Sean LaFreniere

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

The Middle of the Begining Of The End

The Harvard Crimson reports:

REPUBLICANS FOR MARRIAGE: In a sign of the future, some of the young supporters of the first gay couples to exercise their civil rights were Republicans and Christians:

The crowd of supporters included seven members of the Harvard Republican Club (HRC), with two executive board members among them.

One of the HRC members, Joshua A. Barro '05, appealed earlier to the club's open-list for Republicans to show that the “next generation of Republicans is tolerant and inclusive" by joining in the march.

"It’s not an official club-sanctioned event, but we are coming to show that there are Republicans who support gay marriage," said Barro, wearing his blue HRC T-shirt. "I think this is the direction the Republican Party is heading."

Members of the Harvard Christian Fellowship also participated in the procession, though not as an official contingent of the Harvard student group.

"We're coming out as individual Christians to show our support for the gays and lesbians who are getting married tonight," said Stephen E. Dewey '07. "We are very happy for them."
Me too.

I don't see how the Christian Right can claim to have a mainstream view on this issue, certainly not after this story.

Thanks to Andrew Sullivan, from whom I tore this linkage.

Sean Tuesday, May 18, 2004 [+]
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Head of Iraqi Governing Council assassinated By Terrorists

CNN reports:

Izzedine Salim was slain on Monday morning in Baghdad by a suicide bombing at a checkpoint near the Green Zone.

Al-Yawar, a Sunni Muslim from the northern city of Mosul who would have assumed the rotating council presidency June 1, will complete Salim's term and serve through the scheduled handover.

"We should all unify our efforts in our words and in our actions in chasing those criminals and paralyzing their hand and to unify our energy in working for a democratic and free Iraq," the new president said.

Another governing council member, Aquila al-Hashimi, died after an attack in September.

No rest for the wicked.

International condemnation of Salim's assassination was widespread...

but muted.

Oh... and they found evidence of WMD in Iraq, as they do every few months, not like Chirac would like you to read about it much.

Meanwhile, a U.S. convoy in Iraq found an artillery shell loaded with sarin gas -- a deadly nerve agent used in chemical weapons, the coalition said Monday.

Gnrl. Kimmitt said the shell contained two chemicals which, when mixed during the flight of an artillery shell, formed the nerve agent.

He said the shell had been rigged as a makeshift bomb that resulted in a small dispersal of the agent when it exploded before an ordnance team could disarm it.

Kimmitt said the artillery round was of an old style that Saddam Hussein's regime had declared it no longer possessed after the Persian Gulf War.

"It was a weapon we believed was stocked from the ex-regime time," Kimmitt said. "It had been thought to be an ordinary artillery shell, set up like an IED [improvised explosive device]. When it exploded, it indicated that it had some sarin in it."

The general said the Iraqi Survey Group, headed by Charles Duelfer, would determine if the shell's discovery indicated Saddam possessed chemical weapons before the U.S. invasion last year. Officials in Washington said another shell -- this one containing mustard gas -- was found 10 days ago in Iraq.

No other evidence of possible chemical weapons has been found in Iraq. The Bush administration cited weapons of mass destruction as a key reason for its invasion.

Repeating this statement, after publishing what preceded it, is ridiculous... this is what is called a "meme".


Sean Monday, May 17, 2004 [+]
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Holler If You Know This Place

Still looking for feedback from people who have actually been to the place... Reston, VA.

Reston used to be known as "leafy" and "rural". Now days people comment on the lack of trees, the high prices, the missing grocery stores...

Can new places work in today's America?

Sean Friday, May 14, 2004 [+]
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Prisoner Release

CNN reports that nearly 300 Iraqis were released from Abu Garab prison yesterday... another several hundred will be released by the 21st.

The prison's new commander, Gen Miller, plans to reduce the headcount at the prison from over 3000 to around 1500.

Good thing?

Sean Friday, May 14, 2004 [+]
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WE LIED

CNN reports that the Daily Mirror's editor, Piers Morgan, has resigned over the publication of "fake" pictures of British soldiers abusing Iraqi detainees.

There is a lesson for Mr. Rumsfeld in this story.

Sean Friday, May 14, 2004 [+]
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Coolest Guy Ever

CBS reports:

Yesterday, Berg was remembered by friends and former teachers as creative, curious and deeply concerned for the world's "have-nots."

Berg owned a communications equipment company, Prometheus Methods Tower Service Inc.

"He had this idea that he could help rebuild the infrastructure," said Nick's mother.

"He was approximately the coolest guy ever — he could build a computer out of cardboard and tin foil — and that's not really an exaggeration," said Will Scott, a 27 year old software developer in Austin, Texas, who went to high school with Berg.

