Finally, finally finished my gigantic SXSWi post over at me3dia.com. It was blocking me up blogwise for weeks; now that it's out of the way, I can get on with other personal writing.
]]>Gen-X's answer to the comb-over? An emo comb-forward.
I've been thinking about participating at MetaFilter again. Somebody stop me.
]]>I was tagged by matildaben:
"Once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with 5 facts about yourself. Then choose 5 people you want to tag and list their names. Then leave a comment on their blog letting them know they’ve been tagged."
"Facts," eh?
You know, when Wired predicted the death of Apple Computer, I really considered buying some stock. It was trading for about $12 at that time.
Today, they posted a billion-dollar profit for their fiscal First Quarter 2007, a week after announcing the iPhone to ridiculous amounts of press. And their stock price is around $95.
I saw a very expensive Mercedes with the license plate LEARSI today. Which is Israel spelled backwards. My wonder is, was this meant to be a rebus, and if so, was it pro-Israel or anti? It could be read as "Israel is backwards," after all.
]]>Very interesting history lesson. Here's some more information
about the
battle against the Barbary pirates, from a slightly less biased
source:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjprece.html
Keep
in mind that the author of that article is a right-wing blogger --
the "US
Veteran Dispatch" [http://www.usvetdsp.com/] is not an official
publication of any sort -- and should be taken with a very large grain
of salt. The fact that he wrote that history lesson in reference to a
duly elected congressman who used the preferred text of his religion
(would Mr. Sampley care to tell the class how many Jews have used the
Torah in their swearing in?), intending to imply that Congressman
Ellison a lawless, bloodthirsty pirate based on the fact that he happens
to also be Muslim, is despicable.
Keep in mind also that there are
no religious tracts of *any* sort
involved in the official swearing in of
Congress. Bibles, Torahs and now
Qurans are brought out solely for photo
opps after the ceremony:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/30/koran-bible-prager-ellison/
It's
quite amusing to read right-wing nuts have to retract their rage:
http://righttruth.typepad.com/right_truth/2006/12/retraction_sort.html
They
can't even admit that the Torah isn't a Christian book, claiming
Jews get
half credit because their book makes up the first part of the
Bible. (So
if someone gets sworn in using a Precious Moments angel that
says "John
3:16," does that count?) Jesus Christ is considered one of
the highest
prophets of Islam -- a fact very rarely mentioned in these
religio-political screeds.
As for the second piece (from yet
another right-wing blog), there's at
least one factual error (the Japanese
were not Nazis, they were
imperialists
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Japan] -- big
difference; don't
forget that *we* have been imperialists on occasion),
a couple huge gaps
in logic, and several gulps of Administration
Kool-Aid (does anybody
really still believe that Saddam Hussein had
anything to do with Al Qaeda?
how many more times does that have to be
disproved?) But beyond all that,
I find it really amusing that amid all
the scare tactics about how "the
Muslims are going to take over the
world," the writer apparently has
decided that the entirety of Asia
(containing somewhere around one-third
of the world's population) and
South America don't exist. It's the Middle
East, Europe and then us, and
Total World Domination is complete. Not to
mention the ridiculousness of
implying that getting out of Iraq will
somehow lead to the dismantling
of our military, allowing the terrorists
to win.
Look, I'm not happy we're at war, and I believe we were lied to
in order
to go to war. But I also recognize that there's no clean and easy
way
out now that we're there. We're in for the long haul -- the quagmire
we're in is not one we can just walk away from. I certainly don't need
to hear yet another tirade about how the Enemy is Bad and America is
Right. If we're so right, why do we seem to need so much
reminding?
The situation in the Middle East is not black and white, and
it never
will be. Branding every Muslim in the world a terrorist and
acting as if
they're the root of all the evil in the world is just stupid
and
simplistic. It's no less racist than the hateful generalizations made
by
the enemies of Israel against the Jews (which I assume you disagree
with) or the branding of America as the Great Satan. You're doing no
good by perpetuating the cycle of aggression with this sort of
hysterical discrimination and hatred. And you're not persuading me -- if
anything, you're alienating me further.
