Coulterofalo
Just what the Left needed--it's very own Shrill Harpy©.

I refer, of course, to Janeane Garofalo's stunningly awful performance on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn last night (5/25). Sure, you had Al Franken, who occasionally said something kinda funny, and thankfully otherwise so slow with his preprogrammed responses that he usually got cut off; Lizz Winstead, who really didn't have much to say; and Chuck D, who said, and I'm not exaggerating, about 20 words the whole show. But Garofalo, she was something else. She played the part of the stereotypical angry liberal to such a T that it would have seemed like parody, except that a blind man would have seen the very genuine rage burning in her eyes.

"Haliburton!"
"Neocons!"
"Oil!"
"Empire!"

What struck me the most, and what set her clearly apart from the other guests, was her anger. My G-d she was angry. Furious. Raging. Yelling at Quinn when he tried to make a point, then yelling at him some more when he tried to rebut one of hers (see above). It was a truly awful display of mindless rage, and she ought to be ashamed of herself, if for nothing else, then for having such inexcusably poor manners on someone else's show.

Although their shows and styles (and, to an extent, their politics) differ greatly, what sets apart Quinn and Jon Stewart, more than anything else, is that they do one better than everybody on the left or right who says that their side is at least willing to listen to opposing viewpoints--they actually seek out opposing viewpoints, and have the debates, arguments, and pleasant conversations that stodgy liberals and conservatives both say they'd like to have if the other side just weren't so inflexible and closed-minded. For Quinn to invite an entire headlining tour from Air America on to his show is an act of openness and intellectual honesty that you very rarely find these days--and it's Colin Freaking Quinn who's doing it. This is where we have to go--ex-Remote-Control-sidekick, widely-regarded-as-inferior-Weekend-Update-anchor, brash, loud and gravel-voiced Colin Quinn--to get actual balance in our political debate. He listened to his guests. Garofalo and her team did not listen to their host. It was shameful.

(I used to like Garofalo, when she was doing standup. She was like a melding-together of four or five close female friends I had in high school--smart, a little bit frumpy, a little bit geeky, seriously neurotic but a fun friend as long as she didn't need you. Oh well.)
¶ Posted by Chris at 9:56 AM    Comments (2)

A Potentially Devastating Miscalculation
If al Qaeda and their ilk believe that the U.S. electorate would respond to a massive attack shortly before our Presidential election in the Spanish manner--"I'm sorry Mister Terrorist, I'll do whatever you want if you'll please stop blowing me up, please"--they could be in for an extreme dissapointment.

It would take an extraordinary ignorance of our history, over the last 60 years and over the last 3, to believe that we would respond to such an attack by rushing to vote in somebody less likely to offend our murderers. Moreover, the last such attack resulted in the destruction of two Middle Eastern tyrannies, both of which, in large and small ways, were supporters of terrorism. Should another attack occur, not only will Bush be shooed in by a landslide for another four years, but some new names will be moved to the top of the list of where we will direct our wrath, and those names represent a better part of the gravy train that these bastards have ridden for far too long.
¶ Posted by Chris at 10:06 PM    Comments

Thank you, Colonel Petrov, for possibly saving the world
This is pretty incredible: Mercury News: Award is first formal thanks to man who may have saved the world

On Sept. 26, 1983, Col. Stanislav Petrov, in charge of 200 men, was the duty officer at Serpukhov-15, the then-Soviet Union's main nuclear command and control center, when the country's satellite-based early-detection system began warning of the launch of five U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles.

A large red button flashing ``START'' in Russian, along with flashing lights and a loud Klaxon, was telling him to push the button that would begin a sequence that would have led to the launch of a massive nuclear counterattack.

The pressure on him was enormous, and seared him for the rest of his life. But Petrov finally decided it was a false alarm. Tensions with the United States were high, but he figured a nuclear war would certainly -- well, almost certainly -- begin with an all-out attack, not five missiles. He decided not to alert his superiors, as protocol demanded, because they might order him to push the button and set off a nuclear holocaust.

As it turned out, the Soviets' satellites had mistaken a cloud for a missile launch out of North Dakota.

Phew.
¶ Posted by Chris at 1:27 PM    Comments (1)

Updated: Referrer log Friday, or B~rg Video, B~rg Execution Video, Beheading Video, Watch Nick B~rg Execution, etc. will not be found here
Because I use free site stats from eXTReMe Tracking (and I'm not complaining about their service at all, though I do take issue with the random usage of capitals in their name), I only get the last 20 referrers or so. Usually, because (as you, my faithful reader, are no doubt aware) I receive very little traffic, this is enough to satisfy my curiosity for the last, oh, 19 days or so. But having experienced a spike in my traffic, and expecting to find that I'd been linked by somebody who actually does get traffic in the last day or two, I was disappointed and a bit grossed out to find that my traffic is coming almost entirely from searches for the video of Nick B~rg's murder.

I won't watch it, much less host it. You won't find it here, and I'm not going to help you find it.

Some people feel that it's important for the video to be seen, to understand as much as possible the barbarism, the inhumanity of the monsters who did this. I'm sympathetic to that point of view. At the same time, however, one of the gifts of living in this society is that I'm generally pretty safe from experiencing that sort of thing. Don't get me wrong--I realize that these Jihadist sons of bitches would bring it to me if they had a chance, and I'll do whatever it seems I need to do to contribute to that not happening. I don't think seeing it actually happen is going to help me or commit me more, but it sure as hell will haunt me, and I don't need that. Apparently, some feel they do; here are some of the searches that brought them to my site:

• B~rg beheading video


• B~rg behead video


• nick B~rg beheading scenes


• actual beheading video


• Watch B~rg Execution Video


• nicholas b~rg execution tape beheading


• beheading video's nick b~rg

I hate people who don't understand apostrophes. Anyway, I'm provisionally giving a pass to the people doing these searches, because I can't prove that they're not doing it for the one good reason I could think of, even though I doubt it. But these are truly depressing:

• "nick b~rg" manipulation


• Nick B~rg staged execution


• b~rg conspiracy execution

How long will it take before somebody posits that it's all a Zionist conspiracy to humiliate the Muslims and Arabs?

