Posted 10/31/2002 12:03:00 PM by Ocean Guy
I want to come back to this and offer a more personal impression, but that will have to wait until I have a little more time. Thanks to the Instantman for the link to this interview with Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens' view of multi-culturalism's influence on the left deserves much more attention.

Though it is a risk to summarize Hitchens' carefully nuanced opinions, it is fair to say that he sees in the left's reaction to Sept. 11 a failure to understand a profound change in world relations — a failure that makes the left irrelevant. The old political conflicts — and the old paradigm of opposition — are largely fading, and they've been replaced by a global conflict of theocratic states or movements against secular states. A conflict between God and reason, perhaps, with Hitchens very much allied with the latter. And that is a natural position for a leftist, he says, but the left has become so mesmerized by multiculturalism that it will not criticize even those cultures that oppose freedom.

His mention of Political Correctness, also deserves attention.

Then there are things about the language. The great lesson Orwell taught me was the connection between the struggle over language and the struggle for freedom — for free thinking — and that you have to realize that so many traps lurk in the language so that a term like "collateral damage" I think would obviously be easy meat for him as a way of describing dead civilians. I'm impressed that when people hear phrases like that, they think of Orwell. But I think he would also object to people who say: "No war on or with Iraq." That's using language for propaganda also, in a very base and I think a very crude and obvious way.

Does it surprise you that that would happen on the left? Would it have surprised Orwell?

It certainly wouldn't have surprised him because his essay "Politics and the English Language" and his other reflections on this certainly do address themselves to power and the way that power distorts. And in particular most of his favorite examples are from what the French used to call the langue du bois, the wooden tongue, which I'm afraid to say we know under its more farcical pseudo-compassionate form of political correctness. It used to be better known as a language of thuggery used by the Communist left. Actually, a bit of both of these is involved in the witless slogan "no war with Iraq," or "no war on Iraq."

In telling us why he has become disillusioned with the left in America and why he left The Nation, Hitchins touches on so many feelings that influenced my change from Yellow Dog Democrat. I need to write more about that.

Posted 10/30/2002 01:26:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Thanks to Mark Lane for pointing me to the Subversive Intellectual Society's The Situation Room. There you will find an enlightening little note about the antiquated polling machines being used in NYC. The society also tells us that in the 2001 mayoral election in NYC there were more uncounted votes than in all of Florida in 2000. They link to a NYT article with the whole scoop. I'll be regularly enjoying visits to the The Situation Room despite the annoying choice of font and the black background . Give them a try

Posted 10/30/2002 01:02:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Jihad is defined by The London-based Islamist Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, leader of the Al-Muhajiroun movement, who describes himself as the principal lecturer at the "London School of Shari`ah." In the translation from MEMRI, he explains the 3 common mistaken meanings of "Jihad"

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad begins the article by rejecting three different but, in his view, equally mistaken interpretations of the term Jihad. These interpretations are: 1) that the purpose of Jihad is the forcible conversion of non-Muslims; 2) that its purpose is the establishment of an Islamic state; 3) that Jihad refers to the personal efforts of the individual to become "a model citizen in whatever society one finds oneself in." Having rejected all of these interpretations, he continues: "Rather, Jihad is the method adopted by Islam to protect land, honor and life and to save humanity from slavery to man-made regimes."

Sheikh Bakri argues that Jihad today should be understood and applied in a restricted sense. At the end of a long and repetitious presentation of the positions of eminent medieval Muslim scholars, Sheikh Bakri reaches the following conclusion: "The question of whether Jihad can be used to remove existing regimes is a relatively new issue which must be addressed. The Muslim Ummah has never before been in a position where we are divided into over 55 nations each with its own oppressive kufr [infidel] regime ruling above us. There is no doubt therefore that the vital issue for the Muslims today is to establish the Khilafah [caliphate].

Posted 10/29/2002 03:56:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Families ripped apart, lives lost, survivors' lives decimated by suicide bombers. What purpose have these murderous acts served?
The individual stories of all the lives affected by the senseless killings, only serve to make me more resolute in denying these terrorists any gratification at all. Anger, brought on by their disrespect for life only makes me certain that their cause cannot be just.

Still there are stories that inspire hope. There are a couple of them here. Stories like this of little Noam Hane:

Natanel Hane is the father of 2 1/2-year-old Noam whose liver was ripped open by the blast. Natti and three of his four children were riding in the family car in front of and to the left of the bomb vehicle. A jagged piece of metal the size of a football, perhaps part of the bomb itself, tore a wide trench through Hane's car's rear light, through the trunk, through the steel body of the car, and decimated the baby seat in which little Noam was sitting.