Please don't forward this
kind of scaremongering pseudo-patriotism to me
again.
---Andrew
[Mom] wrote:
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
Subject:
> FW: A history lesson. I'm glad I took the time to read it. -
PART TWO
> From:
> [my uncle]
> Date:
>
Tue, 9 Jan 2007 14:22:32 -0700
> To:
...
> *Subject:* FW: A history lesson. I'm glad I took the time to
read it.
> - PART TWO
>
> This I did not know…..
interesting read.
>
> As long as we’re dispensing History.. here’s
a little more:
>
> What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim
book of jihad
> U.S. Veteran Dispatch ^ | January 2007 | Ted
Sampley
>
>
>
> Democrat Keith Ellison is now
officially the first Muslim United
> States congressman. True to his
pledge, he placed his hand on the
> Quran, the Muslim book of jihad and
pledged his allegiance to the
> United States during his ceremonial
swearing-in.
>
> Capitol Hill staff said Ellison's swearing-in
photo opportunity drew
> more media than they had ever seen in the
history of the U.S. House.
> Ellison represents the 5th Congressional
District of Minnesota.
>
> The Quran Ellison used was no ordinary
book. It once belonged to
> Thomas Jefferson, third president of the
United States and one of
> America's founding fathers. Ellison borrowed
it from the Rare Book
> Section of the Library of Congress. It was one
of the 6,500 Jefferson
> books archived in the library.
>
>
Ellison, who was born in Detroit and converted to Islam while in
>
college, said he chose to use Jefferson's Quran because it showed that
> "a visionary like Jefferson" believed that wisdom could be gleaned
> from many sources.
>
> There is no doubt Ellison was
right about Jefferson believing wisdom
> could be "gleaned" from the
Muslim Quran. At the time Jefferson owned
> the book, he needed to know
everything possible about Muslims because
> he was about to advocate
war against the Islamic "Barbary" states of
> Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
and Tripoli.
>
> Ellison's use of Jefferson's Quran as a prop
illuminates a subject
> once well-known in the history of the United
States, but, which today,
> is mostly forgotten - the Muslim pirate
slavers who over many
> centuries enslaved millions of Africans and
tens of thousands of
> Christian Europeans and Americans in the Islamic
"Barbary" states.
>
> Over the course of 10 centuries, Muslim
pirates cruised the African
> and Mediterranean coastline, pillaging
villages and seizing slaves.
>
> The taking of slaves in pre-dawn
raids on unsuspecting coastal
> villages had a high casualty rate. It
was typical of Muslim raiders to
> kill off as many of the "non-Muslim"
older men and women as possible
> so the preferred "booty" of only
young women and children could be
> collected.
>
> Young
non-Muslim women were targeted because of their value as
> concubines
in Islamic markets. Islamic law provides for the sexual
> interests of
Muslim men by allowing them to take as many as four wives
> at one time
and to have as many concubines as their fortunes allow.
>
> Boys,
as young as 9 or 10 years old, were often mutilated to create
> eunuchs
who would bring higher prices in the slave markets of the
> Middle
East. Muslim slave traders created "eunuch stations" along
> major
African slave routes so the necessary surgery could be
> performed. It
was estimated that only a small number of the boys
> subjected to the
mutilation survived after the surgery.
>
> When American colonists
rebelled against British rule in 1776,
> American merchant ships lost
Royal Navy protection. With no American
> Navy for protection, American
ships were attacked and their Christian
> crews enslaved by Muslim
pirates operating under the control of the
> "Dey of Algiers"--an
Islamist warlord ruling Algeria.
>
> Because American commerce in
the Mediterranean was being destroyed by
> the pirates, the Continental
Congress agreed in 1784 to negotiate
> treaties with the four Barbary
States. Congress appointed a special
> commission consisting of John
Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin
> Franklin, to oversee the
negotiations.
