Posts from — September 2006

Dot Filling In

Sox needed a break so I’m temping as shoe guard.

[Editor: It was quite unusual to look over and see Dot down there. Sox occupies that spot almost continuously when I’m on the computer.]

Friday Ark

Why didn’t someone vet this: Muslim anger grows at Pope speech

In his speech at Regensburg University, the German-born Pope explored the historical and philosophical differences between Islam and Christianity, and the relationship between violence and faith.

Stressing that they were not his own words, he quoted Emperor Manual II Paleologos of the Byzantine Empire, the Orthodox Christian empire which had its capital in what is now the Turkish city of Istanbul.

The emperor’s words were, he said: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

Benedict said “I quote” twice to stress the words were not his and added that violence was “incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul”.

Only the Pope knows why he chose to quote a 14^th Century Christian emperor who was engaged in a conflict with Muslims. He could have quoted the 13^th Century Christian emperor, Alexios III Angelos, who lived under Muslim protection before becoming emperor and watched Crusaders attack Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade.

The real problem is that Muslims get very nervous about Papal statements concerning the Middle East and Islam. There is a lot of history between the Papacy and Islam to overcome, so any misstep is magnified.

The BBC tells us that the US Iran report branded dishonest:

The letter went on to brand “outrageous and dishonest” a suggestion in the report that he was removed for not adhering “to an unstated IAEA policy barring IAEA officials from telling the whole truth” about Iran.

The letter, sent to Peter Hoekstra, head of the House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Intelligence, was aimed at setting “the record straight on the facts”, the IAEA said.

“This is a matter of the integrity of the IAEA and its inspectors,” spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in a statement.

A Western diplomat called it “deja vu of the pre-Iraq war period”.

The IAEA and the US clashed over intelligence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war in Iraq in March 2003.

You invade one little country by distorting all of the intelligence and they never let you forget. Nag, nag, nag.

The BBC item said she succumbed to cancer yesterday.

She has a pretty good Wikipedia entry, but the real fun was listening to her. She had the ability to produce memorable quotes on her feet in front of a crowd of any size.

The reason Natalie Maines exists as the outspoken person she is, is because of the example of Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, and Molly Ivins: the ladies of Texas.

Our pencil box runneth over. You might think there was a factory in Iraq producing Number 2s.

Anarcho-capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism (also known by several other names, e.g. private property anarchism) is an individualist political philosophy that advocates stateless capitalism and the provision of all goods and services—including systems of jurisdiction, law enforcement, and territorial defence—by the free market. Anarcho-capitalists argue that a pure free market system, based on justly-acquired private property, would maximise individual liberty and prosperity. For them, the only just way to acquire property is through trade, gift, or original appropriation. Anarcho-capitalism rejects the state as an aggressive entity that steals property through taxation, initiates physical force, uses its coercive powers to benefit some businesses and individuals at the expense of others, creates monopolies, and restricts trade.

Notice any familiar themes or practices? Privilege is derived from the Latin meaning “private law.”

The season has been a good one so far for the Gulf Coast vis-à-vis hurricanes, but wetter than normal which points to the “Baby Boy.” Yes, El Niño is back to mess with the weather for the next year. Normal weather is now defined as normal during an El Niño, wet for me, mild winter in the Northeast, and drought in the center of the country.

It also means high than normal wind shear over the Atlantic, so a reduced threat of hurricanes.

Florence had a glancing hit on Bermuda and Gordon is staying in the central Atlantic. Tropical Depression 8, that will become Helene might bother the Atlantic coast, but there isn’t much action in the Gulf. We need the break, and will put up the mold, mildew, and mushrooms.

Pierre at Candide’s Notebooks feels that the government reaction to “terrorism” has gone From Solemn To Embarrassing. He offers his view of the future for airline travelers.

R. Neal has a nice piece on Bayou la Batre over at Facing South.

It’s a little Gulfside town that made its money by shrimping and fishing. The people aren’t rich, but they felt they had a pretty good life based on what Nature offered them in the Gulf of Mexico.

This is one of the many places the Shrubbery didn’t want to go on his Katrina tour. Not much has happened since the storm, and the Federal government prevented the fishermen from digging a canal to retrieve their boats from the inland area where the storm surge carried them. A year later and almost two dozen large vessels are still in the woods inland.

CNN’s article, Bush’s 9/11 speech sparks bitter partisan squabbles, actually leads with the Democratic response and some fairly straight forward reporting.

A real surprise is over at MSNBC which carries a Newsweek opinion piece by Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey: Patriotism or Politics?

The White House promised a non-political speech. Bush’s aides said the president’s address to the nation would exploit no partisan differences, and issue no calls to Congress. In technical terms, they were right. To all intents and purposes, they were wrong.

It looks like the Kool-Aid is losing its effect.

Update: more along this line from Digby.

If you haven’t already, you should head over to STOP George’s Kos diary for the wide angle lens view of a couple of photo ops. [via Steve Gilliard]

I was really thrilled by the Shrubbery wiping his feet on the flag.

As long as you’re cruising you can read Laura Rozen on the Washington Post piece about CIA agents lawyering up on the taxpayers’ dime.

Why are we, the citizens, reimbursing our employees for the cost of their legal defense for breaking our laws? If they want this kind of help they should join a union.

Atrios handed out a “wanker” based on David Sirota finding fault with the use of “some” by “the junkie” and Marshall Wittman. Sirota thinks they should name names if “some people” are saying these things.

Actually a lot of international polling is showing that a majority of people around the world believe that the United States is a bigger threat than al Qaeda, so there probably are a few people in the United States who believe that. I would doubt that any of those people are talking around Limbaugh or Wittman, so it must be the “terrorist cab drivers” of Conrad Burns.

Is there anyone who thinks that the College of Cardinals would elect an avowed atheist Pope?

That would appear to be an absurd question with an obvious answer, but let’s shift the context. Why would people give the reins of the US government to people who don’t believe in government?

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The Australian reports that Xinhua moves to tighten censorship:

XINHUA, Beijing’s official news agency, has issued rules demanding international counterparts censor news and information distributed in China and barring them from dealing directly with local clients.

…

Sunday’s ban on the distribution of any agency content that “harms China’s national security or honour” or “disturbs the Chinese economy or social order” matches other recent moves by Beijing to tighten media censorship.

Let’s be absolutely clear that this story has nothing, nada, zip to do with the fact that MSNBC just axed Altercation, its blog by Eric Alterman.

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