Sex and the Kiddies

As the United States government is finally figuring out, abstinence only programs for teaching sex education clearly do not work. This should be no surprise but for those that couldn't see the obvious, even a quick analysis of other countries' policies would more than clear up the issue. For example, while the United States experienced its HIV/AIDS outbreak in the 1980s (with Ronald Reagan failing to attempt to act until 1985), other countries experience the virus' effects to a far greater degree and thus, their governments were under even more pressure to act quickly.

Take the case of Uganda. Initially, Uganda was active in efforts to stem the disease's devastating effects. However, after a change in administrations, the government cut back on comprehensive sex education and distribution of birth control methods. As one could expect, this lead to a rise in the number of people infected with the virus. However, when Uganda elected a new president, one who enacted comprehensive sex education programs and made combating HIV/AIDS a priority, the number of people infected decreased significantly. The United States government has all of this data, but President Bush's HIV/AIDS programs for Africa largely focus on abstinence only programs even though these are proven to be far less effective and with far greater costs to human life.

Classy as ever, Jon Stewart tackles the issue of providing an alternative solution that compromises between rigid abstinence only and comprehensive sex education programs.



Take a hint, Congress. Teaching the obvious, proven-to-work comprehensive sex education programs shouldn't be so difficult.

Headlines: 29 April 2008

• Democrats Divided Over Gas Tax Break
  

  Clinton wants to suspend the gas tax for the summer driving season. Obama argues that lifting the tax would remove the disincentive to pollute, take away money from maintaining highways, and save consumers little—about $30 over three months. Gonna side with Obama on this one.
  

• Cheney Lawyer Claims "Congress Lacks Constitutional Power" to Investigate VP's Role in Torture Approval
  

  Luckily, Cheney lacks the constitutional power to stay in office past January.
  

• Iranian President's Visit Tests India
  

  Singh welcomes Ahmadinejad to get oil and to prove his independence from the U.S. Not sure how I feel about this.
  

• Georgia "plans war in Abkhazia"
  

  Georgia and Russia point fingers at each other over a tiny breakaway republic no one has ever heard of.
  

• Obama's Wright Response
  

  Obama should clearly repudiate Rev. Wright after his crazy media tour:
  

The Power of YouTube & the Incompetence of the Powerful

"If these [barracks] were in any city in America and were called apartments or dormitories, they'd be condemned."

First there was Walter Reed, then KBR's unclean water. More disturbing news documented by a soldier's father disgusted by the barracks in which his son had to live at Fort Bragg, NC, after a 15-month tour of duty in Afghanistan:

The Army's response? They didn't expect the soldiers back for three more weeks, and they're refusing to pay for private housing in the meantime. At least this is getting some attention and seems to be accelerating the repair process.

For more.

A Smooth Operator

The Birmingham News last week broke with a report that Republican presidential candidate and US Senator John McCain got favors from the mayor of the Alabama city of Homewood.

The McCain presidential campaign was given preferential treatment by the mayor, without the knowledge of the other City Council members, in renting a hall for a campaign function last Monday. McCain's camp paid only $250 to use the hall, whereas the normal fee would have been $1200. The Jefferson County Democratic Party (of Alabama) has used those same facilities in the past, and were never offered any discount.

But there's more.

In addition to the wholesale deal, McCain's campaign was also given free labor from inmates of the Homewood City Jail. That got them out of another $100 in set up fees.

Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley says the discount was simply because Mondays are slow days for business at the hall. The City Council says they always vote on whether to give discounts on the facility, but McCulley didn't even mention it in this case. The City Council president did say the mayor asked her whether a discount for the hall could be given on Monday nights, and the president said that could be considered, as long as it didn't cost the city money. She didn't know this particular discount was for McCain; nor did she know McCulley was planning to toss in the labor from the inmates.

McCain's Washington campaign office says they paid what they were asked to pay - not knowing it was heavily discounted and highly unusual.

The Homewood City Council President and Mayor McCulley are both asking the Republican Party to pay back the discounted fees. She's worried about the legal ramifications of using municipal funds to make an in-kind donation to a presidential campaign, and quite rightly so. He's probably just trying to save his skin.

If you ask me, the McCain campaign and the Republican Party have a responsibility to pay that money back. Furthermore, Mayor McCulley ought to be at least removed from office, and ideally slapped with some formal charges.

Regardless of the candidate you support in this election, I hope this doesn't become a missile in any mud-slinging campaign, or a reason for McCain supporters to lose faith. Yes, the deal was underhanded. But until the McCain campaign decides whether or not to give the money back, the jury is still out on the extent to which this ought to reflect on the Arizona Senator. My aim certainly is not to pass judgement on the man. I just want to shine some light into the shadows where these kind of deals are made.

Something's Gonna Hit the Fan...