>
> Lacking the ability to protect its merchant
ships in the
> Mediterranean, the new America government tried to
appease the Muslim
> slavers by agreeing to pay tribute and ransoms in
order to retrieve
> seized American ships and buy the freedom of
enslaved sailors.
>
> Adams argued in favor of paying tribute as
the cheapest way to get
> American commerce in the Mediterranean moving
again. Jefferson was
> opposed. He believed there would be no end to
the demands for tribute
> and wanted matters settled "through the
medium of war." He proposed a
> league of trading nations to force an
end to Muslim piracy.
>
> In 1786, Jefferson, then the American
ambassador to France, and Adams,
> then the American ambassador to
Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji
> Abdul Rahman Adja, the "Dey of
Algiers" ambassador to Britain.
>
> The Americans wanted to
negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress'
> vote to
appease.
>
> During the meeting Jefferson and Adams asked the
Dey's ambassador why
> Muslims held so much hostility towards America,
a nation with which
> they had no previous contacts.
>
> In
a later meeting with the American Congress, the two future
> presidents
reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had
> answered
that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it
> was
written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have
>
acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and
> duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make
> slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman
> (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to
Paradise."
>
> For the following 15 years, the American government
paid the Muslims
> millions of dollars for the safe passage of American
ships or the
> return of American hostages. The payments in ransom and
tribute
> amounted to 20 percent of United States government annual
revenues in
> 1800.
>
> Not long after Jefferson's
inauguration as president in 1801, he
> dispatched a group of frigates
to defend American interests in the
> Mediterranean, and informed
Congress.
>
> Declaring that America was going to spend "millions
for defense but
> not one cent for tribute," Jefferson pressed the
issue by deploying
> American Marines and many of America's best
warships to the Muslim
> Barbary Coast.
>
> The USS
Constitution, USS Constellation, USS Philadelphia, USS
> Chesapeake,
USS Argus, USS Syren and USS Intrepid all saw action.
>
> In 1805,
American Marines marched across the dessert from Egypt into
>
Tripolitania, forcing the surrender of Tripoli and the freeing of all
>
American slaves.
>
> During the Jefferson administration, the
Muslim Barbary States,
> crumbling as a result of intense American
naval bombardment and on
> shore raids by Marines, finally officially
agreed to abandon slavery
> and piracy.
>
> Jefferson's
victory over the Muslims lives on today in the Marine
> Hymn, with the
line, "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of
> Tripoli, we will
fight our country's battles on the land as on the sea."
>
> It
wasn't until 1815 that the problem was fully settled by the total
>
defeat of all the Muslim slave trading pirates.
>
> Jefferson had
been right. The "medium of war" was the only way to put
> and end to
the Muslim problem. Mr. Ellison was right about Jefferson.
> He was a
"visionary" wise enough to read and learn about the enemy
> from their
own Muslim book of jihad.
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
...
>
> This is very, very interesting!!!!
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
--------------------------------
> Written by Raymond S.
Kraft
>
> This is HISTORY THAT HAS BEEN LEFT OUT OF OUR TEXTBOOKS.
MANY OF YOU
> ARE NOT OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER THAT NEARLY EVERY FAMILY
IN AMERICA WAS
> GROSSLY AFFECTED BY WWII. MANY OF YOU DON'T REMEMBER
THE RATIONING OF
> MEAT, SHOES, GASOLINE, AND SUGAR. NO TIRES FOR OUR
AUTOMOBILES, AND A
> SPEED LIMIT OF 35 MILES AN HOUR ON THE ROAD. NOT
TO MENTION, NO NEW
> AUTOMOBILES. READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT HOW WE
WOULD REACT TO BEING
> TAKEN OVER BY FOREIGNERS.