Scott recalled a summer science program he attended with Berg.

"Nick had an entire department of his own that he basically invented called Bergology — it was this weird combination of computer engineering, electronics, craftsmanship — the kids loved it," Scott said. "He was really good at it — he had an energetic personality and a really good attitude — he would really get along with anybody."

"Everybody's crushed. Everybody I've talked to is just floored," said band teacher James Morrison, who knew Berg all through high school.

The manner of Berg's murder was particularly horrifying, Morrison said.

"I expected to be interviewed some day about how successful he was, that he had saved a Third World country," said Morrison, who choked back tears as he spoke.

He said Berg visited the school around Thanksgiving 2003, and told about having recently made a trip to Africa.

"He said he showed a village how to better make bricks. That's the kind of kid he was."

Shop teacher Harry "Skip" Best said Berg was "really interested in bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots."

Best described Berg as "an all-around Renaissance man."

Morrison said he doubted that business was Berg's principal concern in going to Iraq. "A kid like that just wanted to help," he said.

Charlotte Knighton, who taught Berg's 8th grade science class, remembered as an "individualist," who would carve his own path in life.

Speaking from her home in Bozeman, Montana, Knighton said that Berg was a complex young man — funny, dramatic, compassionate, and a humanitarian.

"He had gone to Africa when he was in college and he was so taken by the starving people over there that when he came home it was difficult for him to even eat," she said.

And THAT's the kind of man that the Islamists chose to murder.



UPDATE: This was apparently a very interesting fact for the AP:

Berg, who was Jewish, spoke to his parents March 24 and told them he would return home on March 30, according to his family in suburban Philadelphia.

UPDATE 2: Some reactions:

"It seems too senseless that an American who went over there to try to help this country rebuild its telecommunications infrastructure could wind up with a fate like this," said Gov. Rendell, voicing the thoughts of many of his numbed constituents.

Added GOP maverick Sen. John McCain: "These people have no regard for humanity or any common decency, and that's why we've got to win in Iraq."


Sean Thursday, May 13, 2004 [+]
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Retaliation Or More Of The Usual From Islamists?

Nick Berg was murdered. He was not "humiliated" or even tortured (or mock tortured). His death was slow and very, very painful. He was in Iraq not as a soldier but as a telephone/power repair man. He has family in Mosul.

The ghastly video and still images of his death are making the rounds. I myself dutifully watched the footage just so that you don't have to. Call me a martyr, no call Nick a martyr...

The footage starts out with Nick giving his personal details, naming family, etc. Behind him stand a row of hooded men. One of them shoves Nick to the ground. Then his head is slowly sawed off with a machete. During the scene he can be heard making a variety of noises. But I mostly noticed the cameraman snickering and chortling as he filmed.

This is ghastly. And it does not... and let me pause here and say that I have tried to avoid deflecting criticism of Abu Garab on the grounds of "Saddam was worse"... oh I may have hinted at this, and even said it now and again, but I also resisted on many an occasion.... but now... this beheading in no way equates with the abuse at Abu Garab.

As far as I know the American mp's never made the Iraqis identify themselves and their family members, they rarely inflicted actual physical harm, and they did not laugh openly at their obvious physical pain and distress. Am I wrong, does someone know differently?

Even if this act was actually on par with US prison abuses... will there be a swift investigation, a full revelation of the abuses to elected officials actually empowered to do something about this? Will Muslim officials from around the world condemn this act? Will any leader of the Iraqi "resistance" resign, or consider it, will members of the so-called resistance even call for it?

Meanwhile, let's not forget what each side is fighting for with this brutality... either brutality...

The US prison guards were roughing up captured terrorists in an attempt to extract information about planned attacks on Iraqi civilians and US military targets... and the reason they are in Iraq in the first place is to remove a known genocidal maniac and experienced torturer and give the Iraqi people some sort of representative government.

The Islamists slaughtered an innocent civilian who was in their country to rebuild their power system. They did so in order to scare the US into retreating and allowing them to install another maniac as dictator of Iraq - or maybe a group of such men. Their end goal is a subjugated Iraq under strict Islamic rule.

Are these goals the same? Are these men the same, the captives or the captors? Who do you want to win?

The hooded men in the video claimed that their crime was in "retaliation" for Abu Garab... however, they executed an Italian, Fabrizio Quattrochi ("Now I will show you how an Italian dies!") last month, long before the prison story broke. They executed Daniel Pearl the same way two years ago, long before the prison story broke. Retaliation, or more of the same?