I decided as a good gesture that I should post my original note in this truthy section:

Not to sound like the crazy guy standing on the street corner shouting "the end is near", but something is about to break and this time it could be on a magnitude this world has never seen. Talking to my mom, gas back home is apparently $3.67/gal. Almost $4! We are waaaaayyyy too dependent on oil for everything. To make other things worse, she also told me that Costco and Sam's Club has started rationing things like rice. What is wrong with this picture? You tell me. Oh and did I mention that food prices have risen by 70% since January? Well, now you know and knowing is half the battle.
I have a feeling we may see a global depression coming pretty soon because if common things such as rice is starting to get out of some people's grasp, there's something seriously wrong. One man said he hasn't seen rationing like this since the times of WWII.
So what can we do? We'll figure out something, cause God forbid we have to be the ones cleaning up the mess of these plutocrats.

Headlines: 27 April 2008

• Oil refinery strikers hold rally
  

  A strike forces BP to close a pipeline that supplies Britain with 30% of its oil. Gas shortages have started to affect Scotland, ironically not because there isn't enough oil, but because people fearing a gas shortage are stocking up.
  

• Clinton Challenges Obama to Debate
  

  Clinton wants a moderator-less, Lincoln-Douglas-style debate. Nobody's told her that Douglas was the experience candidate.
  

• Bush pokes fun at his successors
  

  I'd tell him not to quit his day job, but he hasn't done so well at that either.
  

• Karzai unhurt after parade attack
  

  At least four dead and nine injured after Taliban militants fire into the grandstand.

Meanwhile in Zimbabwe

Recounts of last month's parliamentary elections have changed nothing: control of Zimbabwe's Parliament will pass to the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for the first time since the country won independence from Britain in 1980. However, the recounts have been used to stall the presidential elections, allowing incumbent Robert Mugabe to intimidate his people with violence and cruelty:

Twenty-four babies and 40 children under the age of six were among the 250 people rounded up in a raid on Friday, according to Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Yesterday they were crammed into cells in Southerton police station in central Harare...."In Mugabe’s Zimbabwe even children are not spared the terror that befalls their parents[," said Chamisa.]

Jendayi Frazer, assistant Secretary of State for Africa, is doing a fantastic job urging other African leaders to condemn Mugabe's actions. But I have heard nothing about other American officials. Secretary Rice, President Bush, and Congress should condemn Mugabe in no uncertain terms and strive to increase international pressure against him.

A Heretic? Or a Sell-Out? Maybe Both.

The founder of Greenpeace said Tuesday night that "there is no proof global warming is caused by humans," but the relationship is likely enough that it's time to rely more on nuclear power.

This comes from IdahoStatesman.com.

Patrick Moore says while he believes Earth's atmosphere is changing of its own accord, "true believers" like Al Gore ought to endorse more nuclear power plants in an effort to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels. Of course, Moore says, that's just a precaution. In case global climate change is man-made. He says building more nuclear power plants to reduce the effect of coal emissions on the atmosphere would be akin to purchasing fire insurance. We purchase that insurance, he says, on the slim chance our house will burn down. We ought to shut down coal plants on the slim chance that they're contributing to global warming.

What?

Pardon me while I double-take.

Could we be any more wishy-washy? First he says the relationship is likely enough that we ought to fire up more nuclear power plants. Then he says the correlation between the actions of humankind and climate change is actually very low.

While I agree that we ought to rely more on nuclear power, I don't think Moore has a very good chance of convincing those "true believers" he talked about that it's a good idea.

I think any eco-credibility he had is going up in smoke. But at least it's not contributing to global warming, right?

Why won't environmentalists take Moore, the founder of Greenpeace, seriously? Greenpeace was founded to protest nuclear testing. Now who does he work for? He's a representative of the Clean Air and Safe Energy Coalition. That coalition happens to be backed, in large part, by the nuclear energy industry. This might explain Moore's argument that other alternative-energy sources don't have as much potential as does nuclear energy.

Moore says he's simply realized with the help of science that nuclear energy is a better route to sustainability. Critics say he's just sold out.

While I laud Moore for his position, I want to make two points about this case. The first is that the money trail is important to take into consideration, obviously. This leads to the second point.

While the money trail is important, it's not enough in this case to dismiss Moore's position, and malign him as a heretic. This seems to be the major tactic of the "true believers" of the global warming movement when confronted with a dissenting opinion: discredit and destroy.

China to Meet with HH XIV Dalai Lama

In a surprising announcement today, China's government agreed to meet with an envoy of His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama, after calls from leaders around the globe for dialogue between the two governments.

While the Chinese government has not released a date for when the meetings will take place or who they will involve, "The Xinhua report said China had committed only to a meeting and appeared to attach routine conditions for opening a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, including a demand that he stop plotting for Tibet's independence 'so as to create conditions for talks.'"

However, as reported by the Associated Press:

The prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile said he had not received any official Chinese confirmation of the report. He sounded a cautious note on any potential talks.