My traffic has gone up substantially even since I started writing this. So here are some more google hits for you depraved fuckos (and the few who actually want to see it to understand how evil these monsters are), and enjoy your stay: B~rg Video isn't here, B~rg execution video is not here, actual beheading video is not here, beheading tape is not here either.

But thanks for the traffic.

Update

Well, I couldn't take it any longer. Just too gross, having people pass through here, only momentarily frustrated in their eagerness to watch an innocent man die a horrible death, butchered by real monsters. I'm more than happy to have wasted the time of everyone looking for the video just to get a sick thrill, and much happier to waste the time of anyone who approved. But it's just too gross.
¶ Posted by Chris at 8:32 AM    Comments (2)

There's always a 'but'
Local Muslims respond to horrible images from Baghdad / They say Arabs treated badly both in U.S. and Iraq:

"When the sixth and final speaker finished her remarks, the reporters were asked if they had any questions.
'Where is the outrage in the Muslim community over Nick Berg?' one of them asked.

Jess Ghannan of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, one of the speakers who hadn't mentioned Berg, took the microphone.

'Of course there is outrage at what happened to Nick Berg,'' Ghannan replied. 'But why is this happening? It is happening because of the occupation. The occupying forces are responsible for the chaos in Iraq.' "

Yeah, the guy with the machete was just reacting to U.S. imperialism in the only way he knew how--drag some Jew off the street and chop off his head, slowly. If only we'd leave turn the country over to the machete-wielding Muslim lunatics, all the violence would end.

Several speakers saw a connection between the abuse of prisoners in Iraq, the treatment of alleged terrorists at U.S.-run prisons from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the detention and deportation of many Arab and Muslim immigrants in the United States.

"There is systematic torture of Arabs and Muslims both here and in Iraq, '' Ghannan said.

Only in a country devoid of systematic torture and with a high regard for freedom of speech could any idiot make such an asinine and obviously false statement. But no one will challenge it.
¶ Posted by Chris at 10:27 AM    Comments

Arab States: Some feel even non-muslisms shouldn't be decapitated
This is just heartwarming: Three Arab states condemn American's beheading

CNN) -- Three Arab states -- Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates --- are condemning the beheading of American Nicholas Berg by his Iraqi captors, shown in a video that appeared on an Islamist Web site.

"There is no doubt that killing detainees and mutilating the remains of the dead are acts which are condemned by all religions and contrary to the morals of all nations and peoples," Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan said in a statement released Wednesday.

Well, apparently not all peoples. I'll bet you could find a few nations, too, who weren't that eager to jump on the "decapitation is bad" bandwagon.

"The Al-Zarqawi group is a criminal, deviant and un-Islamic group, allied with bin Laden and the criminals of Al Qaeda who are killing even Muslims and Arabs for no reason.

They're even killing Muslims and Arabas for no reason? Man. It was one thing, you know, when they were killing non-Muslims and non-Arabs for no reason; then we were all, like, you know, you dudes just keep that shit over there, aiight? Shorty up an infidel for the Princess or whatever. But now they're bringing that shit into our house? Man, that ain't cool. Sultan don't play that.

"Accordingly, it is not out of character for them to commit acts that violate the teachings of Islam, a noble religion that deplores such acts."

Of course, all religions deplore such acts, which is why you also see a lot a tiny minority of extremist Christians, Jews, Buddhists and the like engaged in and supporting this kind of subhuman brutality. Don't you?

...

The United Arab Emirates called the killing a "heinous crime against the civilized world."

That is so true.

"We are ashamed because these terrorists carried out this revolting and inhumane act in the name of our religion and culture," UAE Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said in a written statement. "This disgusting brutality can never be justified and has nothing to do with Islam or with our Arab values."

I hate to go all Robert Spencer on you, but the notion that this kind of act has nothing to do with some aspects of Islam or some aspects of Arab values is really beginning to stretch credulity.

Look, you've got one family with say, five kids. One of those kids turns into a bug-leg-amputating, matchbook carrying bully in sixth grade. The rest of the kids are pretty good, so you give the parents a pass, because we all know that people, even kids, are individuals. But two of the kids? Three? Four? And every time one of these kids starts heading down the wrong path, messing up other kids' lives, getting sent to detention, then juvie, and so on, the parents hold a new press conference to proclaim louder than ever before that their parentage has nothing to do with it? At some point, one of two things have to happen: Either the parents have to take a hard look at themselves and come to the realization that they're not very good parents (at which point the community would be more than happy, out of enlightened self-interest, to provide as much help to the parents as possible); or the suffering community has to get involved, in an escalating series of interventions that may, as we know, go as far as removing the parents from direct supervision of their children.

Hey Sultan, I'm talking to you.

...

"The U.S. government is committed to a very thorough and robust investigation to get to the bottom of this," Dan Senor, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad.

Senor said several agencies will be involved in the investigation, including the Department of Defense and the FBI. "We'll be announcing who takes the lead."

Considering that the monsters of Fallujah are now roaming the streets in the open, with impunity, I'm not hopeful. But we'll see.

President Bush said "there is no justification" for the murder.

"The actions of the terrorists who executed this man remind us of the nature of a few people who want to stop the advance of freedom in Iraq," Bush said.

It's more than a few.
¶ Posted by Chris at 8:47 AM    Comments

Arab Media Play Down, Ignore Condemn Beheading (Updated)
The AP is running a story titled "Arab Media Play Down, Ignore Beheading", which has been picked up by papers and sites all over. Ireland Online, for some reason, took the same story, removed some paragraphs, rearranged some paragraphs, and made a few key edits, and wound up with a slightly different story: "Arab Media Condemn Beheading".

