The leaders rulers of Muslim countries are meeting for an emergency OIC summit in Malaysia. You know the drill: oppose the U.S. policy in the Middle East, condemn Israel, road map, condemnation, "international law," etc. I'm just looking forward to some fine commentary. Like this, from the BBC:
Thursday's meeting may be judged on how many of the OIC's members turn up. As the world's largest grouping of Islamic countries, if there is a poor showing, it will be far easier for Western nations to ignore it.
I don't know which Western nations the Beeb had in mind, but as far as I'm concerned, they could all show up and camp out in Malaysia for a few months, and beyond looking for entertaining quotes and hate-filled rhetoric, I wouldn't give a damn. Ignoring the OIC comes pretty naturally to me.
This blog is supposed to be an outlet of my own thoughts and opinions (such as they are -- see the slogan). Every once in a while, however, someone lays out what I'm thinking and feeling in a way that I just can't approach. Today, that person is Dennis Prager:
I have contempt for "the world." I cherish and admire countless individuals, but I have contempt for "the world" and "world opinion." "The world" has never cared about evils inflicted on human beings. The Communist genocides meant nothing to humanity. The Holocaust meant nothing. With almost no exception, the mass atrocities since World War II have likewise absorbed humanity less than the Olympics or the Miss World Contest.
That's just a small sample. Go read the whole thing. And give thanks to LGF for the link.
GAZA CITY -- The excitement was mounting on Palestine Street as the body approached its first destination.
About 20,000 men and boys pointed their index fingers in the air. "What is your movement?" asked a rabble-rouser over van-borne loud speakers. "Hamas!" replied the crowd.
"Who was your lion?" he screamed. "Rantisi!" the crowd answered. . .
"What is your hope?" "To die a martyr," the crowd shouted.
Easy, fellas. The Israelis will accommodate you, but they can't get everyone at once. Get in line.
Shortly after the Israelis liquidated Sheikh Yassin, there was worry in some quarters that the "far more radical" Abdel Aziz Rantisi would take charge and make Hamas somehow more vile and murderous than it has been so far.
So Bush backed Sharon over me after I lied to him -- who knew? Still... I'm a little verklempt.... tawk amongst yourselves... I'll give you a topic: the Palestinian National Authority is neither Palestinian, nor national, nor has any authority -- discuss...
I'm not very pleased with Air America driving itself off a cliff in LA and Chicago, but I guess it's fitting, given the sheer incompetence and lack of professionalism from the top down. Like their wannabe-"revolutionary" predecessors, they thought they could wing it all with good intentions and lots of righteous anger. Turns out this radio thing isn't as easy as they thought. Which is too bad, in a way, because every minute of babble on Air America was essentially free advertising for those ideologically opposed to them -- provided, of course, anyone other than their most rabid fans (whom they couldn't affect anyway) wanted to listen to their incoherent mumblings. But if you could get past that, it was strangely soothing: you turn it on, realize they are still making Limbaugh and Hannity sound like Churchill and JFK rolled into one, and be glad that the likes of George Soros are spending so much moolah just to have their own ideas discredited.
But anyway, back to the lack of professionalism and the simple ability to not walk into walls. Much has already been said on the immature tone and ultra-low-grade alleged humor of AAR's so-called Sludge Report, which parodies the original rumor by Drudge.
I won't even comment on the moronic puns on "Liu" -- suffice it to say that had this been done by, say, Limbaugh, AAR would be beside itself with anger for such mockery of an Asian name. Or the "metaphor" of threatening the man's life -- hey, I'm sure someone found this funny, and maybe the orderlies let them listen to the radio just long enough to keep them still for their daily injection of anti-psychotics. Instead, I'll focus on topics much more mundane:
Insiders tell SLUDGE, that the reason the network was pulled off the air this morning in Chicago and Los Angeles, the network's second- and third-largest markets, was because, the owner of both stations, Arthur Liu of Multicultural Broadcasting, said, the network bounced a check and owes him more than $1 million!
The run-on sentence, tortured grammar and the exclamation point clearly means it’s true!!
I agree that the prose isn't the greatest (not that Air America should criticize...). But would someone point out to me how the sentence was a run-on? It's certainly complex, and has a whole sentence buried inside it as a clause, but I don't see a run-on. In the end, the sentence has exactly one subject (Insiders) and one verb (tell). Neither is what they tell a run on: stripped of the sources and background, it's that the network was pulled off the air because it bounced a check. So even in this clearly embellished quote of Drudge, the grammar is pretty good, even if the prose isn't.
As for my claim of "embellished," here's what the earliest version of the story from the Drudge archive actually says:
The CHICAGO TRIBUNE is developing a story, insiders tell DRUDGE, on how the network was pulled off the air this morning in Chicago and Los Angeles, the network's second- and third-largest markets, because, the owner of both stations said, the network bounced a check and owes him more than $1 million! A charge the network strongly denies.
Perfectly lucid, provided your reading level is somewhere north of the 5th grade. Also, credit is given to the Chicago Tribune, which Air America conveniently skips.
I'd call the whole exercise sophomoric, but fear an inadvertent insult to the many 10th-graders who do much better work.
