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July 31, 2005
Attack of the Killer Yorkies
by Jeremy
You can't really tell from this picture, but these Yorkies were about as small as a Yorkie can be, outside of a mother's womb. This may have been their first untethered walk (umbilically speaking).
Posted by Jeremy at 11:21 PM | Comments (2)
I Tried to Stay Away, But I'm Keeping Typekey
by JeremyA few people have told me that they don't comment here because they find the Typekey registration requirement too annoying to have to deal with. I agree in priciple and I even toyed with trying a less annoying anti-comment-spam method but it only took a couple of hours with Tyepkey turned off for my account to get suspended due to spam bots loading the server's CPU to like 50%.
So don't say I didn't care or that I didn't try. I must be on somebody's list (could I possibly have offended anyone?). I'm just grateful Typekey works so well or I'd have to close comments entirely. And then there'd be a horde of angry villagers with nothing to do but tear across the countryside wielding torches and truncheons and not caring whose barn or castle they burned to the ground.
Thanks for sticking around, though. And thanks to those of you who comment in spite of everything.
I suppose I should just focus on writing stuff for a change. Let's see if I can scare up a dog today. I can always write something later.
Posted by Jeremy at 04:20 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Hold the Presses! Flawless Movable Type Upgrade!
by JeremyMichael's unfortunate blog meltdown (he lost about ten days of posts!) prompted me to do a full backup of this blog (database plus entire MT folder). And then I figured, as long as that was done, I had nothing to lose by trying to upgrade to the latest beta version of Movable Type. My previous efforts at upgrading Movable Type were fraught with troubles and sorrow.
But this upgrade went absolutely without a hitch! I couldn't believe it. The whole thing only took 30 minutes, and it only took that long because I was treading very lightly, checking everything twice before acting.
[UPDATE: After all my bragging about the flawless upgrade, I tried to install a plugin and shot the hole thing to hell. Down came the whole house of cards. I had to restore everything from the backups. Oh well. I think I'm going to wait a while before toying with plugins.]
Ultimately, all I did was -- wham, bam! -- upload everything all at once onto the server. I knew I had my old installation backed up on my hard drive so I didn't have to worry. Worked beautifully (but don't upload the 'mt.cfg' file).
You no longer have to find and run the upgrade scripts. You just go to your start page as always and you get a message saying "Looks like you need to upgrade" (or something) then you click the "Upgrade" button and the rest is done automatically. Of course, it didn't work the first time, but from previous struggles with this sort of thing I knew this was because I needed to tweak some file permissions. So here's my advice:
Upgrade advice:
Backup!!! Don't shrug this off. Do it! Do an export from within MT. But also export your entire database using PhpMyAdmin and also download your entire MT folder. The resulting peace of mind will set you free and make you feel that anything is possible (or maybe that's the Zoloft).
When you get an error during the upgrade process you should assume it's a file permission thing. This is not a 'problem' or a 'hitch' as far as I'm concerned, but a normal (potential) part of the upgrade process. So just take note of the file that your browser stalled on (it was 'upgrade.cgi', logically enough, and then...I forgot what after that) and set the permission to '755' (or 'rwx-rx-rx'). You might need to do the same thing if something doesn't function right while you're testing after the upgrade process.
Don't overwrite your mt.cfg file. You don't have to upgrade this, I don't think. If you overwrote it by mistake (I did) all you have to is re-upload the version you backed up (good example of why step 1 is a life saver).
"What's it like?" you ask? I love the way the new version looks for one thing. The setup is more logical and easier to navigate. You can list commenters and easily find all their comments. The rebuild process is much faster. There are undoubtedly other improvements that I haven't explored yet. I haven't tested the use of dynamic archives yet (not sure I will either). I'm toying with turning on trackbacks again to see if that feature is less vulnerable to spam now.
Mostly I'm just delighted at how painless the upgrade process was because now I no longer have to fear keeping up with the latest version.
UPDATE: I initially had a problem staying logged in: every time I clicked on a new page or link in my MT screen I'd get a message that my session had timed out and I'd have to log in again. I finally guessed that I might need to delete the cookies still saved from the previous version of MT. Sure enough, that did it. So delete them cookies.
Posted by Jeremy at 01:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 29, 2005
Happy Birthday, Normblog!
by Jeremy
Posted by Jeremy at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)
Fighting Fatwa with Fatwa
by JeremyI hope the upward trend in this kind of anti-terrorism fatwa is going to continue, since it's sorely needed:
(AP) American Muslim scholars who interpret religious law for their community issued an edict Thursday condemning terrorism against civilians in response to the wave of deadly attacks in Britain and other countries.In the statement, called a fatwa, the 18-member Fiqh Council of North America wrote that people who commit terrorism in the name of Islam were "criminals, not `martyrs."'
[...]
The Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, started the "National Anti-Terrorism Campaign" last year, urging Muslims to monitor their own communities, speak out more boldly against violence and work with law enforcement officials.
And, of course, Scotland Yard also seems to have declared a fatwa:
Posted by Jeremy at 01:33 PM | Comments (2)
July 27, 2005
An Analyst Speaks
by JeremyHere's an Egyptian analyst who, judging by this statement, seems to be on the right track as far as terrorism is concerned (registration required):
Political analyst Diya’a Rishwan said, “The problem is that all of these terrorists have two dangers. The first is that they harm us through their crimes against humanity. The second is that they call themselves ‘Islamic Jihadists’ and link their crimes to Islam.