Below are the stories side-by-side, AP on the left (linked to the Guardian version, just to show the VRWC that at least some fifth column fellow traveler Tranzi bastards are above outright manipulation of the news), Ireland Online on the right. The AP story is in its original format. I've moved some paragraphs in the Ireland Online story up or down so they appear next to the corresponding grafs in the AP version. I was suprised to realize at the end of this exercize that Ireland Online had not actually contributed an original graf to the story. I've included some notes; the IOL version could be easily fisked for its slant, but I found as I was doing this that I became more interested in how they manipulated it than I was in what they manipulated it into. Just watch out for the use or omission of the word "some". Compare, contrast:

Update: I've been trying to find some source for Ireland Online's story, and also trying to determine (though it shows up on Google news searches all the time) how serious a news outlet IOL, which is basically a telecom-hungry ISP, really is. A simple search turned up the same exact story in the Irish Examiner which certainly appears to be a legitimate print paper. I suspect that IOL simply republishes (without attribution) stories from the examiner.

Guardian UK: Arab Media Play Down, Ignore Beheading Wednesday May 12, 2004 2:31 PM By ZEINA KARAM Associated Press Writer		Ireland Online: Arab media condemns beheading 12/05/2004 - 13:52:16
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Arab media reacted cautiously Wednesday to the videotaped beheading of an American civilian by Islamic militants in Iraq, with some newspapers conspicuously playing it down or even ignoring it.	Arab media reacted cautiously to the beheading of an American civilian on a video issued by an associate of Osama bin Laden, with some newspapers conspicuously playing it down or even ignoring it.
The biggest pan-Arab satellite television channels broadcast an edited version of the gruesome video, not showing the actual killing of Nick Berg, 26, of West Chester, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb. The businessman was abducted in April.
In one of the most explicit displays, Kuwait's Al-Siyassah daily ran a photo of a masked militant holding up Berg's severed head.	The main satellite channels broadcast an edited version of the video, cutting out the severing of the head as indecent. [Ed. moved from below]
The video of the execution was released on the Internet too late for some Middle East newspaper columnists to react to it. The killing, attributed to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group, appalled many Arabs.	The video was released on the internet too late for Middle East newspaper columnists, but the grisly execution appalled many Arabs. [Ed. moved from below]
Some opinion-makers condemned the killing.	Opinion columnists condemned the execution of Nick Berg, an American businessman who had been kidnapped in Iraq in April.
"This shows how base and vile those who wear the robe of Islam have become," said Abdullah Sahar, a Kuwait University political scientist.
Some said it surpassed the American military's abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, which has been the top story for the past 10 days in the Middle East.	They [many Arabs] said it surpassed the American military’s abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, which had been the top story for the past 10 days in the Middle East.
"We were winning international sympathy because of what happened at Abu Ghraib, but they come and waste it all," said Abdullah Sahar, a Kuwait University political scientist, said of the Islamic militants responsible.	"We were winning international sympathy because of what happened at Abu Ghraib, but they come and waste it all," said Abdullah Sahar, a Kuwait University political scientist, said of the Islamic militants responsible.
In the video, the masked militants said they were taking revenge on Berg because of the abuses at the Baghdad prison.
Mustafa Bakri, editor of Al-Osboa weekly newspaper in Egypt, said Berg's death will only hurt efforts to expose American offenses against Iraqis. "Such revenge is rejected," Bakri said of the execution. "The American administration will make use of such crimes just to cover their real crimes against Iraqis."	Mustafa Bakri, editor of Al-Osboa weekly newspaper in Egypt, said Berg’s execution would only harm efforts to expose American offences against Iraqis. "Such revenge is rejected," Bakri said of the execution. "The American administration will make use of such crimes just to cover their real crimes against Iraqis."
Bakri spoke as he took part in a Cairo demonstration by about 50 Egyptian journalists and lawyers against American human rights abuses in Iraq.
Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, the big two satellite networks, aired carefully edited versions of the video. In Al-Arabiya's edit, a militant is seen drawing a knife and jerking Berg's body to one side. The rest is not shown. "The news story itself is strong enough," said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. "To show the actual beheading is out of the realm of decency."	Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, the big two satellite networks, aired carefully edited snippets of the video. In Al-Arabiya’s edit, a militant is seen drawing a knife and jerking Berg’s torso to one side. The rest is not shown. [Ed. It was his body, his head still being attached to his torso at this point] "The news story itself is strong enough," said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television. "To show the actual beheading is out of the realm of decency." [Ed. Moved from above]
Lebanon's private Al Hayat-LBC station led its bulletins Wednesday with the video. Its news presenter said: "We apologize to our viewers for not showing the entire tape because of the ugliness of the scene." Kuwait state television broadcast the news of the execution late Tuesday but not the video.	Lebanon’s private Al Hayat-LBC station led its bulletins today with the video. Its news presenter said: "We apologise to our viewers for not showing the entire tape because of the ugliness of the scene." Kuwait’s state television broadcast the news of the execution late Tuesday but not the video.
Iraqi newspapers reported nothing about the killing, although it may have broken to late for them.
Egypt's leading daily, Al-Ahram, ignored the beheading Wednesday. Two other major pro-government newspapers ran news agency reports on their inside pages, without photos.	Egypt’s leading daily, Al-Ahram, ignored the beheading. Two other major pro-government newspapers ran news agency reports on their inside pages and without photographs.
An Al-Ahram editor, Ahmed Reda, said the news came too late Tuesday night for the paper to confirm the video's authenticity with the U.S. government.
Newspapers in Syria, where the government controls the press tightly, did not report it at all.	Newspapers in Syria, where the government controls the press tightly, did not report the execution at all.
[Ed. The Ireland Online story ends here]
A professor of journalism at the American University in Cairo, Hussein Amin, said the handling of the story by Egypt's pro-government papers was political and appropriate. "I think that the government does not want to show this on the front page as a main item because it shows a very poor - poor is not the proper word; disgusting maybe is the better word - example of revenge," Amin said. "There is also the threat that it could be happening to other Americans. If they put it on the front page, (it could be seen as) they are favoring this kind of action." Jordanian newspapers, state television and radio reported Berg's killing, but without commentary. Most Lebanese newspapers, such as the left-wing As-Safir, published the report and a photograph of Berg sitting in front of the militants. As-Safir ran the headline: "Al-Zarqawi slaughters an American to avenge Iraqi prisoners." In many Arab newspapers, the beheading received less display than the news of America's imposing sanctions on Syria and the killing of six Israeli soldiers in Gaza City.