>
-----
>
>
> Historical Significance:
>
>
Sixty-three years ago, Nazi Germany had overrun almost all of Europe
>
and hammered England to the verge of bankruptcy and defeat, and had
>
sunk more than four hundred British ships in their convoys between
England
> and America for food and war materials.
>
> At
that time the US was in an isolationist, pacifist mood, and most
>
Americans wanted nothing to do with the European or the Asian
war.
>
> Then along came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and in
outrage
> Congress unanimously declared war on Japan, and the following
day on
> Germany, which had not yet attacked us. It was a dicey thing.
We had
> few allies.
>
> France was not an ally, as the
Vichy government of France quickly
> aligned itself with its German
occupiers. Germany was certainly not an
> ally, as Hitler was intent on
setting up a Thousand Year Reich in
> Europe. Japan was not an ally, as
it was well on its way to owning and
> controlling all of Asia.
Together, Japan and Germany had long-range
> plans of invading Canada
and Mexico, as launching pads to get into the
> United States over our
northern and southern borders, after they
> finished gaining control of
Asia and Europe. America's only allies
> then were England, Ireland,
Scotland, Canada, Australia, and Russia.
> That was about it. All of
Europe, from Norway to Italy, except Russia
> in the East, was already
under the Nazi heel.
>
> America was certainly not prepared for
war. America had drastically
> downgraded most of its military forces
after W.W.I and throughout the
> depression, so that at the outbreak of
WW2, army units were training
> with broomsticks because they didn't
have guns, and cars with "tank"
> painted on the doors because they
didn't have real tanks. And a huge
> chunk of our navy had just been
sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor.
>
> Britain had already gone
bankrupt, saved only by the donation of $600
> million in gold bullion
in the Bank of England, that was actually the
> property of Belgium,
given by Belgium to England to carry on the war
> when Belgium was
overrun by Hitler (a little known fact). Actually,
> Belgium
surrendered on one day, because it was unable to oppose the
> German
invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next
> day
just to prove they could. Britain had already been holding out for
>
two years in the face of staggering losses and the near decimation of
>
its air force in the Battle of Britain, and was saved from being
>
overrun by Germany only because Hitler made the mistake of thinking
>
the Brits were a relatively minor threat that could be dealt with
>
later, and first turning his attention to Russia, at a time when
>
England was on the vergeof collapse, in the late summer of
1940.
>
> Ironically, Russia saved America's butt by putting up a
desperate
> fight for two years, until the US got geared up to begin
hammering
> away at Germany.
>
> Russia lost something like
24 million people in the sieges of
> Stalingrad and Moscow alone... 90%
of them from cold and starvation,
> mostly civilians, but also more
than a 1,000,000 soldiers.
>
> Had Russia surrendered, Hitler
would have been able to focus his
> entire war effort against the
Brits, then America. And the Nazis could
> possibly have won the
war.
>
> All of this is to illustrate that turning points in
history are often
> dicey things. And now, we find ourselves at another
one of those key
> moments in history.
>
> There is a very
dangerous minority in Islam that either has, or wants
> and may soon
have, the ability to deliver small nuclear, biological,
> or chemical
weapons, almost anywhere in the world.
>
> The Jihadis, the
militant Muslims, are basically Nazis in Kaffiyahs --
> they believe
that Islam, a radically conservative form of Wahhabi
> Islam, should
own and control the Middle East first, then Europe, then the
> world.
And that all who do not bow to their will of thinking should be
>
killed, enslaved, or subjugated. They want to finish the Holocaust,
>
destroy Israel, and purge the world of Jews. This is their
mantra.
>
> There is also a civil war raging in the Middle East --
for the most
> part not a hot war, but a war of ideas. Islam is having
its
> Inquisition and its Reformation, but it is not known yet which
will
> win -- the Inquisitors, or the Reformationists.