Thank god, though, for people who don't know how to quit while they're ahead (so we know who our enemies are):
Rishwan then added that the Sharm el-Sheikh bombings, “point to American and Israeli-Zionists since they are the only ones who gain from such chaos in the area."
Posted by Jeremy at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)
July 26, 2005
Bad Logic Deserves Bad Poetry
by JeremyThanks to Pootergeek's Bad Poetry slam, inspired by this guy's work, I was able to offer the world a humble piece of verse in the comments there. The effort, though, used up today's portion of my blogging chi, so I'm cross-posting it here:
AND WHAT DID SADDAM DO
You claim to bring democracy and social justice
but before your aluminum war owls
swooped down on our nursery schools, our hospitals
of pregnancy, our sylvan fields of kite flying…
we had an election whose percent was one hundred, whilst you
had an election of very small turnout, turnout, turnout…
We had a consti(damn you)tution
you bastards of strumpet-mother crusade!
We had a socialist system sired by father Saddam
before you picked at his teeth with your steely quills
and plucked from his swirly beardhairs that which your
orifices of hegemonous vision contrived to see
as nitty and undesirable.
And are we, I really have to wonder,
our children, our mothers, our very souls…
little more than nits
for your too too unpigmented fingers to pick at?
For totally no reason your paint of doom
covered over our windows of peace.
And what did Saddam do, Saddam do, Saddam do…
That could have been so bad, so bad, so bad?
For what is peace to you
who eat your McDonalds, who launch your Spears of Brittany,
who must have your precious machine oils,
and then turn around and
— O foul murderous troglodytes —
bite off the heads of our serenity
and spit them
into the craven spitoons of Empire.
And, I ask the fiery wind,
What did Saddam do?
What did he do, did he do, did he do, do, do?
Posted by Jeremy at 10:10 PM | Comments (2)
July 24, 2005
Egyptian Blogs
by JeremyHere is a roundup of the Egyptian blogs I discovered this weekend, though perhaps you already knew about them:
An Egyptian who blogs from Boston. He organized an ad hoc anti-terrorism protest that took place today. The turn out was small, as you might expect without weeks or months of planning, but one can hope it's just the start of a movement. He promises to post pictures. I actually saw a bit of this protest on TV behind what was otherwise a routine on-location update by a reporter.
Then there's The Sandmonkey. As you've probably gleaned from his name, he's got a sense of humor. This is the subheader of his blog:
"Be forewarned: The writer of this blog is an extremely cynical, snarky, pro-US, secular, libertarian, disgruntled sandmonkey. If this is your cup of tea, please enjoy your stay here. If not, please sod off"
And this is his plea for donations:
Support the Neo-con American Right-wing Zionist Christian Imperialist Conspiracy in the Middle-east!
Well, Ok, that's only three blogs. But it seemed like a lot yesterday when I'd been previously unfamiliar with any of them. Check the blogrolls of the above-mentioned blogs to find a few more.
While I'm at it, I also found this blog by Nadz, an Arab-American woman who describes herself as a "hard-core centrist" and who has declared a "fatwa against the extreme Left and the extreme Right."
Posted by Jeremy at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2005
If You Hear Hoofbeats...
by Jeremy...think horses, not zebras. Unless you see stripes. Or pouches.
But don't worry, Agnes: I'm told that Bryn Jewmore sees kangaroos too. And so does Lamar Acer (I asked).
Posted by Jeremy at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)
Crimes Against Muslims
by JeremySHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - At least 83 people were killed and 200 injured when car bombs ripped through shopping and hotel areas in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday in the worst attack in Egypt since 1981.[...]
Said Abdel Fattah, the head of the ambulance service in Sharm el-Sheikh, said the emergency services had 62 complete bodies and parts identifiable as coming from 21 others. A senior security source said 23 people were in critical condition from among 35 casualties taken to Cairo for treatment.
Most of the victims were Egyptians but the Tourism Ministry spokeswoman said seven non-Egyptians were dead, including a Czech and an Italian, and 20 were injured.
[...]
A group claiming links to the al Qaeda organization said it carried out the bombings in retaliation for "crimes committed against Muslims," according to an Internet statement.
Posted by Jeremy at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)
July 22, 2005
"This is Egypt You Dogs of Hell"
by JeremyYou probably don't need me to post news about the barbaric terrorist slaughter in Egypt, nor do you need me to post long excerpts from Egyptian blogs since you can read them yourself. But I do find it emotionally helpful to read Egyptian bloggers this evening. The sense I'm getting is that Egyptians realize that this was an act of war against Egypt rather than an attack against European tourists. Here's a sample:
Terror hit the nerve of Egypt's tourism. The Sharm El Sheikh resort is literally the epicenter of the tourism industry. One of Egypt's most beautiful spots. The terrorists knew where to hit. They knew where it will hurt. Up till now we know that 4 car bombs killed 43 people. The explosions were in different places across the resort.The attacks were very well organized and very sophisticated. We truly entered world war 3.
I have been to Sharm countless times. As I was hearing the eyewitness reports, I could feel I was standing right there. The attacks are very serious and deadly to Egypt.
I just remembered the headline of an article written by Sayed El Qimni (who stopped writing after receiving threats) right after the Taba bombings last year. The headline read: This is Egypt you dogs of hell.