"The Dalai Lama is always open to have a dialogue but the present circumstances in Tibet do not appear to be an appropriate platform for a meaningful dialogue," Samdhong Rimpoche told The Associated Press in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala.

However, even though the announcement is not specific in the details of these talks and the conditions for them, the fact that China is finally opening itself to talk with perhaps the only man who really does know what to do in order to fix the Sino-Tibetan crisis, this is progress. Hopefully, the Chinese government will back up these statements with positive action and take steps to stop the genocide it commits against "its own people" in its "harmonious society."For the article, click here.

911 is a Joke

Lose your arms and legs to them, it's compilation
I can prove it to you, watch the rotation
It all adds up to a funky situation
So get up, get get down
911 is a joke in your town
~"911 is a Joke," Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet, 1990

Since Flava Flav of Public Enemy cackled these words over a decade ago, the emergency services in New York City have only proven him correct. During the racial tensions of the 1990s, there were several instances of attacks on black Americans, especially black males. However, while many would hope that the situation has improved since then, today is yet another stunning example of the lack of progress made and the lack of accountability for institutions that perpetuate racism.

Today, Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict that the three NYPD detectives who shot the unarmed, 23 year old Sean Bell on his wedding day were to be acquitted of all charges. However, instead of murder charges, the most serious charge facing Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper was the manslaughter charge facing Isnora and Oliver.

While some may think that even though it is extremely suspicious for three police officers to shoot a man 50 times and believe that this is an isolated incident, the history of race-related killings by the NYPD proves otherwise, as the Associated Press reports:

In 1999, NYPD officers killed Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who was shot 19 times in the entry to his apartment building.

The four officers in that case were acquitted of criminal charges. In 2003, Ousmane Zongo, 43, a native of the western African country of Burkina Faso, was killed during a police raid on a warehouse where he repaired art and musical instruments. Zongo was shot four times, twice in the back.

If progress really has been made by this country in its race relations, the NYPD should step forward to condemn these detectives and take its role seriously, instead of joking around with the lives of innocent Americans, like Sean Bell.

BS Express?

As just about everyone has seen this stock footage of Barack Obama's former pastor as well as heard the unnecessary, trivialized debates surrounding Obama's patriotism and Christian faith. However, while Obama has had to manage sharp criticism surrounding this issue, what happens when a white Republican candidate has a pastor endorse him that is just as radical, if not more so? Also, what questions regarding McCain's faith are being raised when McCain "isn't a full member of his church because he has never undergone the adult baptism that membership requires?"

Well, nothing apparently.

If the American election process is going to criticize a black candidate for at one time having a radical pastor, then it should at least give equally sharp rebuke to a white candidate who currently accepts the endorsement of a radical pastor, whose views are along the lines of such polarizing figures as Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell. Maybe since McCain sold his soul back in 2006 at the commencement speech at Falwell's Liberty College, the "Straight Talk Express" has gotten a case of the B.S.

Human Drama: The Plot Thickens

This is somewhat of a departure from the regular content from us Warrior-Poets, but I thought this was interesting enough to share.

The Genographic Project by the National Geographic Society is an effort to take a genetic approach to anthropology, which is essentially the study of the human story across cultures and throughout history. Recent findings from the project are startling food for thought.

Dr. Spencer Wells, an explorer-in-residence for the Society, says research suggests that the human race stood at the brink of extinction nearly seventy thousand years ago. Apparently, severe drought in Africa (which was the only continent inhabited by humans, at the time) had reduced populations to small isolated groups, threatened by the harsh climate. Estimates from another study at Stanford University suggest as few as two thousand individuals constituted the entire human race at this point. Population growth didn't occur again until the early Stone Age.

At least for me, the concept of human extinction poses several questions. The most basic of these, of course (at least for anyone with any sort of curiosity), is an exploration into the identity of the planet. What would Earth look like, had humanity died off? Moreover, what would have taken the place of humankind? Surely, this seems the stuff of science fiction (a la I am Legend), but the question still stands.

Perhaps the most crucial (and even pessimistic) conclusion that I can draw from this is that human life must fight against so many forces in order to survive that it's any wonder we've made it this far. So many things could go wrong - and so many things had to go right for us to be here - that the best we can do at this point is simply to stop wasting time.

Future of Tibet

Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee of East Asian and Pacific Affairs held a hearing entitled "The Future of Tibet" where Sen. Barbara Boxer, among others, announced their plans to develop a plan of action to resolve the Sino-Tibetan Crisis.

While this meeting was overall a very productive dialogue on the serious need for a solution now, if the current administration does not act quickly to enact this plan of action (the Bush Administration has already failed to follow the recommendations the committee gave earlier in the year), the United States will lose some of the key leverage it has gained due to the Beijing Summer Olympics.