¶ Posted by Chris at 3:01 PM    Comments

Having Mike Hendrix as a member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy:
Priceless:

Unserious proposal put forth by VRWC member that for every time in future al Qaeda beheads one of ours we behead ten of theirs, publicly, quickly, and with extreme prejudice, followed immediately by the utter destruction of one (1) random Arab city: right now, right here, by me.

Satisfaction garnered from floating unserious proposal: disappointingly little.

He gives the Conspiracy such a human side that it almost doesn't scare me.
¶ Posted by Chris at 11:02 PM    Comments

Watch for the outrage...
...that will surely be forthcoming from both Western and Middle Eastern media, and the person on the street, when news of this cruel, brutal act becomes widespread:

After reading a statement, the men were seen pulling the man to his side and putting a large knife to his neck. A scream sounded as the men cut his head off, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" — "God is great." They then held the head out before the camera.

Berg was a small-business owner from the Philadelphia suburbs, his family said Tuesday.

"For the mothers and wives of American soldiers, we tell you that we offered the U.S. administration to exchange this hostage with some of the detainees in Abu Ghraib and they refused," one of the men read from a statement.

"So we tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins ... slaughtered in this way."

I'm sure all we have to do is let Osama bin Laden cut off the head of Donald Rumsfeld, and honor will be completely restored to the Arab and Muslim world.
¶ Posted by Chris at 10:41 AM    Comments

Humiliation Watch II
A simple Google web search for "Arab Humiliation" reminds us that said Arab Humiliation was, prior to the current debacle (and lest anybody get the wrong impression, I sincerely hope that everyone responsible for this stunning diplomatic own-goal will be rewarded in spades for what they've contributed to our efforts) most recently expressed at the capture of Saddam Hussein. That event, completely free from American abuse or mistreatment, perhaps serves as a cleaner example of how Arab Humiliation works. The CBC ran a summary of news headlines from around the world the day after his capture. The Jeune Indépendant, an Algerian newspaper, summed up the response from that corner of the world thusly: "A new humiliation for Arabs". Elsewhere, "L'Expression newspaper concurred, writing that Saddam's "humiliating capture", presented in a 'calculating manner... worthy of a Hollywood production...' was a 'disgrace to nearly 300 million Arabs.' "

That many Arabs (well, chiefly and perhaps almost exclusively Arab men, unless random Saudi princesses have been chiming in) felt a sense of humiliation at Hussein's capture went largely unexamined, as far as I can tell, but that aspect of Arab society is extremely important for us to understand, especially when we consider how best to respond to the latest Humiliation. First off, to get a sense of how foreign a reaction it truly us to Westerners and Americans in particular, consider a very simple thought experiment: Imagine that American troops, government operatives, and perhaps civilians with murky associations to the first two groups are captured and held prisoner in some foreign land--to make it good and high-stakes, lets make it Iran. Now imagine that first stories, then photos and videos emerge showing those Americans being subjected to the same kinds of horrible abuse that the prisoners at Abu Ghraib have been. (For fun, you can pretend that the Red Crescent was trying to have Tehran acknowledge and investigate the complaints.) Now, what would the reaction of the American public, press and government be?

Humiliation? Hell no.

See, we don't feel personally humiliated unless we are personally humiliated. If we suffered some kind of large, crushing defeat, maybe large sections of our society would feel a collective kind of humiliation. But seeing a handful of our fellow citizens being viciously, cruelly abused? Humiliation wouldn't enter into the picture. We'd move shortly from rage into lock-and-load, and I think we know how the story would proceed from there. Why would I feel humiliation at seeing my fellows abused? Even if they weren't likely imprisoned in the first place for being associates of much more brutal abusers themselves? That injustice didn't happen to me, it happened to my fellows, and the proper response to injustice is, of course, a struggle to acheive balance, to even out the books.

So why would an Arab man, 1,000 miles away from Abu Ghraib, feel humiliated at seeing those with whom he shares an ethnicity and a religion and little else being abused in this manner? As far as I can tell, it's because in Arab culture, Humiliation is roughly the opposite of Honor, and Honor extends in concentric circles from self to family, tribe, race and religion.

This is all guesswork on my part, and I welcome being corrected by those more in the know than myself, but here goes: The notion of Honor in Arab culture is similarly elusive to us. In only some senses does it correspond to a person committing what we would consider "honorable" or "dishonorable" actions; Arab Honor is constantly vulnerable and threatened because a man's Honor can be negatively affected not only by someone associated with them acting dishonorably, but by someone associated with them being dishonored themselves. Honor is not so much a measure of a person's actions as it is a reflection on the dishonorable acts that have been associated with their circle. Honor is the shield on each valence of the overlapping circles of association that make up society; to damage that honor is to cause humiliation.

When speaking of Arab Humiliation, and entertaining the notion that Humiliation is the opposite or antagonist of Honor, it might help to consider the notion of "honor killings". Douglas Jehl wrote the following for the New York Times in 1999: Arab Honor's Price: A Woman's Blood

It took six years for the al-Goul family to hunt down their daughter Basma.

She had run away with a man, afraid for her life after her husband suspected her of infidelity. Her husband divorced her and, in hiding, she married the other man. But back in this overcrowded, largely Palestinian village, where a woman's chastity is everyone's business, the contempt for her family kept spreading.