In what Noam's mother calls, "a huge miracle," the deadly projectile stopped at the baby seat, its jagged protrusion tearing into the toddler's liver, but going no further. Surgeons succeeded in sewing up Noam's liver, which is an organ that regenerates itself. Natti Hane, a former paratrooper who served in Lebanon, had experience in helping injured comrades. While the bus burst into flames beside them, Natti was able, as he put it, "to separate my emotions as a father from my intellect," and give his little daughter first aid.

Posted 10/29/2002 11:15:00 AM by Ocean Guy
During more than 3 years that I spent in and around the Persian Gulf Region the United States never considered Iran a friendly entity. It looks like that is beginning to change. It's a great sign if Iran is cooperating with the Iraqi Oil embargo. Positive news from Iran is becoming a regular occurance, and the difference between the government by mullah and the Iranian people is becoming clearer to the average American.

NITV, broadcasting from Los Angeles, is beaming Farsi language programming with freedom loving, Iranian pride as its focus. NITV, founded by Zia Atabay, the "Tom Jones of Iran," is a wildly successful venture, if making money isn't essential to a definition of success.

Everywhere you look you can find good news from Iran, I hope that trend continues.

Posted 10/25/2002 10:34:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Go see Israeli Guy and weigh in with your solution to the palestinian problem. Gil is giving up on comments for a while, so get yours in while he still has the patience to listen.

Posted 10/24/2002 03:45:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Moderate Islam Watch

From MEMRI:

Extremism Begins in Schools

"Following 9/11, all Muslim youth who fought with the Taliban were branded as extremists, although it is a known fact that the majority of them left their countries with the knowledge of their families and their governments. Their plunge into extremism was gradual, but we have to admit that it started out with [their] education and [their] social environment..."

"What are the religious and cultural components that those 'Arab Afghans' learned from their educational curriculum and religious environment? [What are the components] that molded their opinions and feelings and led them to abandon their families, cities, and lives, which seemed boring to them because they did not measure up to the religious culture that brainwashed them...?"

"We must realize that our children, teenagers, men, and women, are always exposed to a [distorted] religious culture that permits hatred of others. [We must realize] that there is some connection between the Islamic culture as reflected in the educational curriculum, at home, and in the neighborhood, and the culture that breeds religious fanaticism... [This Islamic culture] offers partial information, full of unjustified hatred towards other peoples' religions and cultures, as if those peoples do not do anything but plan wars against Muslims."

"The Western cultures, the Eastern cultures and their peoples [are described as] enemies of Muslims, and some of the fundamentalist preachers emphasize every Friday the evil deeds of those cultures and peoples... but when one of those preachers falls ill, his life is saved by a physician from the enemy camp [i.e. the West], and he takes medication developed and manufactured by that camp."

"No doubt that adopting this brand of religious culture will produce, at best, confused thoughts and mixed-up behavior towards others, some times to the point of having a split personality."

"Furthermore, [adopting this religious culture] results in conflicts between the religious directives that the individual receives, and civil society and modern human culture."

"This is why the migration of our youth to the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' did not seem to them extreme, but was an attempt to reconcile the religious culture that they absorbed and the ideal religious perception that was formed in their minds..."

Posted 10/23/2002 11:45:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Barbeque

As a Native North Carolinian, and a huge SEC football fan, this report in the NYT got my attention. Especially when a home town place is featured in the accompanying photo.

While war rages in Israel, while we debate probable war in Iraq, while India an Pakistan face-off, while diplomatic problems appear in every corner, I thought I'd take a little break and try to get some opinions from BBQ lovers on other issues. The debate may not be earth shattering, but it's a whole lot more fun.

Culinary authorities shed heat, if not necessarily light, on exactly the kinds of questions that baffle diplomats. Precisely where, for instance, is the border between Down East and Piedmont barbecue in North Carolina? That line proved every bit as difficult to define as the one between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.

Age-old questions were revisited: Wood or charcoal? Pork or beef (or mutton or goat)? Chopped or sliced? Sauce based on tomatoes, vinegar or mustard? Sauce on top, sauce on the side, or no sauce at all? And what about side dishes? Coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad, not much controversy there; but what about fries? Are they too tainted by McDonald's?

Well right off the bat I see an oversight... What about Brunswick Stew? Corn Sticks, corn bread, biscuits or toast? Whatever the arguement it's a pleasure to have such multi-cultural, multi-ethnic debate. BBQ not Kosher, you say? Well...

Mr. Trillin argued that even the most observant of his fellow Jews could feel free to eat barbecued pork because of a little-known "easement" granted by the equally little-known Joplin (Mo.) Rebbe. But it was left to Marcie Cohen Ferris, a young scholar who grew up near Memphis, to disclose, less facetiously, that an Orthodox congregation there has held a kosher barbecue for the last 14 years, and that Corky's BBQ Restaurant has nearly perfected a kosher sauce.