All of the witnesses provided excellent testimonies and there were many intelligent questions the senators asked. Among these were John Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State; Richard Gere, chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet; Lodi Gyari, special envoy of His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama; and Lobsang Sangay of the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. With the obvious, unanimous bipartisan agreement on the necessary steps that need to be taken to resolve this crisis within China, it is quite reasonable to expect far more genuine efforts on behalf of the Congress and the Bush administration to seriously address this issue and work with the Chinese government to create a mutually beneficial solution.

Part of the testimony, courtesy of YouTube and the Associated Press. For full coverage, see links below the video clip.


Click here for the Subcommittee's page for the hearing.

Click here to watch the hearing in its entirety.

Click here to read Lodi Gyari's full testimony.

Click here to read Richard Gere's full testimony.

Headlines: 24 April 2008

• In Surprise, Ford Swings to Profit
  

  Just not in the North American market.
  

• U.S. envoy says Zimbabwe's Mugabe lost
  

  Finally, someone in the U.S. government tells it like is.
  

• Patrick: Democrats will rally behind Obama
  

  Mass. governor downplays Obama's PA loss and repudiates pollsters' conventional wisdom.

Old New Orleans

John McCain showed up in New Orleans today, still damaged almost three years later by Hurricane Katrina, vowing that the Bush Administration's mishandling would never happen in a McCain presidency.

The Democrats' response? The DNC reminds everyone that McCain opposed emergency assistance back in 2005. MoveOn.org starts a petition asking McCain to repudiate the endorsement of John Hagee, who said that Katrina was "the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans," (You can sign it here if you like.) much like Obama had to denounce Louis Farrakhan.

Kudos to John McCain for drawing attention to what still has to be done along the Gulf Coast, but shame on everyone--including McCain--for politicizing it.

Israel + Syria: It's Complicated

Yesterday: Almost wonderful news that Israeli PM Ehud Olmert was signaling that he was ready to negotiate with Syria. Going through the Turkish PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Olmert told the Syrian government that he was willing to return the Golan Heights in exchange for a lasting peace. However, returning Golan is unpopular in Israel and members of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, are working on a bill that would make withdrawal dependent on a nationwide referendum.

Today: The White House released a statement revealing that the target of Israel's September air strike was a Syrian nuclear reactor that "was not intended for peaceful purposes." Better yet, the technology seems to have come from North Korea. Don't worry, we're not going to war with Syria or North Korea. Although it's unclear how this will affect the six-party talks with N. Korea, the U.S. is working with/through the International Atomic Energy Agency to deal with Syria, which has some 'splainin to do about why the didn't inform the IAEA they were developing a reactor, as required by the nuclear non-proliferation treaty they signed.

Headlines: 23 April 2008

• Moqtada al-Sadr issues 'all-out war' ultimatum

• Sorry this article is a little old. Why are we walling off Sadr City anyways?

• 
  
• Petraeus to Be Nominated to Lead Central Command

• Because "staying [the] course is not a bad idea." Funny quote:

• Though the Central Command was created in 1983 to cover the "central" part of the globe between the European and Pacific Commands, according its Web site, its main headquarters is located not in its theater of operations, but rather in Tampa, Fla., at least in part because of the political sensitivity of basing it in the Mideast.

• You think?

• 
  
• $100 fill-ups arrive at gas pumps

• This Summer: $4/gallon: Coming to a gas station near you!

• 
  
• Sri Lanka suffers bloodiest clashes since 2006

• The minority Tamils want their own state; the majority Sinhalese government vowed to destroy the rebels before elections in May.

• 
  
• Violence mars Zimbabwe recount

• Robert Mugabe intimidates his political rivals as a recount determines which party controls Parliament. Zimbabwe, by the way, has the world's highest inflation rate, at an astounding 100,000%. And that's according to officials. The real rate might be higher.

Post-Pennsylvania Primary Political Parsing!

You know you love alliteration.

Yes, Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary by a margin of 10%, gained 12 delegates on Barack Obama, and is now only behind by 133, according to CNN's estimates. But keep these three things in mind:

1. Districts are weighted according to previous Democratic performance. This largely helps Obama. For instance, Obama won Philadelphia County by 30%; in 2004, Kerry won there by 62%. Clinton took Fulton County by 34%; Bush won that county by 52%.
2. There is speculation that, even though Clinton won Pennsylvania, her victory may be a Pyrrhic one, and that Obama's real strategy was to limit his margin of loss, while forcing Clinton to spend money she could not afford to waste.
3. Calls are getting louder and louder for both campaigns to drop both their increasingly negative tones and obsessions with trivial non-issues and for Clinton to drop out of the race.

Talking Heads

From the New York Times:

Hidden behind [the] appearance of [the] objectivity [of retired generals-cum-network analysts], though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

But would retired generals really put a positive spin on the situation in Iraq just to maintain favor with the Pentagon?

“I saw immediately in 2003 that things were going south,” General [Paul E.] Vallely, one of the Fox analysts on the trip, recalled in an interview with The Times.

The Pentagon, though, need not have worried.