>
>
If the Inquisition wins, then the Wahhabis, the Jihadis, will control
>
the Middle East, the OPEC oil, and the US, European, and Asian
>
economies. The techno-industrial economies will be at the mercy of
OPEC
> -- not an OPEC dominated by the educated, rational Saudis of
today,
> but an OPEC dominated by the Jihadis. You want gas in your
car? You
> want heating oil next winter? You want the dollar to be
worth
> anything? You
> better hope the Jihad, the Muslim
Inquisition, loses, and the Islamic
> Reformation wins.
>
>
If the Reformation movement wins, that is, the moderate Muslims who
>
believe that Islam can respect and tolerate other religions, and live
>
in peace with the rest of the world, and move out of the 10th century
into
> the 21st, then the troubles in the Middle East will eventually
fade
> away, and a moderate and prosperous Middle East will
emerge.
>
> We have to help the Reformation win, and to do that we
have to fight
> the Inquisition, i.e., the Wahhabi movement, the Jihad,
Al Qaeda and
> the Islamic terrorist movements. We have to do it
somewhere. And we
> can't do it everywhere at once. We have created a
focal point for the
> battle at a time and place of our
choosing........in Iraq.
>
> Not in New York, not in London, or
Paris or Berlin, but in Iraq, where
> we are doing two important
things.
>
> (1) We deposed Saddam Hussein. Whether Saddam Hussein
was directly
> involved in 9/11 or not, it is undisputed that Saddam
has been
> actively supporting the terrorist movement for decades.
Saddam is a
> terrorist.
>
> Saddam is, or was, a weapon of
mass destruction, who is responsible
> for the deaths of probably more
than a million Iraqis and two million
> Iranians.
>
> (2)
We created a battle, a confrontation, a flash point, with Islamic
>
terrorism in Iraq. We have focused the battle. We are killing bad
>
people, and the ones we get there we won't have to get here. We also
>
have a good shot at creating a democratic, peaceful Iraq, which will
>
be a catalyst for democratic change in the rest of the Middle East,
>
and an outpost for a stabilizing American military presence in the
>
Middle East for as long as it is needed.
>
> World War II, the war
with the German and Japanese Nazis, really began
> with a "whimper" in
1928. It did not begin with Pearl Harbor. It began
> with the Japanese
invasion of China. It was a war for fourteen years
> before America
joined it. It officially ended in 1945 -- a 17 year war
> -- and was
followed by another decade of US occupation in Germany and
> Japan to
get those countries reconstructed and running on their own
> again ...
a 27 year war.
>
> World War II cost the United States an amount
equal to approximately a
> full year's GDP -- adjusted for inflation,
equal to about $12 trillion
> dollars. W.W.II cost America more than
400,000 killed in action, and
> nearly 100,000 still missing in
action.
>
> The Iraq war has, so far, cost the US about $160
billion, which is
> roughly what 9/11 cost New York. It has also cost
about 3,000 American
> lives, which is roughly EQUAL TO the 3,000 lives
that the Jihad
> snuffed on 9/11. But the cost of not fighting and
winning W.W.II would
> have been unimaginably greater -- a world
dominated by German and
> Japanese Nazism.
>
> This is not
60 minute TV shows, and 2 hour movies in which everything
> comes out
okay.
>
> The real world is not like that. It is messy, uncertain,
and sometimes
> bloody and ugly. Always has been, and probably always
will be.
>
> The bottom line is that we will have to deal with
Islamic terrorism
> until we defeat it, whenever that is. It will not
go away if we ignore it.
>
> If the US can create a reasonably
democratic and stable Iraq, then we
> have an "England" in the Middle
East, a platform, from which we can
> work to help modernize and
moderate the Middle East. The history of the
> world is the clash
between the forces of relative civility and
> civilization, and the
barbarians clamoring at the gates. The Iraq war
> is merely another
battle in this ancient and never ending war. And
> now, for the first
time ever, the barbarians are about to get nuclear
> weapons. Unless
somebody prevents them.
>
> We have four options:
>
>
1. We can defeat the Jihad now, before it gets nuclear
weapons.