So take a stand.... Beef or Pork ?? Sliced, chopped, or pulled? Sauce ?? Sides ?? And what's the best way to wash it down ?? Swee'tea or beer? I want to know!

Posted 10/22/2002 03:24:00 PM by Ocean Guy
If this interview with a leader of the Islamic Jihad gives you any hope for peace between Israel and the palestinians, then please tell me how.

Where is the Palestinian uprising, the Intifada heading, at the beginning of its third year?

The Palestinian people are realizing more now than ever before, that resistance, unity and the dismissal of all so-called “peace agreements” should be our strategy. Returning to negotiations and dialogue with the enemy will get us nowhere. We have no other option but to remain united and to stick to the option of resistance and to cancel all the agreements that have been signed. Our people have already dropped any hope of going back to negotiations. Our people have learned from the experience of past years and will no longer be betting on such solutions, negotiations or Arab Summits; (our people) will not allow anyone to compromise on their rights.

I ought to mention here that I have read some of the biographies of Zionist leaders who have admitted that they have thought on many occasions of lifting their arms and surrendering. But they were always surprised that the Arabs had surrendered first. This is why we hope that the Intifada will continue. The experience of the Palestinian resistance, especially during these times, proves that we have strong will and a vision; enough to carry us throughout the struggle. However, what is needed from all (Palestinian) factions is doubling their efforts in support of the Palestinian people, and strengthening its steadfastness in acquiring a clear strategy of resistance. We also call on Arab and Muslim nations to support us during this battle. They have to remember that our defeat is the defeat of the Arab World as a whole.

Posted 10/17/2002 05:33:00 PM by Ocean Guy
This made me angry.

Posted 10/17/2002 05:26:00 PM by Ocean Guy
How will Muhammad Dahlan's comments play in the Palestinian Press? MEMRI has a translation of an interview with him that was reported in the London-based Arabic daily, Al-Hayat. Most interesting is:

"[Dahlan] revealed that following the events of September 11, he sent a report to President Arafat suggesting that 'we leave the Intifada behind us. The Intifada is the means, not the purpose... We should have turned it into a popular Intifada and stopped the armed activity, but we didn't, because we don't have the courage, as a leadership, to do so.'"

"After he said that the Palestinian people is 'a mob that opts to extremism and rejection,' Dahlan added: 'The Palestinian leadership must force its decisions on the people, in some issue, even if it has to use a stick.' He said that Ben Gurion, 'the most important statesman in the history of the Israeli state, agreed to the establishment of a state without Jerusalem, just in order to establish a [political] entity and then to strengthen it. He agreed to resolution 181, made the decision, and announced the establishment of Israel, even though many Israelis objected to that. We can force a [certain] faction to stop launching mortar shells, because the Israelis are bulldozing 200 dunums in response. Had Arafat declared a state without Jerusalem, he would have been labeled 'a traitor,' even by the Fatah.'"

"Dahlan added: 'The Palestinian leadership missed no opportunity to make mistakes... The Palestinian people has the peculiar ability to die a martyr's death and to [be] steadfast. There are two streams in the PA: Those who say the people can suffer and [are] steadfast, and those who say the people has collapsed. Both are wrong. The people can suffer if its sacrifice will be politically rewarded.'"

Also, fighting words for Hamas:

"'We were soft on Hamas. They caused us problems with the Americans and the Israelis and after all this they treat us as if we were idiots. They burnt down police stations and said: 'the people burnt them down.' We will get the people out [on the street] to burn all the Hamas centers down.'"

Posted 10/14/2002 09:23:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Coming home from Ramallah, by Zev Roth.

Posted 10/14/2002 09:16:00 AM by Ocean Guy
John Leo has written about the way that palestinian/ Muslim "certification" as a victimized poeple by the PC elite is causing problems for Jews on college campuses across the country. Is it a Campus Hate Parade?

An op-ed writer at The Detroit News asked, "When did anti-Semitism lose its seat on the bus of political correctness?" He meant, why doesn't the PC culture protect Jews? The answer is that seats on the PC bus are reserved for certified victim groups, but Jews don't count. They have been historical victims for centuries, but they are doing too well in America to qualify as officially aggrieved. And as Muslims have been welcomed into the grievance culture, the status of Jews on campus, the stronghold of PC, has become problematic.

Posted 10/10/2002 08:57:00 AM by Ocean Guy
The debate on attacking Iraq has been unremarkable because of the simplicity of the arguments being presented. The traditional media treats us as if we are incapable of understanding any complex issue. Has our collective attention span been reduced to 10 second intervals?