Tomorrow I'll do some more posting on the Egyptian exterminations and I will also put together a roundup of some of the Egyptian, Arab, and Muslim blogs I've been discovering this evening.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:33 PM | Comments (0)
Root Causes - Death Threats Against Gay Rights Group
by JeremyWe all knew that there would be hell to pay for the deeds of that army of gay, bisexual, transexual, transgender, and lesbian mercenaries who fought in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, helped the Australians liberate East Timor, built a military base in Saudi Arabia, oppressed the Palestinian people, funded the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, etc.
I mean, I'm assuming all of the above to have occurred because that's the only rational explanation for this:
UK Gay Leaders Receive Death Threats From Muslim Fundamentalists Group Says
by Malcolm Thornberry 365Gay.com European Bureau ChiefPosted: July 18, 2005 8:00 pm ET
(London) A British LGBT civil rights group says its leaders have received death threats from Muslim fundamentalists and warns that gay clubs could be targets for terrorist bombers.
"Gay venues could be bombed by Islamic terrorists," OutRage said Monday. "All gay bars and clubs should introduce bag and body searches. Muslim fundamentalists have a violent hatred of lesbians and gay men. They believe we should be killed. Our community could be their next target. This is no time for complacency."
[...]
OutRage said that three of the group's officers have received "repeated death threats from Islamic fundamentalists in recent weeks and months."
Peter Tatchell, the leader of OutRage; Brett Lock its campaign coordinator; and Aaron Saeed, the organization's spokesperson on Muslim affairs, have been warned they will be murdered, Tatchell said Monday.
In a statement Tatchell said that they have been told they are on a "hit list" and are going to be "beheaded" and "chopped up", in accordance with "Islamic law".
The threats apparently began soon after OutRage stepped up its campaign in defense of LGBT Muslims, including gay Muslims fleeing attempted "honor killings" in Algeria, Iran Palestine and in the UK.
Could the root causes argument for this sort of thing be incorrect? It would almost make you think (if you didn't know better).
(hat tip: Glenn Reynolds & Gay Patriot)
Posted by Jeremy at 06:47 PM | Comments (0)
You Tell 'em, John
by JeremyCara and I were watching Tony Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard's press conference earlier and we both spontaneously applauded one of Howard's responses. A reporter asked the usual shit-for-brains question, which I can summarize as: Mr. Blair, don't you feel the bombings of July 7th were your fault?
Blair's reaction -- understandable though disappointing -- was to pretend he hadn't just been asked a question by a moron and to pretend the question had meant something else.
Howard was not going to let it pass, however. He calmly responded as follows (hat tip: Glenn Reynolds):
PRIME MIN. HOWARD: Could I start by saying the prime minister and I were having a discussion when we heard about it. My first reaction was to get some more information. And I really don't want to add to what the prime minister has said. It's a matter for the police and a matter for the British authorities to talk in detail about what has happened here.Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it's given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen.
Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians in Bali took place before the operation in Iraq.
And I remind you that the 11th of September occurred before the operation in Iraq.
Can I also remind you that the very first occasion that bin Laden specifically referred to Australia was in the context of Australia's involvement in liberating the people of East Timor. Are people by implication suggesting we shouldn't have done that?
When a group claimed responsibility on the website for the attacks on the 7th of July, they talked about British policy not just in Iraq, but in Afghanistan. Are people suggesting we shouldn't be in Afghanistan?
When Sergio de Mello was murdered in Iraq -- a brave man, a distinguished international diplomat, a person immensely respected for his work in the United Nations -- when al Qaeda gloated about that, they referred specifically to the role that de Mello had carried out in East Timor because he was the United Nations administrator in East Timor.
Now I don't know the mind of the terrorists. By definition, you can't put yourself in the mind of a successful suicide bomber. I can only look at objective facts, and the objective facts are as I've cited. The objective evidence is that Australia was a terrorist target long before the operation in Iraq. And indeed, all the evidence, as distinct from the suppositions, suggests to me that this is about hatred of a way of life, this is about the perverted use of principles of the great world religion that, at its root, preaches peace and cooperation. And I think we lose sight of the challenge we have if we allow ourselves to see these attacks in the context of particular circumstances rather than the abuse through a perverted ideology of people and their murder.
PRIME MIN. BLAIR: And I agree 100 percent with that. (Laughter.)
That last line is a "what he said" more typically associated with Bush in reference to Blair.
UPDATE: In some blog discussions I've read there are people who seem to think some of us are exaggerating the appallingly plain idiocy of the question put to Blair and Howard. Part of the confusion is that it wasn't just one question. There were two really stupid questions and then one faux-nuanced question (this last one being the one that finally prompted Howard to remind those present that there were two adults in the room).
Here, from a full online transcript, are the questions I refer to (Though I believe each question was asked by a different reporter, the reporters quoted below were all of one mind -- by which I mean, of course, that they had, when you put them together, only one brain):
1) "Prime Minister, you have appealed for people to stay calm, but do you feel any sense of responsibility at all for the fact that ordinary people here in London now seem to be in the frontline in the war against terror?"[...]
2) "Do you feel in any sense that you have put people in this position, do you feel that in a sense your policies may have put people in this position?"
[...]
3) "To both Prime Ministers, what was your immediate reaction on hearing that some incidents had occurred, was it here we go again? And do incidents like this, coming just 14 days after the horrific attacks, suggest that the war against terror is being lost on the streets? And yesterday an Australian bomb victim of July 7 linked the bombings to Iraq. Does that suggest that the propaganda war against terrorists is also being lost?"
Posted by Jeremy at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2005
Another Fascist Bombing Attempt in London
by JeremyAt first it sounded like this set of bombings was largely abortive, though every time I check, the news reports seem to indicate more actual explosions than previously reported:
``We can confirm that emergency service personnel are responding to reports of incidents at three locations on the London underground system,'' police spokeswoman Kirsten Ross said.