“You can’t believe the progress,” General Vallely told Alan Colmes of Fox News upon his return. He predicted the insurgency would be “down to a few numbers” within months.

Truthiness in Science

The Colbert Bump has been scientifically proven!!! Surely Stephen will have to give credit to science for proving it, although I suppose he'll chalk it up to be something that he knew all along.

"Democrats who braved Colbert's mocking interviews, [Fowler] was surprised to find, not only saw the number of donations they received in the month after the show jump by one third, they raised 44 percent more money than their counterparts who did not go on the show. While the average candidate in Fowler's sample raises about $21,000 a month, Colbert's guests earned almost $30,000 after the broadcast."

Apparently, however, this only applies to Democrats, and Republicans on the show can actually experience a negative effect.  I guess that's how we can explain Huckabee's loss.

Headlines: 18 April 2008

• An Earthquake Rattles the Midwest.
  

  The New Madrid Fault reminds us that it's there.
  

• It's Getting Close to Over.
  

  Let's hope so.
  

• Clinton fixes the video board, Edwards wants a jet ski, and Obama puts distractions on notice.
  

  Boy, did I miss a good one. ($%#&!ing 8 a.m. exams!)
  

• I own the front page.
  

  Ha!

Bitter Pennsylvanians

You know how Barack Obama said that working-class voters cling to guns, religion, and anti-immigrant sentiment when they lose their jobs? Pennsylvanians react:

Shawn Erfman: "It's fucking true. Everybody's bitter for one reason or another. So they're crucifying him because he spoke the truth? Cause he's not saying something that's going to suck up to people and kiss ass? Because, what, he slipped and accidentally spoke the truth, instead of kissing butt?"

Iona White: "It's a bad time in the world. People are bitter."

The ultimate irony: People who do "'cling' to wedge issues involving God and guns because they've lost faith in our political culture's ability to solve problems" have to watch a debate that focuses more on trivialities (like not wearing a flag lapel-pin, associating with people who have said bad things, saying something that's true but somewhat inarticulate, and embellishing a trip to war-torn Bosnia) than the real issues.

P.S. Hillary is going negative in PA. Perhaps she's bitter that she's losing to Obama.

Update: MoveOn.org has a petition admonisihing ABC News for the debate's obsession with "trivial questions about gaffes and 'gotchas' that only political insiders care about." You can sign it here.

Osama's Corner Office

Apparently the infamously decentralized structure of al-Qaeda "coexisted with the bureaucratic mentality of the chiefs," as evidenced by recently declassified memos seen by the LA Times. Memo 1:

I was very upset by what you did. I obtained 75,000 rupees for you and your family's trip to Egypt. I learned that you did not submit the voucher to the accountant, and that you made reservations for 40,000 rupees and kept the remainder claiming you have a right to do so. . . . Also with respect to the air-conditioning unit, . . . furniture used by brothers in Al Qaeda is not considered private property. . . . I would like to remind you and myself of the punishment for any violation.

Memo 2:

Peace and God's mercy and blessings. . . praise to the Lord and salvation to his prophet. . . I have not received my salary in three months and I am six months behind in paying my rent. . . . You also told me to remind you, and this is a reminder.

The Times also has a 43-page memo that takes up 11 pages in transcribed, PDF format. All bureaucracies, even al-Qaeda, waste paper.

Were You Aware?

Radical Islam Awareness Week was last week. Apparently it comes earlier every year. In an opinion piece in the Michigan Daily, the "Young Americans for Freedom" write:

National Islam Awareness Week is a way to educate students about the genocidal agendas of the global jihadists and the fact that these radical ideas are far more mainstream in the Muslim world today than most Americans are willing to believe. It is also to remind students not to forget about Sept. 11, to remember what our troops are fighting for: Our freedom, the same freedom that allows you to learn at this university without the fear of attack because of who you are.

Our group, the Young Americans for Freedom, is expecting and has had protests against our views. However, we are familiar with the way the Left wages its political wars on conservative students. If someone happens to disagree with its position on racial issues - if one believes, for example, that government-enforced racial preferences are misguided or immoral - the Left will denounce that person as a "racist." The Left's only logic is emotional, and the character of that emotion is hatred - hatred for those who want to raise awareness of the threats we face from radical Islam. This hatred has only one purpose: to silence those who oppose the jihad.

We see members of our generation ready to put their lives on the line to defend our freedoms. We know that this war is being waged at home as well, and we will not let our brothers and sisters in uniform shoulder the burden alone.

First of all, nobody has forgotten September 11 and nobody ever will. People will remember where they were when they first found out about the attacks, much like the MLK or JFK assassinations or Pearl Harbor. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: What people did forget was the shock and the fear that was so easily taken advantage of in order to begin an unnecessary war and expand the reach of the Executive Branch. But apparently trying to ignore any feelings of terror to ponder reasonable solutions to the problem is "emotional logic," and opposing Bush's decisions to invade Iraq and to erode our civil liberties is supporting jihad.

