pillars of Western society would truly be shaking. Most Muslims are concerned with the same thing that most everyone else is concerned with: living a good life, being a decent person, and making sure that their children have advantages and possibilities that they did not.

But, faced with the questions about Islam and the clash of cultures, many Muslim community leaders have busied themselves with defensive posturing and cries of victimization when they should first have concerned themselves with joining the fight against the criminals and terrorists in their own mosques. The best way to inoculate their communities against the questioning eyes of non-Muslims is to actively weed out those who would make war on the West.

Posted by zombyboy at 03:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tales of Technical Woe and Depression (Updated)

I've always had good luck with Apple. The computers work well for me, I like the operating systems, and I've never had a problem with any kind of upgrade. I've never lost my data or had any hardware compatibility problems. I've never had an installation go bad and leave me stranded without my computer.

And then there was yesterday.

Continue reading "Tales of Technical Woe and Depression (Updated)"
Posted by zombyboy at 10:27 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack (1)

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