This report is more alarming:
A small blast is reported on a bus in Hackney; while reports also say there has been a nail bomb at Warren St.One person is reported to have been injured at Warren St, although there is no other information.
Passengers have been evacuated from Warren Street, Oval and Shepherd's Bush stations on the London Underground.
Smoke has been seen coming from Oval station, which crews are investigating. There are unconfirmed reports of some kind of explosion at Warren Street station.
Emergency services are attending all three stations. The Hammersmith & City, Victoria and Northern tube lines have been closed.
And emergency services personnel have responded to reports of an incident on a bus in Hackney Road, at the junction near Colombia Road, east London, Scotland Yard.
The stations have been evacuated. One eyewitness said he saw a rucksack blown open.
Sosiane Mohellavi, 35, was travelling from Oxford Circus to Walthamstow when she was evacuated from a train at Warren Street.
"I was in the carriage and we smelt smoke - it was like something was burning.
"Everyone was panicked and people were screaming. We had to pull the alarm. I am still shaking.
Here are some links on Google News.
Here is a Technorati search for "London."
And here is the start of a Wiki News page on the story.
Here is an evolving timeline page in the Guardian.
Here is an info page from the Metropolitan Police of London. It currently lists information relevant to the 7/7 bombings only but it may soon be updated with more current information and contacts.
Here are some bried eye-witness reports from Sky News website readers:
"I saw an Asian man reaching towards his backpack, when it exploded with a bright light. He appeared shocked, and dumped the bag almost immediately and fled the seen. Three people around him attempted to prevent him leaving, but failed."
-Gary Carter
Here is an evolving timeline on the BBC website.
Posted by Jeremy at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)
Welcome, Ian McEwan
by JeremyI think the mugging by reality of Ian McEwan, as regards the war in Iraq, is now complete. It's good to have him aboard. I recently read his new novel and will post on it this week. In the mean time, here is this from an interview on the English web edition of Der Spiegel (via Eric):
SPIEGEL: How can cities protect themselves?McEwan: Inevitably, we're going to start seeing around the preposterous political correctness that allows us to have radical clerics preaching in mosques and recruiting young people. We have been caught too much by a sense that we can just regard these clerics as being like English eccentrics at Hyde Park Corner. But the problem is that their audience has already been to training camps.
SPIEGEL: But isn't the West providing the best advertisement for terrorist recruiters by being in Iraq and killing Islamic civilians, torturing Muslim prisoners a la Abu Ghraib and spreading pictures of the deeds around the world?
MCEWAN: I don't think terror needs a breeding ground. I don't buy the arguments in the Iraq war. What keeps getting forgotten here is that the people committing massacres in Iraq right now belong to al-Qaida. We're witnessing a civil war that's taking place in Islam. The most breathtaking statement was the one of al-Qaida claiming responsibility for the London bombings saying it was in return for the massacre in Iraq. But the massacres in Iraq now are being conducted by al-Qaida against Muslims. I also think it's extraordinary the way in which we get morally selective in our outrages. When there was a rumor that someone at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a Koran down the lavatory, the pages in The Guardian almost caught fire with outrage, but only months before the Taliban had set fire to a mosque and destroyed 300 ancient Korans.
SPIEGEL: In your book, the Iraq war still hasn't happened yet. And the day in which the book takes place, Feb. 15, 2003, is the day in which massive peace demonstrations took place in London. Henry's daughter Daisy is among the protesters and he is full of ire and sarcasm about them. He doubts they can rightfully claim morality for themselves. Do these passages echo your own ambivalent views on the matter?
McEwan: Yes, it does. I never thought that in the run up to the war we were discussing simply the difference between war and peace. We were discussing the difference between war and continued torture and genocide and abuse of human rights by a fascist state. I missed any sense of that complexity in the peace camp. I certainly had the feeling that whatever the strong moral arguments were for deposing Saddam, the Americans would not be good nation-builders. But I had a moral problem with this view among the 2 million protesters that you should leave Saddam in power in a fascist state with 27 million Iraqis under him. The problem is that they felt good about it. I thought they should have opposed the war but also felt bad about it.
Posted by Jeremy at 07:28 AM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2005
Who is John G. Roberts
by JeremyBush has nominated John G. Roberts for the Supreme Court. Never heard of the guy myself. Google tells me he has been accused of being an anti Roe v. Wade activist by some pro choice groups. My first impression is that he sounds opposed to abortion rights but that no one can honestly accuse him of being an activist.
UPDATE: Speaking fuzzily and anecdotally, what I'm hearing on TV suggests to me that claims of Roberts' anti-choice sentiments have been a bit inflated. You could in fact get that impression from some of the blurbs below, notably the first and last.
I found a list of news blurbs on Roberts on this Planned Parenthood website:
John G. Roberts Jr.
"With impeccable credentials ... the question marks about Roberts have always been ideological. While his Republican party loyalties are undoubted, earning him the opposition of liberal advocacy groups, he is not a 'movement conservative,' and some on the party's right-wing doubt his commitment to their cause. His paper record is thin: as Deputy Solicitor General in 1990, he argued in favor of a government regulation that banned abortion-related counseling by federally-funded family planning programs. A line in his brief noted the Bush administration's belief that Roe v. Wade should be overruled."