"We were the most prominent family, with the best reputation," said Um Tayseer, the mother. "Then we were disgraced. Even my brother and his family stopped talking to us. No one would even visit us. They would say only, 'You have to kill.' "

Um Tayseer went looking for Basma, carrying a gun. In the end, it was Basma's 16-year-old brother, just 10 when she ran away, who pulled the trigger.

"Now we can walk with our heads held high," said Amal, her 18-year-old sister.

Humiliation, seen in this light, is unrelated to suffering. Feeling humiliation oneself in response to the humiliation of others is not a sympathetic response.

Before we spend too much more effort concerning ourselves with mitigating Arab humiliation--which cannot at any rate be mitigated by us--we ought to consider how those sexually humiliated men are likely to be treated if they are released back into Arab society. One can only imagine that they will not be quite so warmly welcomed as Pfc. Lynch.


¶ Posted by Chris at 11:04 AM    Comments

Humiliation Watch I
I've been amazed to see how easily the "humiliation" meme has been adopted into the reporting on our national self-flagellation marathon. Sympathy with Arab Humiliation is all the rage, and we're all too busy kicking ourselves in the head like Wee Man to consider what a truly foreign, and on reflection, backwards and destructive concept it is that we're embracing.

I'm rarely a fan of the Moonie Washington Times, but in googling around for some examples of Western media's adoption of Arab Humiliation as a valid force in world affairs, I stumbled across this opinion piece by the Times' Suzanne Fields; she basically puts the squiriming Arab Humiliation whiners up against the wall and, well, hits them in the fucking face until they fall down. Male humiliation, Muslim rage:

Those photographs of Muslim prisoners in an Iraqi prison fuel the rage of Muslims everywhere because they go to the psychology of identity, reinforcing humiliation. Such humiliation is to the Muslim what losing face is to the Chinese, public exposure of the worst kind. The humiliation felt at Abu Ghraib prison is rooted in a feeling of Islamic weakness in a region caught in the ebb and flow of aggressive hostility to the West for more than a century.

The roots of Muslim rage, says scholar Bernard Lewis, emanate from a series of humiliating defeats that dramatize how far Muslims have fallen as "heirs of an old, proud, and long dominant civilization." Not only have they failed to revive a rich culture of creativity, but Muslims have been diminished by societies they consider to be made up of their inferiors.

In "From Babel to Dragomans," a collection of essays written over four decades, Mr. Lewis interprets the "clash of civilizations" that has brought Muslim society in direct antagonism with the Judeo-Christian West, a clash that grew from disappointment, frustration and debilitating humiliation. At first the Muslin response to Western civilization was admiration and a desire to imitate Western success, an earnest attempt to gain equal status. But when Muslim countries were unable to keep up with the West, Muslims transformed failure into bitterness and hatred.

It didn't start with American support of Israel, but the seeds were sown when five Arab states attacked Israel in 1948 and suffered a humiliating loss to the new state made up of little more than a half- million Jews. Arabia tried again in the Six-Day War of 1967, and again in the Yom Kippur War of 1973, all with the same effect. The fact that Israeli women fought valiantly against Arabs in 1948, and contributed to their defeat, intensified the blow to Muslim manhood.

When Muslim men went away to fight to defend the Ottoman Empire during the second decade of the 20th century, Muslim women went to work outside the home out of necessity. But when Arab countries failed to sustain economic, technological and political achievement, the women were first to suffer the reaction. The pride of Muslim manhood demanded it.

The Islamists easily encouraged dissatisfaction, exploiting belief in absolutes of good and evil to fight modernism and secularism. Women, perceived as "dirty," have experienced the brunt of male Muslim chauvinism in their own countries. Being guarded, punished and humiliated by American women in Abu Ghraib prison challenges the very essence of what it means to be a Muslim man stuck on the lowest rung of the world power hierarchy.

Islam historically has had many faces in the Middle East, some liberal and some conservative, but vulnerability breeds contempt and compels the search for villains. Western values of freedom, as set out in the 20th century, are perceived by the narrowest readers of the Koran as human perversions rather than expansions of the reach of human possibility. Freedom of speech and open debate on policy issues are seen as signs of weakness and disunity. Examples of high and low entertainment reflect cultural decadence. The freedom of women is the work of Satan.

With the photographs of American men and women humiliating Iraqi prisoners, Islamists can capitalize on what they call Western hypocrisy. These pictures require no interpreter and become powerful weapons, each one worth considerably more than a thousand words. They are aberrations that can be found in any society, but they feed fanaticism, undermining attempts at reconciliation.

"There is something in the religious culture of Islam which inspired, in even the humblest peasant or peddler, a dignity and a courtesy toward others never exceeded and rarely equaled in other civilizations," writes Mr. Lewis. "And yet, in moments of upheaval and disruption, when the deeper passions are stirred, this dignity and courtesy toward others can give way to an explosive mixture of rage and hatred." This is what we have been fighting in the war on terror.

Photographs taken in the very prison where Saddam Hussein tortured his enemies are used to sell the idea that Americans are no better than he was. Nothing could be farther from the truth, of course. It was our Army that discovered the humiliation at Abu Ghraib prison, and our media, with its guarantee of freedom of the press, that put them out for the world to see. This is a sign of the strength of Western values, not weakness, and we must make that point over and over, as many times as necessary, to impress it on the consciousness of the world.

Emphases, obviously, are mine, and probably not required.
¶ Posted by Chris at 8:57 AM    Comments

Not really, but wouldn't it be nice
Let's take a trip to an alternate reality, one filled with sensible priorities:

(05-07) 11:07 PDT AL-LONDON (AP) --

The videotaped image of two Palestinian gunman systematically shooting to death an eight-months pregnant woman and her four young daughters, aged 8 through 2, brought more condemnation of the Palestianian Authority and Hamas on Friday, and some calls for the resignation of Yassir Arafat and the ouster of Hamas from the occupied territories.

A still photograph from the video, taken before the killings, appeared on several front pages in Egypt. "No sadistic movie could outdo the damage of this image," reporter Robert al-Fisk wrote in The Cairo Times newspaper.