>
> 2. We can fight the Jihad later, after it gets
nuclear weapons (which
> may be as early as next year, if Iran's
progress on nuclear weapons is
> what Iran claims it
is)
>
> 3. We can surrender to the Jihad and accept its dominance
in the
> Middle East, now, in Europe in the next few years or decades,
and
> ultimately in America.
>
> 4. Or, we can stand down
now, and pick up the fight later when the
> Jihad is more widespread
and better armed, perhaps after the Jihad has
> dominated France and
Germany and maybe most of the rest of Europe. It
> will, of course, be
more dangerous, more expensive, and much bloodier.
>
> If you
oppose this war, I hope you like the idea that your children,
> or
grandchildren, may live in an Islamic America under the Mullahs and
>
the Sharia, an America that resembles Iran today.
>
> The history
of the world is the history of civilizational clashes,
> cultural
clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society
> and
civilization should be like, and the most determined always
win.
>
> Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win.
The
> pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill
them.
>
> Remember, perspective is every thing, and America's
schools teach too
> little history for perspective to be clear,
especially in the young
> American mind.
>
> The Cold war
lasted from about 1947 at least until the Berlin Wall
> came down in
1989. Forty-two years. Europe spent the first half of the
> 19th
century fighting Napoleon, and from 1870 to 1945 fighting
Germany
>
> World War II began in 1928, lasted 17 years, plus a
ten year
> occupation, and the US still has troops in Germany and
Japan. World
> War II resulted in the death of more than 50 million
people, maybe
> more than 100 million people, depending on which
estimates you accept.
>
> The US has taken more than 3,000 killed
in action in Iraq. The US took
> more than 4,000 killed in action on
the morning of June 6, 1944, the
> first day of the Normandy Invasion
to rid Europe of Nazi Imperialism.
> In W.W.II the US averaged 2,000 KIA
a week -- for four years. Most of
> the individual battles of W.W.II
lost more Americans than the entire
> Iraq war has done so
far.
>
> But the stakes are at least as high ... A world dominated
by
> representative governments with civil rights, human rights, and
> personal freedoms .. or a world dominated by a radical Islamic
Wahhabi
> movement,
> by the Jihad, under the Mullahs and the
Sharia (Islamic law).
>
> It's difficult to understand why the
American left does not grasp
> this. They favor human rights, civil
rights, liberty and freedom, but
> evidently not for
Iraqis.
>
> "Peace Activists" always seem to demonstrate here in
America, where
> it's safe.
>
> Why don't we see Peace
Activist demonstrating in Iran, Syria, Iraq,
> Sudan, North Korea, in
the places that really need peace activism the
> most?
>
>
The liberal mentality is supposed to favor human rights, civil rights,
> democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc., but if the Jihad wins,
> wherever the Jihad wins, it is the end of civil rights, human rights,
> democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc.
>
>
Americans who oppose the liberation of Iraq are coming down on the
>
side of their own worst enemy.
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Raymond S. Kraft is a
writer living in Northern California. Please
> consider passing along
copies of this article to students in high
> school, college and
university as it contains information about the
> American past that is
very meaningful today -- history about America
> that very likely is
completely unknown by them (and their instructors,
> too). By being
denied the facts of our history, they are at a decided
> disadvantage
when it comes to reasoning and thinking through the
> issues of today.
They are prime targets for misinformation campaigns
> beamed at
enlisting them in causes and beliefs that are special
> interest agenda
driven.
>
So, John Negroponte became deputy secretary of state last week. I've got a theory about that: The reason for the move is Condoleeza Rice is preparing to enter the presidential race. By moving Negroponte to assistant, he's better positioned to take over the office when Condi leaves to pursue the nomination.
The Police are rumored to be thinking about an anniversary tour. Two drops of pee came out when I read the headline.
--Greg Storey, in Longboard (sorry, no permalink)
I think "Two drops of pee came out..." is the rhetorical opposite of "I just threw up a little in my mouth."
]]>