And I'm sorry if the remarks David Horowitz made while visiting Michigan struck me as racist. His insistence that "the Muslim Students' Association is not an ethnic group. It is not a religious group. It is not a cultural group. It is a political organization created by the Muslim brotherhood," and use of the word 'Islamofascism' paints all Muslims as, if not bona fide terrorists, part of a community that unanimously and passionately hates the United States and all things Western. Don't believe that 'Islamofascism' is offensive to Muslims? What if I call Hitler, Mussolini and Franco 'Christo-fascists'? "But they weren't real Christians," you might say. The same argument can be made for Muslims, who, despite what Horowitz thinks, do not universally hate the U.S. This line of thought is particularly damning because victory over the terrorists ultimately depends on supporting moderate Muslims, to which the Sunni Awakening Councils' practical removal of al-Qaeda in Iraq can attest.

The letter to the editor from Aaron Bailey, an Afghanistan veteran and B-school student, which appeared in Monday's Daily, is so good that I have to share it with you in its entirety:

I read Wednesday's viewpoint by the University's chapter of Young Americans for Freedom with both surprise and disgust (The war at home, 04/09/2008). The one clear idea that resonated throughout the viewpoint was YAF's gung-ho, pro-war, chicken-hawk agenda and its contempt for the soldiers who are actually fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While YAF used the typical neo-conservative tactics of mentioning the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (which our own government has determined had no links to Iraq), discussing the suppression of minority rights (although the Bush administration continues to support the Saudi Royal Family's despotic regime) and continually using words like "freedom" to describe its agenda, this group did not speak for me as a veteran.

War, unfortunately, is a complex and occasionally necessary way to confront the greed, corruption and evil in our world. But chastising an entire region by calling mainstream Middle Easterners "jihadists," many of whom I served with, only serves to unnecessarily enflame the disaffected population I worked to assist. If YAF really wants to help our country, I encourage its members to visit www.goarmy.com and join the "brothers and sisters" the group claims to support. In lieu of that, perhaps YAF will advocate deploying troops with proper equipment, a clear mission and veteran's benefits when they return from war, something the group's fellow neo-cons forgot.

Make no mistake, the people who attacked us were, and still are, in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. But for reasons unclear to me, my commander-in-chief has decided to ignore these threats. YAF's members continue to cover for our incompetent leaders, who place America's military at risk to further their own self-interests, all the while advocating others to fight and die in their places.

Also: Were you aware that "[i]f the President were the longest recorded flight by chicken, he would be thirteen seconds?" (Stewart 36)

Fear and Trembling

From Joe Klein:

[Attacking Moqtada al-Sadr] would have been extremely foolish. The U.S. would have been inserting itself into a part of Iraq that we don't know very well—the south—and taking sides against what is probably the most popular mass movement in Shi'ite Iraq. But the Petraeus battle plan apparently includes an anti-Sadrist move, which may mean a spurt of violence as widespread and vicious as the worst of the Sunni insurgency. Is that why the general wants a "pause" in the U.S. withdrawal this summer?

What could possibly be the rationale for this? Perhaps it is that Sadr's Mahdi Army is the most potent force opposed to long-term U.S. bases in Iraq—and that a permanent presence has been the Bush Administration's true goal in this war. I suspect the central question in Iraq now is not whether things will get better but whether the drive for a long-term, neocolonialist presence will make the situation irretrievably worse.

Nice View

Not important, but interesting:

But as Mrs. Wolverine points out, what young woman would actually get naked for Dick Cheney? This leads me to conclude that the figure in the sunglasses is actually Eliot Spitzer.

Conservatism vs. Liberalism

Sorry there hasn't been much blogging lately. My dog ate my posts.

There has been something of an ongoing feud between Joe Klein, of Time magazine, and conservative pundits that started with this article, where Klein said:

This is a chronic disease among Democrats, who tend to talk more about what's wrong with America than what's right. When Ronald Reagan touted "Morning in America" in the 1980s, Dick Gephardt famously countered that it was near midnight "and getting darker all the time." This is ironic and weirdly self-defeating, since the liberal message of national improvement is profoundly more optimistic, and patriotic, than the innate conservative pessimism about the perfectibility of human nature. Obama's hopemongering is about as American as a message can get — although, in the end, it is mostly about our ability to transcend our imperfections rather than the effortless brilliance of our diversity, informality and freedom-propelled creativity.

Gasp! Part two:

Conservative skepticism has its place; it can be a valuable corrective when government goes flabby and corrupt or engages in wild neo-colonialist fantasies abroad[...]But, historically, those who believed in the perfectability of our nation[...]have been right far more often than they've been wrong. Those who have stood in the path of progress have been wrong far more often than they've been right. And those who spent the past seven years as propagandists for the one of the worst, and needlessly blood-soaked, presidencies in American history, have such a fabulous record of self-righteous wrong-headedness that they needn't be taken seriously at all.