Much comment focused on Arafat.

"The departure of the Palestinian Authority's bellicose hawk would certainly be good news because it would give the moderate wing, represented by [ok, I couldn't find the moderate wing in the PA], an opportunity to reorient Palestianian policy toward Israel and the issue of settlements," Syria's al-Mundo newspaper said.

"Responsibility for what has occurred needs to be taken, and to be seen to be taken at the highest level, too," Jordan's al-Economist magazine said. "It is plain what that means. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Yassir Arafat, should resign."

The Tehran al-Zeitung said Arafat's resignation "would be a sign of the humility he has previously lacked," but insufficient to address the crisis.

"The political damage for the Palestianian Authority and Hamas is so immense that even Yassir Arafat's resignation would not offset it. But a political sacrifice would be an especially credible signal that the Palestinian administration is serious about its protestations and is upholding the values it is trying to impart in Iraq," the newspaper said.

Though not joining the resignation calls, Riyadh al-Zeitung commented on Arafat's lack of comment on the murders as "un-Palestinian."

"It speaks of the presumptuousness with which the Arafat administration views the rest of the world. It is that consciousness of 'God's own nation,' the unique and chosen nation that has the right to proselytize other nations with its idea of morality and... justice," Kuwait al-Zeitung said.

The murders had provoked a cry of despair from Boris al-Johnson, a Conservative Party member of Egypt's Parliament who had supported the Palestinian cause.

"How could Hamas have been so crass, so arrogant, so brutal as to behave in this way?" al-Johnson wrote in The Daily al-Telegraph.

"The trailer-trash gunman said they had no idea what they were doing. They weren't even aware of the existence of the Geneva Conventions. They didn't have any orders to obey, only vague instructions.

"Was this really the organization I had supported? Did I really think, when the House of Commons voted to support the Palestinian cause... that it would be carried out with such brutal murderousness?"

Outrage over the murder of women and children led some commentators to call for Hamas to get out of the Palestinian territories.

"It is clear that the Palestinian Authority and its allies cannot deliver peace and stability," said Michael al-Higgins, spokesman for Lebanon's opposition Labour Party. "The United Nations must be placed in direct charge of efforts to restore peace and ensure the reconstruction of the occupied territories."

...

The al-Times in Khartoum suggested bulldozing Gaza.

The al-Age newspaper in Damascas, Syria, said that the PA and Hamas "need to assure the world that the murder of pregnant women and little girls was indeed an aberration."

Ok, now snap out of it.

On the Voice of Palestine:
The Monday morning broadcast of Yasser Arafat's Voice of Palestine (VOP) said that the settlers from Neveh Dekalim, five of whom were murdered
yesterday, were "mukharibun" - terrorists.

Aljazeera.com (last paragraph, after the killing of al-Aqsa Martrys Brigade members):
Earlier on Sunday, Islamic Jihad killed a pregnant Jewish settler and her four daughters in the Gaza Strip in an attack that analysts said would dim Sharon's chances of winning his party's support for a withdrawal.

Disappeared from AlJazeera.net and apparently from the cached version as well, but still in the search results:
... Earlier on Sunday, Islamic Jihad killed a pregnant Jewish settler and her four daughters
in the Gaza Strip in an attack that analysts said would dim Sharon's ...

(I guess we'll never know... perhaps analysts speculated that the attack would dim Sharon's hopes of meeting the protestor and her children, as they were all brutally murdered?)

I give up on finding any more references to the story in the Arab press. I'm not very good at it, but boy, I sure found a lot of stories about Israeli missle strikes.

I was trolling around for some of the usual American and western subjects, though, and hit the jackpot.

WhatReallyHappened.com: ISRAEL Archives:

Voters Reject Gaza Withdrawal Plan
Analysts said the “no” vote was boosted by a Palestinian shooting attack in Gaza earlier today, in which a pregnant settler and her four daughters were killed.
Which tells you who was really behind the shooting. - M. R.

I quit. Too disgusted for words. But I will say this--M. R., whoever you are, if I ever knowingly find myself in the same room as you I will hit you in the fucking face until you fall down.
¶ Posted by Chris at 1:54 PM    Comments (1)

Referrer log Friday
Ok, first of all, can we please re-introduce proper use of apostrophes and a basic grasp of posessive-vs-plural-vs-contraction into our primary school curriculum? Please? Secondly, who the hell uses AltaVista? Must work there. Anyway, maybe he or she means, like, Jared's AID's

Instead of this, you might want to try "head shop" or "bong" or, hell, I don't know, "where can I by a glassy online without John Ashcroft finding out"?

Speaking of which... one of my most popular search referrers of all time... wish I remembered where I cribbed this picture from (it sure wasn't me who drew it), but you know, memory's one of the first things to go when, you know, you're.... hey, what was that thing about Illinois?

No, no, no: Nihilism is next to nothing; cynicism, on the other hand, is pure bullshit. Me, I'm for optimism--optimism fucking rocks, dude!

Glen Halpern has correctly scolded me in the past for not writing enough--consider yourself re-scolded, Glen. (PS: The original referring link is no longer on this page of results; not sure where it is, but at any rate, that fact that my site comes up anywhere if you're searching for Glen Halpern does me a hell of a lot more good than it does Glen.)

Take the motherfucker out back and shoot him. Not kidding.

And finally...

What the hell? I would dearly love to understand this relationship. But not enought to try to reason it out tonight.
¶ Posted by Chris at 10:20 PM    Comments (1)

Sudan: Officially insane, recognized as a standout by other lunatics
You know who's behind the United States' walkout of Sudan's election to the UN Commission on Human Rights, right?

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail vowed his government would not be "intimidated" after US diplomats staged a walkout at the United Nations (news - web sites) in protest at Khartoum's reelection to the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR).

"We will not be intimidated by force and will not be lacking in logic for defending the Sudan," Ismail told reporters.