Sean Wednesday, May 12, 2004 [+]
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The Edge Of Nowhere

The term "edge city" was coined by Washington Post correspondent and senior fellow at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, Joel Garreau in his 1991 book Edge City: Life on the New Frontier. By "edge city" Joel refers to those new centers of urbanism that have begun to crop up in rings around or between older downtowns from New Jersey to California. Joel argues that these new centers are not necessarily trouble for the American landscape, but are ingenious adaptations to the rule of the automobile.

Joel sees edge cities as unique from standard suburbs or older rural towns. Edge cities have more than 5 million square feet of office space and more than 600,000 sf of retail space. They usually have more jobs than houses and are considered single destinations "that have everything" by area residents. Ideally these places were nothing like a town 30-40 years ago.

Reston, Virginia is a classic edge city. It has over 17 million sf of office space and more than 1.8 million sf of retail space. It counts over 90 thousand jobs to its 50 thousand residents and 27 thousand homes. It has been touted by its land corporation as the new "downtown" for Louden and Fairfax counties. And 40 years ago it was nothing more than "well-watered woods".

Reston was originally developed by Robert E. Simon; a builder of suburban shopping centers from New York. It was rescued from bankruptcy by Gulf Oil in 1967 and sold to Mobil Oil in 1978. In 1980 the residents voted against incorporation and today the development receives "fourth level government services” from the Reston Land Corporation, a subsidiary of Mobil.

Reston contains 4 lakes, 73 acres of ball fields and playgrounds, and 800 acres of common woods, meadows and wetlands. Reston also counts 15 pools, 49 tennis courts, and 55 miles of paths and trails. Reston also has two 18-hole golf courses, three ice rinks, and a major cinemaplex. There are 8 grade schools, one middle school, and one high school. There are also nine major shopping centers in the area.

Reston ranks about half the national average for crime. There is a local bus service running four daytime lines 6 days a week for $.50 fares - D.C.'s Metro is making an effort to connect the Dulles Airport and the Reston Town Center. Home prices generally range from around $50,000 up to over $1 million, averaging about $215-218,000, and property taxes are about half the national average at $12 per $1000 assessed value. Home association dues are about $400 a year.

As the Dulles area becomes more and more connected to the nation’s capital and to international destinations more and more companies are moving regional offices and labs to the area. Reston boasts more than 28 thousand major corporate employers. Reston-Herndon is home to Accenture, Airbus, Dimension Data, EDS, Network Solutions, Nextel, Northrup Grumman, Oracle, Siebel, Sallie Mae, Software AG, Titan, USGS, and Verisign.

Reston was modeled after the British "garden cities", specifically Milton Keynes. Attention was paid to centering development around "water features" such as lakes (many man-made) and streams. Back in the 70's area residents were struck by how remote Reston was from metro Washington D.C.. People commented on the many trees and parks and most often described Reston "leafy" and "rural".

Recent development in the area is becoming more typical of suburban office centers... edge cities. Acres of pavement, multi-lane arterial roads, and 20 story office towers are common. More attention is now paid to traffic circulation and to catching the attention of national employers. And residents have begun to notice missing trees and ponds.

Edge cities might be as inevitable as Joel Garreau suggests. Edge cities certainly take the pressure of transportation woes away from central cities. However, they also siphon tax dollars and human capital away from the truly urban cores that ultimately sustain them. And increasingly they fail to provide the rural escape they once offered to their inhabitants.

These "eyesores" made Howard Kuntsler's monthly list... they are 99% likely from Reston.

Links:

http://www.fairfaxcountyeda.org/publications/headquarters_facts.pdf
nhttp://www.planning.org/pathways/plancomm.htm
nhttp://www.reston.org/reston/r_history.html
nhttp://www.reston-homes.com/history_popup.html
nhttp://www.restonweb.com/contrib/memories.html
nhttp://www.rickmansworthherts.freeserve.co.uk/howard1.htm
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/raider4/turkey/turkeybook/splendid2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_planned_cities
Garreau, Joel. Edge City: Life on the New Frontier. New York, Doubleday, 1991

If you ever lived in reston... I would love to get a comment or two about your feelings for the place.


Sean Tuesday, May 11, 2004 [+]
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Abu Garab Interview

Ali is a 33 year old graduat from Baghdad university. He did a few years of service in the Army. Now he is working in Baghdad as a senior resident and studying to become a pediatrician. His personal interests include chess, reading (history, parapsychology, politics and novels). He participates in a group blog at Iraq The Model

Ali begins a post last week end with this introduction...

Yesterday a friend of mine, who’s also a doctor, visited us. After chatting about old memories, I asked him about his opinions on the current situations in Iraq. I’ve always known this friend to be apathetic when it comes to politics, even if it means what’s happening in Iraq. It was obvious that he hadn’t change and didn’t show any interest in going deep into this conversation. However when I asked him about his opinion on GWB response to the prisoners’ abuse issue, I was surprised to see him show anger and disgust as he said:

Doctor - This whole thing makes me sick.