— Washington Post, July 1, 2005"Roberts has been floated as a nominee who could win widespread support in the Senate. Not so likely. He hasn't been on the bench long enough for his judicial opinions to provide much ammunition for liberal opposition groups. But his record as a lawyer for the Reagan and first Bush administrations and in private practice is down-the-line conservative on key contested fronts, including abortion, separation of church and state, and environmental protection. ...
"For Bush I, successfully helped argue that doctors and clinics receiving federal funds may not talk to patients about abortion. (Rust v. Sullivan, 1991)"
— Slate Magazine, June 24, 2005"The official, who declined to be named, said appellate judges J. Michael Luttig of Richmond, John Roberts of Washington and Samuel Alito Jr. of New Jersey might top the list, which published reports say also includes several other judges and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. ...
"Roberts, 50, voiced opposition to abortion rights as a government lawyer. In 1991, he co-wrote a government brief in support of federal law barring federally funded family planning organizations from offering abortion-related counseling. The government argued that Roe v. Wade 'was wrongly decided and should be overturned,' and that the high court's ruling in the landmark abortion case was not supported 'in the text, structure or history of the Constitution."
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 24, 2005"Roberts, 50, has seen his stock rise in recent months. Widely considered one of the top appellate lawyers to argue before the Supreme Court, Roberts was first nominated to the bench near the end of the elder Bush's presidency, and the nomination died in the Senate. He was confirmed two years ago with bipartisan support, but less is known about his views than those of other contenders."
— Chicago Tribune, June 22, 2005"Many liberals think Roberts may be a sign of what's to come. They grew nervous with his dissents challenging the constitutionality of the Endangered Species Act and because of his support of the White House decision to keep the Cheney energy task force records secret."
— The Village Voice, June 21, 2005"In the meantime, Republicans close to the preparations say that the White House has assembled research on some 20 Supreme Court candidates, with more intensive research on a handful of the most mentioned, all federal appellate judges and all conservative: ... John G. Roberts Jr. of the District of Columbia ... "
— The New York Times, June 20, 2005"White House officials have prepared for the prospect by culling long lists of possible candidates, poring through old cases and weighing a variety of factors from judicial philosophy to age. Bush and his inner circle have had tightly held deliberations and no one can say for sure whom he might pick for chief justice, but outside advisers to the White House believe the main candidates are federal appeals Judges John G. Roberts ... "
— The Washington Post, June 19, 2005"A former Rehnquist clerk has also been mentioned as a possible court nominee. John G. Roberts, who has been on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since June 2003, was one of President Bush's least contentious picks for the bench. ...
"Roberts, 50, has generally avoided weighing in on disputed social issues. Abortion rights groups, however, have maintained that he tried during his days as a lawyer in the first Bush administration to overturn Roe v. Wade."
— Associated Press, June 18, 2005
Posted by Jeremy at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)
Literary vs. The Other Thing
by JeremyI have not been very prolific here lately, so I can't afford to let my long comments elsewhere go unposted here. This was a comment I made regarding literary fiction on a blog that I think is a pro-Democratic party blog (thus not on my daily reading list any more than a pro-Republican party blog would be), but I digress. Here's the thing. Tell me how smart or stupid it is:
I have an idea about one key difference between 'literary' fiction and the more direct kind of fiction [not sure what to call it]. It's a theory I've come up with over several bathroom sessions, so I think it carries some weight.
It's often pointed out that fiction can be thought of as having two vectors: vertical (poetic reflection on each single moment) and horizontal (compellingly driving the plot forward). I think the best fiction is equally strong in both directions, but there aren't many writers who are equally talented at both. I think Nabokov comes the closest, but a Steven King novel still beats a Nabokov for page-turning appeal. Shakespeare comes to mind.
But my probably unoriginal theory is that the vertical dimension is an imitation of how we remember events in our lives (and we tend to remember only the things that subsequent experiences have made to seem more important or resonant and we also have the luxury of being able to reflect on the poetic meaning of what was a traumatic event at the time). And page-turning fiction is more like experiencing events for the first time.
So it's kind of like the difference between having amazing experiences when you're in your twenties vs. reflecting back on your life when you're in your eighties. And how can you say that one is better or more important than the other? To me it's like criticizing a house because it's not an airplane.
The other thing (and I have to confess that I'm a McEwan fan, though I admit he doesn't always hit 'em out of the park) is that, to paraphrase Duke Ellington, there are only two kinds of fiction: good and bad.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:00 AM | Comments (2)
July 17, 2005
Outsourcing the Proletariat
by JeremyBruce Thornton makes some interesting points about much of the Western Left's paternalistic affection for all things non-Western (Hat tip: Cara, the birthday girl, reading to me from across the living room).
He points out that though this is often referred to as cultural relativism, it actually doesn't fit that definition because true cultural relativists would not feel they had a right to judge, for instance, American slavery as better or worse than any other cultural phenomenon. In fact, making judgments against Western culture is central to the ideology of Western Leftists.
So why the unwillingness of so many on the Left to see, in things like jihadi fascism, a malevolence deserving of unqualified condemnation? One thing Thornton points to is the old Communist dilemma of underenlistment in what was supposed to be an all volunteer army of international proletarians:
Since the Western proletarians weren't going to play their appointed historical role — they were too busy improving their standard of living in free market economies — the Third World became the new proletariat that would rise up and overthrow the evil Capitalist order.
I'm extrapolating a bit from Thornton's essay, but this observation has helped me get a more solid handle on what is going on in the minds of some of the Leftists around me. The thing is, it had been prophesied long ago that a great proletarian army would rise out of their shackles and seize back the world from the brutal clutches of the capitalists. That must be what's happening then, right? Gotta be.