Nor, apparently, will we not be lacking in double-positives... wait, that wasn't right... Anyway, let's get to the blaming--who do you think the "pressure group" is? PETA? The ACLU?

"We did not want this confrontation but so long as the United States wanted it in response to a pressuring group, it should be aware that the Sudanese diplomacy will remain vigilant and cautious for defending the Sudan's rights and interests, however the position of the US administration is".

Note how the following sentence and quote are placed together, as though the former somehow reflected the sentiment expressed in the latter:

Ismail said Khartoum would continue to try to open channels of communication with Washington. "We are convinced that it is a power that must be neutralised."

Sounds like a pretty good communications plan to me--if, you know, you're into non-verbal communication. Moving on, don't miss the money quote.

But he hit out at US championing of human rights charging that "the world's greatest advocate of human rights" was in fact "the world's greatest violator of human rights and the whole world is aware of this fact."

Let's ask some of the slaves in your country, you piece of shit. We'd ask the murdered families too but they're done talking for now.

Before its walkout from the UN Economic and Social Council Tuesday, Washington accused the Sudanese authorities of a litany of abuses in the restive western region of Darfur which it said made them unworthy of reelection to the UNCHR.

But don't mention that, or the killing, murdering, mutilations, enslavement, disease and starvation might get worse. Not that the Sudanese would want that to happen, or anything, you know, they're just saying...

Another Sudanese minister hit back earlier Wednesday at the growing US criticism of his government's policies in Darfur, warning relief operations in the region might "be impaired if the Darfur problem is turned into a political issue."

Minister Abdullah, below, must have been appointed by the Chief Poobah Of Delicious, Sinister Irony:

[Sudanese] State Humanitarian Affairs Minister Mohamed Yusuf Abdullah also warned aid organizations not to take positions on the civil war in the region between rebel groups drawn from indigenous non-Arab ethnic minorities, and government troops and their Arab militia allies.

Political disagreements among relief groups "would greatly harm their performance and the affected people will be harmed likewise," said Abdullah.

Let's put this gently, though:

Several relief organisations have accused the Arab militias of terrorising the population, prompting the government to try to distance itself from their actions.

That's a lot easier to stomache than, say, "pretty much everybody knows, because of voluminous evidence, that Sudan is engaged in state-sponsored slavery, ethnic cleansing and genocide." You just can't say things like that; it makes people touchy.
¶ Posted by Chris at 4:07 PM    Comments

What's really happening in Fallujah?
Reuters:

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - The Iraqi former general entrusted with pacifying volatile Falluja said on Thursday U.S. Marines must withdraw quickly from around the troubled town and go home so stability can be restored.

"I want the American soldier to return to his camp. What I want more is that he returns to the United States," General Muhammad Latif told Reuters in an interview.

"They should leave very quickly, very quickly or there will be problems. If they stay it will hurt the confidence and we have built confidence. They should leave so that there will be more calm."

Latif and a group of generals offered to tame Falluja with their Falluja Brigade after the town was subject to a month-long siege in which hundreds of Iraqis died as U.S. air strikes and guerrilla mortars rocked the town.

For a completely opposite interpretation of what we still presume to be the same reality, Wretchard writes in the relentlessly optimistic (when it comes to how clever and intelligent our military strategy is) Belmont Club:

One of the fascinating things about following events in Fallujah has been watching the USMC adapt to the circumstances as it found them, fulfilling its mission in often surprising ways. How strange that the imperative for survival should enforce a rate of evolution in military formations far faster than for diplomats frozen in their lofty towers. Clemenceau famously said that "war is too important to be left to the generals". Perhaps he should have added that occupation is too important to be left entirely to the diplomats.

Wretchard's sunny opinion of our Fallujah strategy may be correct, as far as it goes, but here's the problem:

First of all, remember that Fallujah is a Baathist, Saddamite stronghold. So, after having four American citizens shot, killed, burned, mutilated, torn to pieces and strung up from a bridge, the USMC decended on Fallujah. Fierce fighting with guerillas ensued. After fighting guerillas for some time and never making headway into the city, much less capturing or killing any of the people responsible for the atrocity that set this off, the USMC, the CPA, whoever it was who made the call, decided to turn the city over to a Baathist General from Sadaam's army. Now, ask yourself this: How could the militants in Fallujah not believe that they have defeated us?

We may have a great tactical game plan in place. But as far as the militants and the civilians inside Fallujah are concerned, they beat us. We caved. We handed over the city to one of their own.

There will, apparently, be no justice imposed on the monsters who committed that atrocity. How can we not see that as a defeat? We came face to face with a key enemy, and no matter what Wretchard and the other optimists believe, as far as the Fallujahns, the other Iraqis militants, the rest of the Arab and Muslim world, real and potential enemies everywhere, and real and erstewhile allies everywhere are concerned, we blinked. God help us, and God help the soldiers and civilians who will pay the price for allowing that impression to go forth uncountered.

¶ Posted by Chris at 10:15 AM    Comments

Dissent, now
Take Action: Demand Slavery Investigation in Sudan's Darfur Region

Via Allah
¶ Posted by Chris at 1:16 PM    Comments

Note to idiots of all stripes
This is what living in a fascist police state is actually like. Yahoo! News - Death Sentence Reimposed on Iran Professor

Aghajari was convicted in 2002 of insulting Islam and questioning the rule of hard-line clerics. He was condemned to death, banned from teaching for 10 years, exiled for eight years to three remote cities, and sentenced to 74 lashes.

The juicy irony of being able to not only purchase but wear something like this is typically lost on the fool who would actually do it, but believe me, it wouldn't be lost at on on the people who lose freedoms, families, limbs and lives for having expressed much less extreme sentiments.
¶ Posted by Chris at 9:31 AM    Comments

A Better Juxtaposition
Victor Davis Hanson unsuprisingly does a much better job of gracefully illustrating His Majesty King Abdullah's gentle hypocracy:

Is there anything like a Commonwealth Club in Amman? And if not, why not? And could a Mr. Blair or Mr. Bush in safety and freedom visit Amman to hold a public press conference, much less to lecture his Jordanian hosts on why Americans in general — given state-sponsored terrorism, Islamic extremism, and failed Middle Eastern regimes — have developed such unfavorable attitudes towards so many Arab societies?