One of the issues involved in any action in Iraq is addressed by Senator Bob Graham in today's Miami Herald. Graham, rightly wants more attention focused on groups like Hezbollah, and less tunnel vision on Saddam Hussein. Graham warns us that action in Iraq will inflame the region and make attacks on Americans at home more likely. His warning should be heeded.

But Graham said that many members of Congress and the administration are fixated on Hussein as ''the one evil'' while overlooking threats from ''the sleepers among us, waiting for an assault.'' And he predicted that threat will increase if the United States does go ahead and invade Iraq.

''If you reject that, [and say] that the American people are not going to be at an additional threat, then basically, to use a term, the blood is going to be on your hands,'' Graham told the Senate.

He said he favored more actions by the FBI ''to rout out terrorists among us'' and would support military actions against terrorist training camps in Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

The five groups he named -- Hezbollah, Hamas, the Abu Nidal group, the Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Palestine Liberation Front -- have not launched attacks in the United States.

But Graham said that Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has killed Americans in the Middle East for 20 years and has cells in the United States ready to strike.

''I will defy anybody to say that Iraq meets those standards. We're not talking about a threat 90 days from now,'' Graham said.

``We're not talking about a threat that may come a year from now if nuclear material is made available. I'm talking about a threat that could happen this afternoon.''

I'm thankful I was wrong about a September invasion of Iraq, but I still think the action will be necessary. The President, so far has been taking the right steps, but too many seek a quick solution that will never come about.

Critics argue that America has a bad record in helping foreign governments with insurrections or revolutions. Where they are wrong is in making the comparisons to situations in South America, where America chose expedient methods to oppose our rival in a bi-polar world. The true correlation ought to be with our efforts in changing regimes in Japan and Germany and helping democracy get started. The right solution will be a long-term, expensive endeavor more like the latter. If the 'expedient' route is chosen, I'm afraid we are doomed for failure.

The issue on attacking Iraq is extremely complex, and deserves a complete open and honest debate. At least we have a leader in the White House who is trying to frame the debate instead of a follower of opinion polls who had no courage to take an unpopular stand. Still , the debate must go on. We should embrace it and contribute the best way we can. But let's hear the entire debate... It cannot be reduced to sound bites.

Posted 10/08/2002 09:46:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Moderate Islam Watch

ONe Arab joournalist writes an article saying that suicide bombers have caused grave damage to the palestinian cause, another Arab journalist writes a column questioning Arab support for Sadaam Hussein and both are threatened with expulsion from the Arab Journalists Association. Was this so bad?:

"What is the reason for this unprecedented campaign in the Arab world in defense of Saddam Hussein," al-Mawri wrote.

He noted that only a few Iraqis benefited from the Baghdad regime, which he blamed for many disasters which have plagued the Iraqi people over the past 25 years.

"The present Iraqi regime has proven its failure in using its massive power and abundant resources for the comfort of the Iraqi people," al Mawri wrote.

"Saddam has succeeded in turning his people from one of the richest in the Third World to one of the poorest. The Iraqi people's condition is so bad that some families had to throw their sons into the sea when they were denied political asylum in Australia. Why are Iraqis anyway thinking of emigrating? Isn't it because of the injustice they are experiencing at the hands of the Iraqi authorities."

Posted 10/07/2002 12:40:00 PM by Ocean Guy
This next phase of the Arab-Israeli conflict pits Hamas against the palestinian Authority. Hamas is just as brutal with their Arab brothers as they are with Israelis.

Gunmen disguised as police officers kidnapped the chief of the Palestinian riot police Monday and killed him with at least 10 shots in an apparent revenge attack blamed on members of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The car of the police chief, Col. Rajeh Abu Lehiya, was intercepted at a fake checkpoint set up by the assailants, police said.

Posted 10/06/2002 09:29:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Jeff Jacoby makes some sense of the debate on bi-lingual education.

The enemies of English-immersion will say anything to discredit those who press for reform. At a rally at the Massachusetts State House this week, Question 2 was denounced by the president of the state AFL-CIO as "hateful and spiteful;" Ron Unz, the California businessman who has been the moving force behind these ballot measures, was compared by the head of the Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce to a Nazi. The thuggishness of such "arguments" says much about what the bilingual industry has become and the lengths to which it will go to protect its empire. If I were Hispanic, there is nothing I would want more than to see that empire dismantled

Posted 10/02/2002 01:09:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Meet Ari Weiss: Texan, Israeli, brother, son...... gone.

Posted 10/01/2002 10:40:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by in the past few days while I've been busy elsewhere. At the moment I'm in the land of Sliflay Hraka on some family business. I've been intrigued by the Senate campaign commercials here in the Tarheel state. Bowles' ads portray Dole as a meanie who only carees about big business and Dole's ads label Bowles as a tax and spend liberal interesting.