You have to admire the phrase 'self-righteous wrong-headedness,' even if you disagree with its implication here. Part Three:

In our lives, we have seen conservatives use racism as a political tool, war as a witless quest for domination, patriotism as a scourge, government as an instrument of greed, religion and "morality" as camouflage for spreading fear, ignorance and bigotry.

The latest installment:

It is, as I said, very sad that the Clinton campaign would have anything to do with spreading this sort of innuendo [Yes, some Clinton supporters are still trying to make an issue out of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, even though Barack Obama addressed it in the best speech a politician has given in my lifetime.]...and entirely predictable that the Republican Party would. When I talked about "spreading the poison" that's what I meant: a purposeful distraction from what should be real issues in this campaign--two wars, serious economic problems, the need to shift to alternative energy sources for national security and environmental reasons. On his radio show last week, Hugh Hewitt disagreed with me that those were the real issues. He made his agenda clear: Obama's positions on Jeremiah Wright, gun control and homosexuality were what mattered to "real" Americans. Now that's cynicism, of the rankest sort. Let's hope it's not the election we get.

So the problem is two-fold:

1. Republicans have abandoned the decent purpose of conservatism--to counter the liberal tendency to fix everything through government intervention--as George W. Bush has presided over the largest expansion of government, especially executive, power since the Nixon administration.
2. Conservative pundits are hopelessly out of touch with mainstream America. I may be ensconced in the liberal, ivory tower of academia, but homosexuality and a few comments a candidate's pastor made this one time are more important than war, national security, and energy independence? Give me a break.

12 Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation

These are 12 suggestions presented in a petition signed by a number of prominent Han Chinese intellectuals as posted on Human Right Watch's webpage. This is the type of dialogue, from extremely courageous individuals, that will lead to a mutually beneficial solution in a tumultuous region.

Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation

by Some Chinese Intellectuals

Editor's Note: On March 12, a group of Chinese intellectuals including prominent dissidents, lawyers, rights activitise and writers circulated a petition supporting calls for an independent investigation in Tibet by the United Nation, and urging the government to reconsider its policies in Tibet, so as to work toward "national reconciliation, not continue to increase divisions between nationalities." Two of the signatories, the tibetan poetess Woeser and the writer Wang Lixiong, have reported being under close police surveillance at their home since the beginning of the protests on March 10. Woeser maintains a blog, in Chinese.

1. At present the one-sided propaganda of the official Chinese media is having the effect of stirring up inter-ethnic animosity and aggravating an already tense situation. This is extremely detrimental to the long-term goal of safeguarding national unity. We call for such propaganda to be stopped.

2. We support the Dalai Lama’s appeal for peace, and hope that the ethnic conflict can be dealt with according to the principles of goodwill, peace, and non-violence. We condemn any violent act against innocent people, strongly urge the Chinese government to stop the violent suppression, and appeal to the Tibetan people likewise not to engage in violent activities.

3. The Chinese government claims that “there is sufficient evidence to prove this incident was organized, premeditated, and meticulously orchestrated by the Dalai clique." We hope that the government will show proof of this. In order to change the international community’s negative view and distrustful attitude, we also suggest that the government invite the United Nation’s Commission on Human Rights to carry out an independent investigation of the evidence, the course of the incident, the number of casualties, etc.

4. In our opinion, such Cultural-Revolution-like language as “the Dalai Lama is a jackal in Buddhist monk’s robes and an evil spirit with a human face and the heart of a beast ” used by the Chinese Communist Party leadership in the Tibet Autonomous Region is of no help in easing the situation, nor is it beneficial to the Chinese government’s image. As the Chinese government is committed to integrating into the international community, we maintain that it should display a style of governing that conforms to the standards of modern civilization.

5. We note that on the very day when the violence erupted in Lhasa (March 14), the leaders of the Tibet Autonomous Region declared that “there is sufficient evidence to prove this incident was organized, premeditated, and meticulously orchestrated by the Dalai clique.” This shows that the authorities in Tibet knew in advance that the riot would occur, yet did nothing effective to prevent the incident from happening or escalating. If there was a dereliction of duty, a serious investigation must be carried out to determine this and deal with it accordingly.

6. If in the end it cannot be proved that this was an organized, premeditated, and meticulously orchestrated event but was instead a “popular revolt” triggered by events, then the authorities should pursue those responsible for inciting the popular revolt and concocting false information to deceive the Central Government and the people; they should also seriously reflect on what can be learned from this event so as to avoid taking the same course in the future.

7. We strongly demand that the authorities not subject every Tibetan to political investigation or revenge. The trials of those who have been arrested must be carried out according to judicial procedures that are open, just, and transparent so as to ensure that all parties are satisfied.