This reminds me of how, thinking Hernan Cortez to be the latest incarnation of Quetzalcoatl returning, per Toltec prophesy, to overthrow the Aztec empire, some of the peoples long oppressed under Aztec rule were willing to ally with the Spaniards in this righteous war, though things didn't turn out as nicely as some of these allies might have hoped. This is why, in any event, the people of Mexico now speak the language of the conquistadors, and why, incidentally, American Leftists put words from that language on their bumper stickers.
Posted by Jeremy at 03:28 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2005
In the Majority and in the Vanguard at the Same Time
by JeremyIn another must-read post, James Hamilton explains the advantages of membership in a certain old boys' network -- that fraternity of anti-Bush/anti-war/anti-capitalist stalwarts that most readers of this blog have heretofore resisted joining.
An excerpt:
...by far the most effective and universal set of views at the moment is the anti-Bush, anti-Capitalist, Kyoto, anti-Globalisation, anti-War one. Given the advantages adopting this set of views gives you, it is no surprise that they have taken off in quite the way they have.Although I don't hold any of those views myself (I think I may be the only British psychotherapist who doesn't) I don't blame anyone who does. In fact, in a real way I envy them. Holding these views does so much for a person, gives them so much extra, provides so much value, that it's only sensible to take them on if you can.
He follows by ticking off some of these fringe benefits (and, one hopes, ticking off some of the people who currently enjoy these benefits).
Read the whole thing.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2005
Creating Terrorists
by JeremyThere has been a lot of talk this past week about how it is that a seemingly well adjusted, middle class person could get involved in a plot to exterminate innocent people in a busy subway. Conventional wisdom would have it that there must be something making such a person feel anger or alienation so extreme as to be beyond the comprehension of priveleged people such as ourselves.
I've got an alternate view. I don't believe that a terrorist bomber is the product of a potentially decent person living too long in the crucibel of social injustice.
In short, I think the person we're talking about is a sociopath. And I think that organized jihadists are chillingly adept at spotting, feeding, and instructing young sociopaths. Any social injustice such a person may suffer is certainly an important vector in helping to determine who that person's victims will be, but cannot be meaningfully thought of as a 'root cause.'
And I don't know what makes a person a sociopath, though I'm sure it happens before adolescence and I've always suspected its root causes precede birth, but I don't know.
Here's an interesting illustration, though, of why I'm thinking along these lines. Pretend for a moment that the following list were from a page titled, rather than "Profile of a Sociopath," "Profile of a Jihadist." Could it be any more chillingly exact?
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Contemptuous of those who seek to understand them
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Does not perceive that anything is wrong with them
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Authoritarian
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Secretive
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Paranoid
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Only rarely in difficulty with the law, but seeks out situations where their tyrannical behavior will be tolerated, condoned, or admired
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Conventional appearance
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Goal of enslavement of their victim(s)
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Exercises despotic control over every aspect of the victim's life
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Has an emotional need to justify their crimes and therefore needs their victim's affirmation (respect, gratitude and love)
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Ultimate goal is the creation of a willing victim
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Incapable of real human attachment to another
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Unable to feel remorse or guilt
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Extreme narcissism and grandiose
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May state readily that their goal is to rule the world
I'd like to add a sixteenth item; something like:
16. Dangerously open to cultish ideologies that have the potential to awaken or to provide the illusion of justness or entitlement to their violent urges.
UPDATE: It dawned on me that this is a subject one might expect James Hamilton to have something to say about. Sure enough, he posted on this yesterday. And, though his post is much more exhaustive, nuanced (and, you know, written by a qualified mental health professional) he happens to cite the same source, from which the numbered list above was taken, on the characteristics of a psychopath (aka sociopath). Go read James' post. I think the bottom line is that, one way or another, suicide bombers are created by the cynical manipulations of the ideologues who seek to use them, rather than by the social forces of the society at large.
Posted by Jeremy at 08:35 AM | Comments (2)
July 14, 2005
Calculating China and Stephen Green
by CaraYesterday, Stephen Green speculated about how much better he would feel about things if the United States “moved an Aircraft Carrier Battle group or four” east of Taiwan. Now, ‘why on earth would he want that?’ you ask.
Well, he read a report that China had a drop in oil usage by about one percent and came to the conclusion that it points to their economy possibly tanking, which in turn means following the totalitarian playbook’s next move, namely, harassing one’s own minorities. And China, he pointed out, has been occupied with that already for a couple of months now and may be well on their way to totalitarian move number two: harassing one’s neighbor, namely Taiwan.
So, yesterday he pontificated that a drop in oil usage by China might not bode well for the likes of Taiwan, and today I hear on the radio coming home from work that one of China’s generals just announced that they would use nuclear weapons against the US if it interferes militarily during a conflict over Taiwan. General Zhu Chengu said,
“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons.”Evidently, their territory includes warships and aircraft.
Good grief! That’s scary stuff even if this guy claims not to represent official China policy.
And, sheesh, Stephen, what is it exactly that you do for a living? Did I just 'out' a government remote viewer?
Posted by Cara at 08:18 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2005
Regarding the Sin of Offending Mass Murderers
by JeremyThe "We're Not Afraid" site that Alfie created in the wake of the fascist bombings in London, has grown exponentially. It's something really positive and cathartic.