Ali - Why is that?! I asked.

Doctor - These thugs are treated much better than what they really deserve!

Ali - What are you saying!? You can’t possibly think that this didn’t happen! And they’re still human beings, and there could be some innocents among them.

Doctor - Of course it happened, and I’m not talking about all the prisoners nor do I support these actions, and there could be some innocents among them.

Ali - Why do you say they are very well treated?

Doctor - They are fed much better than they get at their homes. I mean they eat the same stuff we eat, and it’s pretty good; eggs, cheese, milk and tea, meat, bread and vegetables, everything! And that happened every day, and a good quality too.

Ali - Are they allowed to smoke? (I asked this because at Saddam’s times, it was a crime to smoke in prison and anyone caught while doing this would be punished severely).

Doctor - Yes, but they are given only two cigarettes every day.

Ali - What else? How often are they allowed to take a bath? (This may sound strange to some people, but my friend understood my question. We knew from those who spent sometime in Saddam’s prisons, and survived, that they were allowed to take a shower only once every 2-3 weeks.)

Doctor - Anytime they want! There are bathrooms next to each hall.

Ali - How often do they shave?

Doctor - I’m not sure, from what I saw, it seemed that there was a barber visiting them frequently, because they had different hair cuts, some of them shaved their beards others kept them or left what was on their chins only. I mean it seemed that they had the haircut they desired!

Ali - Are they allowed to get outside, and how often? Do they have fans or air coolers inside their halls?

Doctor - Of course they are! Even you still compare this to what it used to be at Saddam’s times and there’s absolutely no comparison. They play volleyball or basketball everyday, and they have fans in their halls.

Ali - Do they have sport suits?

Doctor - No, it’s much better than Saddam’s days but it’s still a prison and not the Sheraton. They use the same clothes but I’ve seen them wearing train shoes when they play.

Ali - Are they allowed to read?

Doctor - Yes, I’ve seen the ordinary criminals read, and I believe the political are allowed too, because I remember one of them asking me to tell one of the American soldiers that he wanted his book that one of the soldiers had borrowed from him.

Ali - And how did you find American soldiers in general?

Doctor - I’ll tell you about that; first let me tell you that I was surprised with their politeness. Whenever they come to the hospital, they would take of their helmets and show great respect and they either call me Sir or doctor. As for the way they treat the prisoners, they never handcuff anyone of those, political or else, when they bring them for examination and treatment unless I ask them to do so if I know that a particular prisoner is aggressive, and I never saw them beat a prisoner and rarely did one of them use an offensive language with a prisoner.

Ali - Did you witness any aggressiveness from American soldiers?

Doctor - Only once. There was a guy who is a troublemaker. He was abnormally aggressive and hated Americans so much. One of those days the soldiers were delivering lunch and he took the soup pot that was still hot and threw it at one of the guards. The guard avoided it and the other guards caught the convict and one of them used an irritant spray that causes sever itching, and then they brought the prisoner to me to treat him.

Ali - So you think that these events are isolated?

Doctor - As far as I know and from what I’ve seen, I’m sure that they are isolated.

Ali - But couldn’t it be true that there were abusive actions at those times that the prisoners were afraid to tell you about?

Doctor - Are you serious!? These criminals, and I mean both types tell me all about there 'adventures and bravery'. Some of them told me how they killed an American soldier or burned a humvee, and in their circumstances this equals a confession! Do you think they would’ve been abused and remained silent and not tell me at least!? No, I don’t think any of this happened during the time I was there. It seemed that this happened to a very small group of whom I met no one during that month.

Ali - So, you believe there’s a lot of clamor here?

Doctor - As you said these things are unaccepted but I’m sure that they are isolated and they are just very few exceptions that need to be dealt with, but definitely not the rule. The rule is kindness, care and respect that most of these thugs don’t deserve, and that I have seen by my own eyes. However I still don't understand why did this happen.

Ali Concludes with: "As for "why"; I must say that these few exceptions happen everywhere, only in good society they can be exposed and dealt with fast, while in corrupted regimes, it may take decades for such atrocities to be exposed which encourage the evil people to go on, and exceptions become the rule. What happened in Abu-Gharib should be a lesson for us, Iraqis, above all. It showed how justice functions in a democratic society. We should study this lesson carefully, since sooner or later we'll be left alone and it will be our responsibility to deal with such atrocities, as these will never cease to happen."


Sean Monday, May 10, 2004 [+]
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