8. We urge the Chinese government to allow credible national and international media to go into Tibetan areas to conduct independent interviews and news reports. In our view, the current news blockade cannot gain credit with the Chinese people or the international community, and is harmful to the credibility of the Chinese government. If the government grasps the true situation, it need not fear challenges. Only by adopting an open attitude can we turn around the international community’s distrust of our government.

9. We appeal to the Chinese people and overseas Chinese to be calm and tolerant, and to reflect deeply on what is happening. Adopting a posture of aggressive nationalism will only invite antipathy from the international community and harm China’s international image.

10. The disturbances in Tibet in the 1980s were limited to Lhasa, whereas this time they have spread to many Tibetan areas. This deterioration indicates that there are serious mistakes in the work that has been done with regard to Tibet. The relevant government departments must conscientiously reflect upon this matter, examine their failures, and fundamentally change the failed nationality policies.

11. In order to prevent similar incidents from happening in future, the government must abide by the freedom of religious belief and the freedom of speech explicitly enshrined in the Chinese Constitution, thereby allowing the Tibetan people fully to express their grievances and hopes, and permitting citizens of all nationalities freely to criticize and make suggestions regarding the government’s nationality policies.

12. We hold that we must eliminate animosity and bring about national reconciliation, not continue to increase divisions between nationalities. A country that wishes to avoid the partition of its territory must first avoid divisions among its nationalities. Therefore, we appeal to the leaders of our country to hold direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama. We hope that the Chinese and Tibetan people will do away with the misunderstandings between them, develop their interactions with each other, and achieve unity. Government departments as much as popular organizations and religious figures should make great efforts toward this goal.


Signatures:

Wang Lixiong (Beijing, Writer)
Liu Xiaobo (Beijing, Freelance Writer)
Zhang Zuhua (Beijing, scholar of constitutionalism)
Sha Yexin (Shanghai, writer, Chinese Muslim)
Yu Haocheng (Beijing, jurist)
Ding Zilin (Beijing, professor)
Jiang peikun (Beijing, professor)
Yu Jie (Beijing, writer)
Sun Wenguang (Shangdong, professor)
Ran Yunfei (Sichuan, editor, Tujia nationality)
Pu Zhiqiang (Beijing, lawyer)
Teng Biao (Beijing, Layer and scholar)
Liao Yiwu ()Sichuan, writer)
Wang Qisheng (Beijing, scholar)
Zhang Xianling (Beijing, engineer)
Xu Jue (Beijing, research fellow)
Li Jun (Gansu, photographer)
Gao Yu (Beijing, journalist)
Wang Debang (Beijing, freelance writer)
Zhao Dagong (Shenzhen, freelance writer)
Jiang Danwen (Shanghai, writer)
Liu Yi (Gansu, painter)
Xu Hui (Beijing, writer)
Wang Tiancheng (Beijing, scholar)
Wen kejian (Hangzhou, freelance)
Li Hai (Beijing, freelance writer)
Tian Yongde (Inner Mongolia, folk human rights activists)
Zan Aizong (Hangzhou, journalist)
Liu Yiming (Hubei, freelance writer)

The rules of signing one’s name are as follows:
1. Open signature
2. Only accept the signature with one’s own name or commonly used pen name
3. One needs to include one’s name, the province of one’s current residence, occupation
4. The e-mails for one to send one’s signature: xizangwenti@gmail.com; xiamixiami@hotmail.com; degewa@gmail.com.

We Didn't Start the Fire (but those Spartans sure did)

It turns out that MSU is trying to "revive" its party scene, as evidenced by last night's Cedar Fest where the police were forced to use tear gas to control the crowds.  Reviving does not have to mean riots, but apparently everyone was too drunk to realize that.  

More here.

Here.

And here.

Regulation, Schmegulation

...the principle behind the Bush administration’s new proposal for financial reform, which will be formally announced today: it’s all about creating the appearance of responding to the current crisis, without actually doing anything substantive....As for the rest, it blithely declares that 'market discipline is the most effective tool to limit systemic risk'...I’ve been disappointed to see some news outlets report as fact the administration’s cover story — the claim that lack of coordination among regulatory agencies was an important factor in our current problems. The truth is that that’s not at all what happened. The various regulators actually did quite well at acting in a coordinated fashion. Unfortunately, they coordinated in the wrong direction. For example, there was a 2003 photo-op in which officials from multiple agencies used pruning shears and chainsaws to chop up stacks of banking regulations....To reverse course now, and seek expanded regulation, the administration would have to back down on its free-market ideology — and it would also have to face up to the fact that it was wrong. And this administration never, ever, admits that it made a mistake.

-Paul Krugman

Ah, yes, the free market will solve everything. Listen, the free market may weed out shady practices, but its method is inherently Darwinistic.

Let me explain: You have trapeze artists, and you want them to be the best so you take away their safety net. Your trapeze artists will be, on the average, better because all the bad ones will have fallen to their deaths. The problem is that when one trapeze artist makes a mistake, he or she harms not only other trapeze artists, but anyone who might happen to be underneath.