Whether or not we're afraid, we are not going to be driven into passivity by a small army of fascist, mass murdering scumbags. Here's what I'd like to say to the jihadist terrorists: "Don't worry so much about whether we're afraid or not -- worry about the fact that we are going to rise up and destroy you."
But somehow that's not as pithy as this:
http://www.werenotafraid.com/images/038/SuHyungHan.jpg
I like that picture. If I were blown to bloody bits by a fascist, mass murdering scumbag, I'd be proud to know that there would be a guy at my funeral ready to deliver that sort of message on my behalf. That picture, and all the others on that page, are pledges of solidarity with the innocent people all over the world who are in the crosshairs of the death cult trying to murder us all. It's empowering to see that depicted in an ever-growing gallery of photographs. Might it offend racist misogynist jihadist murderers? You know, I guess it might. And that is a good thing.
Here, by contrast, is how New York Times journalist Sarah Boxer views those images [via Michael]:
The site displays a range of defiant postures. Some people hold up their middle fingers, presumably for the terrorists to see. Some people posted pictures of American soldiers, presumably for Londoners and Americans to see.But more and more, there's a brutish flaunting of wealth and leisure. Yesterday there were lots of pictures posted of smiling families at the beach and of people showing off their cars and vans. A picture from Italy shows a white sports car and comes with the caption: "Afraid? Why should we be afraid?"
A few days ago, We're Not Afraid might have been a comfort. Today, there's a hint of "What, me worry?" from Mad magazine days, but without the humor or the sarcasm. We're Not Afraid, set up to show solidarity with London, seems to be turning into a place where the haves of the world can show that they're not afraid of the have-nots.
So on Sarah Boxer's planet, those pictures are all about thoughtless bourgeois elites lording it over the international proletariat. Light years off the mark, to put it generously.
Just to review, here's a glimpse of one of the 'have-nots' [via Roger]:
The man accused of killing Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh confessed to a Dutch court that he acted out of his religious beliefs, saying he would do "exactly the same" if he were ever set free."I take complete responsibility for my actions. I acted purely in the name of my religion," 27-year-old Dutch-Moroccan national Mohammed Bouyeri told the court in Amsterdam on the final day of his trial.
[...]
After the prosecution's closing statement Bouyeri, who had refused to say anything about his motives during the trial, took the opportunity to make a final statement.
"I can assure you that one day, should I be set free, I would do exactly the same, exactly the same," he said, speaking slowly in sometimes halted Dutch.
[If you don't know how barbaric the murder of Van Gogh was, then you need to do some Googling].
And here are some of those 'haves' whose honor we're so callously defending [via Norm]:
"... The sights that these officers are having to cope with are gruesome in the extreme," he said, indicating that some of the victims caught in the close-quartered blast are so mutilated that not even dental records or fingerprints would assist in the identification process. ..... Here , under King's Cross, it has still not been determined exactly how many died.It is akin to a macabre scene from the Theatre du Grand-Guignol, a grisly play in which the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are the arms and legs and torsos of ordinary people who were doing no more than ordinary things.
Posted by Jeremy at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2005
Clara Bow
by JeremyThat's a guess. The title. At her name.
Posted by Jeremy at 06:25 PM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2005
Review: Why They Hate Us
by JeremyHitch catalogues the grievances that motivate fascist jihadi terrorists (via Harry):
"...We know very well what the "grievances" of the jihadists are.The grievance of seeing unveiled women. The grievance of the existence, not of the State of Israel, but of the Jewish people. The grievance of the heresy of democracy, which impedes the imposition of sharia law. The grievance of a work of fiction written by an Indian living in London. The grievance of the existence of black African Muslim farmers, who won't abandon lands in Darfur. The grievance of the existence of homosexuals. The grievance of music, and of most representational art. The grievance of the existence of Hinduism. The grievance of East Timor's liberation from Indonesian rule. All of these have been proclaimed as a licence to kill infidels or apostates, or anyone who just gets in the way."
Posted by Jeremy at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2005
Afraid or Not, Londoners Are Tough
by JeremyAlfie, the Moblogging friend of the guy who took the picture in the post below emailed me a link to a blog he has started; its purpose is something like advertising the fact that neither Londoners nor the rest of the world are going to be intimidated by the fascists who attacked today. The blog is called "We're Not Afraid."
My own view is that it's not only understandable but probably healthy to be afraid. But courage, as we know, means that though you're afraid, you push the fear to one side and you do what you need to do. It means you go down to the pub, you deliver the milk, you have a laugh with friends and strangers. If you have to band together and tackle a suicide bomber then that's what you'll do. Until then you'll just carry on with your life.
New Yorkers are tough and so are Londoners. But I'll repeat an admonition uttered by a NYC subway conductor on 9/11/2001:
"Remember... take care of each other out there".
And this picture really says it all (posted by Alfie on another of his blogs. I get the feeling we strongly differ on Bush and Blair and probably many other matters. But if we needed to get together to rush the cockpit, if you know what I mean, what would our political differences matter?)
Posted by Jeremy at 08:50 PM | Comments (0)
A Manifesto from London
by JeremyDavid T. of Harry's Place received an outrageous email from a friend who hopes today's bombings will hurt Blair. If you've received any emails like that yourself you might find that David has saved you a good hour of slamming your fingertips agains the keys. Just shudder for a second, fume, then forward this post by David.
Posted by Jeremy at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)
London Moblog Pic from Bombed Train
by JeremyClick the image to enlarge:
"This image taken byKeith TaggAdam Stacey. He was on the northern line just past Kings Cross. Train suddenly stopped and filled with smoke. People in carriage smashed tube windows to get out and then were evacuated along the train tunnel. He's suffering from smoke inhalation but fine otherwise."