I can't add anything to that; it's just too right.
¶ Posted by Chris at 4:20 PM    Comments

The Heroes of Michael Moore and Ted Rall Strike Another Blow For Freedom (Updated)
By murdering 70, including 18 children.

"I saw a minibus full of children on fire."

The bus was carrying girls to school.

These are the acts of Michael Moore's minutemen, his admired revolution, and of Ted Rall's heroic resistance.

I invite Moore and Rall to put their money where their mouth is, travel to Iraq and help their glorious resistance gather up the burnt pieces of little girls that their heroes have created.

Update: And how are Moore's and Rall's American terrorists acquitting themselves?

Marine officials said the rebels were so desperate at one point during the fighting that they grabbed women and children to use as human shields around their gunners.

"We're trying to get the snipers in position for a shot . . . [But] some are using children to shield themselves!" one commander could be heard warning other officers via radio, according to Harris.

"We will not take shots in which we could possibly hit children," the commander said.

In addition to the [five] dead Marines, at least nine more soldiers were wounded in the battle. Up to 30 guerrillas also were killed.

Dying rather than risking the lives of Iraqi civilians, that's how. The moral bankruptcy of the Moores and Ralls of the world cements my divorce from the left.

(via Robert Spencer)

¶ Posted by Chris at 9:35 AM    Comments

Egyptian Aid
Every time Charles Johnson posts about Egypt, we're reminded that we give Egypt over $2 billion a year in foreign aid (ok, except maybe once or twice, but somebody always hits it in the comments). Why? And, where does it go? The Christian Science Monitor published a useful summary on 4/12. Some highlights:

Aid is central to Washington's relationship with Cairo. The US has provided Egypt with $1.3 billion a year in military aid since 1979, and an average of $815 million a year in economic assistance. All told, Egypt has received over $50 billion in US largesse since 1975.

The money is seen as bolstering Egypt's stability, support for US policies in the region, US access to the Suez Canal, and peace with Israel. But some critics question the aid's effectiveness in spurring economic and democratic development in the Arab world's most populous country - a higher US priority after Sept. 11, 2001.

"Aid offers an easy way out for Egypt to avoid reform," says Edward Walker, the US ambassador to Egypt from 1994 to 1998. "They use the money to support antiquated programs and to resist reforms."

Egypt's economy is deeply troubled. Unemployment has climbed to 25 percent, foreign investment last year dropped to a 20-year low, and until recently the currency was losing value on a weekly basis. Rather than helping, American aid is "depressing the need for reform," according to former Ambassador Walker.

Meanwhile, the Mubarak regime is inching towards political reform and democratic pluralism at a pace so slow that many question the sincerity of the government's pro-democracy rhetoric.

...

Each year USAID gives $200 million to the Egyptian government in cash handouts to do with as it pleases. The money is theoretically conditional upon economic reforms in problem areas such as deregulation, privatization, and free trade.

...

"The role of the state in Egypt is still very similar to the role of the state in Eastern Europe in the 1960s," says Tarek Heggy, the former head of Shell Oil in the Middle East, and a prolific writer on Egyptian society. "I am not aware of much economic reform."

USAID has been ineffective at changing economic policy here because Cairo knows that in the end it will get the US money regardless of its economic policy, according to Walker, who since leaving the State Department has become head of the Middle East Institute in Washington.

The State Departments USAID program site for Egypt has a whole section on the overview page entitled "Accomplishments":

Over the last 28 years USAID has made significant contributions to Egypt. USAID has invested almost $6 billion in physical infrastructure programs including electric power, water, wastewater and sanitation, tele-communications and transportation. The results are impressive: 95 percent of all Egyptians now have access to electricity; improved water/wastewater services have been provided to 22 million citizens and the number of telephones increased by a factor of more than 12. USAID's social and economic development strategies in health care, basic education and agriculture have improved the quality of life for millions of Egyptians.

USAID invested $600 million for small and medium enterprise development and micro-lending programs that provided access to credit for small businesses while creating 250,000 jobs. Child survival programs have been successful, with infant mortality falling by 40 percent and under age five mortality falling by 47 percent from 1988 to 2000. USAID-financed family planning activities have increased the use of modern contraceptives from 35.4 percent in 1988 to 53.9 percent in 2000. With increased contraceptive use, the total fertility rate has declined from 5.3 average live births per woman in 1980 to 3.5 live births per woman in 2000.

USAID's FY 2002 education program benefited 49,282 girls and women. Female primary school attendance has increased to 74 percent nationwide in FY 2000, up from 54.4 percent in 1995. However, female access to education remains a problem. Literacy rates clearly show the disparity between female and male access to education: the FY 2000 literacy rate for women was only 41.8 percent, compared to 65.5 percent for males. The goal of U.S. assistance is to help more Egyptians acquire the basic education and skills needed for productive lives by mobilizing communities around the education of their children.

Finally, the USAID program has directly benefited U.S. trade and investment. The USAID program has been the major channel through which non-military products made in the United States are introduced into Egypt by way of the most popular of the program elements (with business and Congressional interests), the Commodity Import Program (CIP). During FY 2002, the CIP financed 995 commercial transactions totaling $272 million. CIP funding is authorized at $200 million annually through FY 2004. This will contribute to increased trade and investment, more jobs and greater productivity for Egyptian private sector firms.

What's missing? Political reform. Any political reform. And Charles is right to relentless point out the vile, anti-Semitic, anti-freedom, anti-Democracy, bigoted, violent--and let's not forget stupid--rhetoric generated and supported by institutions dictatorially managed by our "moderate ally".
¶ Posted by Chris at 1:18 PM    Comments