Posted by Jeremy at 01:09 PM | Comments (0)
It's Time to Choose a Side
by JeremyThe reality of this war doesn't wait for the sophistry of middle class intellectuals to work itself out. There are two sides: open society vs. eternal fascist jihad. Each of us has to choose a side.
The people quoted here have chosen which side they're on.
A few study questions for our weekend homework:
Which side of the war against the jihadists are you on? Why? Are you pro-Baathism or anti-Baathism? Why? How does today's slaughter in London relate to your answers to the previous questions?
If you've answered these sorts of questions a thousand times over then you might ask them of someone who you think still may have a bit more homework to do. You might feel safer doing so silently, in your own thoughts.
Posted by Jeremy at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)
Movable Type Problem
by JeremyIf you use Movable Type and -- like me -- have been getting server errors when you try to post, you'll be happy to learn that you simply need to sit tight and the problem will go away.
This seems counter-intuitive, but the problem has resulted from a bug in a Cpanel update that many hosting companies will have installed automatically this week. The bug has been identified and, according to Six Apart, a fix should be in place within about 24 hours.
I have found that the database is indeed updated when I click "Publish" but the rebuild does not happen. You can, however, trigger the rebuild manually and simply rebuild the entire site every time you want to publish a post (assuming you're having the same problem I am).
Posted by Jeremy at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
London Hit by Terrorist Attack
by JeremyAt the moment the reports are that there have been a half-dozen or so simultaneous terrorist bombings -- at least one of them a 'suicide' bombing on a crowded bus -- in London.
Norm has been adding frequent updates -- those of us who are just waking up to this awful story might want to check there to get a sense of how this story has unfolded.
UPDATE: Most of the explosions were in Underground stations as shown in the map below:
The above image was taken from this BBC News page which is a good source for news and updates on this story.
UPDATE #2: Here is a Google News page where you can find numerous links.
Technorati is a good source too but has been so busy that I've been unable to get it working at present.
UPDATE #3: [UPDATE #3a: Take the data from this Wikipedia page with much caution -- it appears that people are vandalizing the page with obviously false data. The nature of Wiki should allow for corrections to be made quickly but at any given time you should pay more attention to the links and leads than to reported 'facts']Wikipedia is shaping up to be a good source of news on this story. If it works properly it should be updated continuously and accuracy should improve as updates and corrections are added over time. If you have information you can add it there yourself.
Posted by Jeremy at 07:21 AM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2005
Blogs, Shoots & Leaves
by JeremyIt's good to see that there is a new haven for drink-soaked Trotskyite popinjays who supported the war in Iraq (it's called Drink-Soaked Trotskyite Popinjays for War).
And it's good to see a couple of recently retired blogs are posting there.
This here is a link to a post by Hak Mao, though, whose own blog is still active. She caught a beautiful Freudian grammatical slip on the Socialist Workers' Party (SWP) website:
We oppose everything, which turns workers from one country against those from another.
Sounds about right to me.
Posted by Jeremy at 04:52 PM | Comments (2)
London Times Let's it Slip
by JeremyHeads are going to roll in the UK after this unprecedented leak of confidential information in the introductory paragraphs to a London Times interview with George W. Bush (via Norm):
In person Mr Bush is so far removed from the caricature of the dim, war-mongering Texas cowboy of global popular repute that it shakes one’s faith in the reliability of the modern media.
Why is he allowed to write that?
Though a couple of verb contractions get the Texas heave-ho ('I got') he comes across sounding articulate and presidential and sounds well versed in the topics at hand.
And I thought this was funny:
He points out the door in the well of the presidential desk, placed there by President Roosevelt to hide the fact that he spent his presidency in a wheelchair. “FDR was in a wheelchair and nobody knows. I choke on a pretzel and the whole world gets to hear about it.”
Of course Ghengis Khan probably had a sense of humor too.
Posted by Jeremy at 02:59 PM | Comments (1)
July 02, 2005
Cultural Competence
by JeremyRoger has challeneged the blogging community to define "Cultural Competence." I think it's best to do this by illustration.
It's simply this: You're a teacher and the self-satisfied administrators who run the institution at which you teach are trying to cram another plateload of bullshit down your throat. You are very angry. Did you know that expressing anger in no uncertain terms, far from being inappropriate, is a practice common to most cultures of the world? Yet, what does one say, precisely? It depends on the cultural identifications of the administrators in question. Here are some possibilities:
- Gayn Cacken Ofn yam! [Yiddish: 'Go shit in the ocean']
- Poq Gai! [Chinese: 'Go die in the street']
- Gaan fok jouself! [Afrikaans: take a guess]
- kesafat! [Persian: 'You dirty piece of shit']
- Tu es stultior quam asinus! [Latin: 'You are dumber than an ass'}
- Hijo de mil putas! [Spanish: 'Son of a thousand bitches']
- Äitisi nai poroja! [Finnish: 'Your mother copulates with reindeer']
- kooshite govno ee oomeeite! [Russian: 'Eat shit and die']
- Go dtachta an diabhal thú! [Irish: 'May the devil choke you']
- Urusai, Kono Bakayaro! [Japanese: 'Shut up you noisy idiot']
- Dø(doe) nu narrøv(narroev)! [Danish: 'Die already, jackass']
...and so on.
Posted by Jeremy at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)
