Here's what
I read this morning, after attempting to ignore the distraction ('omg they're lynching Newsweek, and the press, in general!') that the press is throwing up onto the news cycle, hoping it'll stick:
Newsweek Editor Mark Whitaker said the magazine had already explained in this week's issue that the military has special guidelines for handling the Koran. He also questioned the administration's sharp rhetoric, saying: "Are they making the story in the Arab street that the administration is trying to silence reporters about these sensitive issues, and is that going to keep the unrest going?"
Look, idiots, it's not about the press or about what the White House says about the press. I pointedly ignored commenting on Whitaker's opening line of his Editor's Desk piece yesterday that everyone's calling a "retraction" because it's self-vindicating ("Did a report in NEWSWEEK set off a wave of deadly anti-American riots in Afghanistan?" Who, us? No, we're reporters, once it's written it's not our responsibility what happens to it.)
Even the sans-headed chickens on AirAmerica were talking about it. Now, I'm forced to address this sound and fury w/o meaning. Hi. You people are missing the point. It's nice you want to have a debate about ethics in journalism. For journalists, it's topic number one ('Are we being repressed, is our self-proclaimed title as defender of an amendment of the constitution being tarnished?') - yes #1, not "#2, after the truth" - it's journalists' self importance. I'm aware that this discussion's going to take place as a subtext to everything. Oh, hand on forehead, yes, the poor, maligned, under-assault press. Give me a break. That's the role they've taken, heaped upon themselves. They're legally protected dissent. Being covered in the muck they rake is their birthright and we're constantly reminded of what a burden it is to bear.
Secondly, if the US government's attempting to fan the flames of media self-hate in order to distract from the US military's actions (unconfirmed and pussyfooted about by Newsweek, of course) that's a second slap of complicity. Duh, the US military's got some definiate issues to discuss on the couch with themselves about how they handle the ripples/waves/tsunamis their actions may cause, but pretending the megaphone (press) is the root issue isn't cutting it. I can only imagine what the foreign press is thinking about this - American media masturbates and licks wounds while American government points and laughs at them, conveniently ignoring the damage caused. War on Terror my ass.
Thirdly, let me make something eminently clear: Desecrating a holy book won't break anyone but yourself, foo. It's some paper with some words on it to most people. Christians don't regard it highly, nor Jews. That's self-evident. So there're
reports and other
reports of detainees/Qur'ans being wrapped in Israeli flags, detainees being smeared with fake menstrual blood, detainees being kicked in the head when praying. That may make you feel like
Lundy Ugly but muslims, having read history, not to mention those detainees who took up arms without a uniform, know that abuses of them and their religion will happen. It's not something surprizing or unexpected. It's not something that'll break their resolve or their religious belief. Embarassment isn't torture, people, no matter what the PC and moral relativist crowd might think. Embarassment is, though, like on the playground, something that bounces off of me and sticks to you. Unfortunately, in this case, I'm an American, so Lundy Ugly and the wookiefighting that the press is doing with themselves and all the stupid tactics used by the military to "break" detainees sticks right back on me/us and Americans look like the dunderheads.
"Last Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told us that a review of the probe cited in our story showed that it was never meant to look into charges of Qur'an desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them "not credible." Our original source later said he couldn't be certain about reading of the alleged Qur'an incident in the report we cited, and said it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts. Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we. But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst."
From
The Editor's Desk, Mark Whitaker, Newsweek
Hedged caving truly is our media's national art.
Dawn & Drew's
100th Podcast
A little celebration of the previous shows and congradulatory comments.
I haven't heard all of their podcasts, but with 100 episodes of Dawn & Drew's interaction as a public slice of a couple's relationship, it's much more poignant than any scritped dramedy on tv. They're in stark contrast to Nick & Jessica's MTV "reality" interaction - Dawn & Drew are much more real - or at least much more poopie-pants-mouthed - and I invite them into my home. Thanks, Dawn & Drew for sharing your bits (of life) with the rest of us.
Rip & Read - 05/11
#110 and 05/12
#111
I'm a fan of Mr. Rodgers's nom de guerre Charlie Quidnunc (Latin for "what's up?" or "what's news?"). Some shows are about news I've heard or I don't think are terribly exciting (such as #110), but it's always neat to hear what his net's pulled in. One person I'm not a fan of is Dave Winer for some comments he made about NeXT - for which I have a special place in my heart - years ago as well as his insistence on LCD for the masses (pushing xml-rpc, rss, and soap). It's petty, I'm aware. I don't listen to his podcast or read his blog, so take that as you will. There's apparently a difference between passion and being opinionated and also being arrogant. I don't think a town hall style panel meeting was invented by Winer. The clip of Winer being petulant at
BlogNashville and the blog responses to the event made me feel not vindicated, but embarassed. With civility as a topic it's behavior, not past achievements, that make one's reputation. Thanks Charlie.
Evil Genius Chronicles,
05/11
Slusher typifies the predominant variant of podcasts that what people normally think about when describing a podcast - the audio blog. Mixing music into podcasts is a good thing, especially for this sort of low-production, no-edit, lo-fi, from the heart subgenre of podcasts. Three songs, I think. Paragraph markers. Some sort of theme, I'm not sure. Almost every podcast has at least one theme, expressed or not - the a/v geek theme. It's not really a choice. Being a podcaster means you're born this way - you've got to interact with audio and specific audio applications and it inevitably leads to talking about the frustrations and successes. With his extensive radio background, hearing small frustrations are almost disingenuous if it weren't for what people listen for when spinning up a podcast and what makes him a darling of podcast creators: a guy, a microphone, dialog talking to you and not at you, and dedication. This type of podcasting points directly back to the medium and meaning of blogs and the blogging phenomena. Slusher, to me, represents this early creator arc. I'd have to listen more and constantly to really be able to make a connection back.
Tracks Up A Tree,
05/11 Promote Brooklyn
Funtime Ben's podcast is one of my favorites and I always enjoy listening to them. First off, this podcast is sort of like Reel Reviews, in that he plays music that means something to him and makes that connection via his commentary. There's a bit of direction down this path. This is more of a music-radio-like podcast than an audio blog show. His musical taste is similar to mine and it's always a successful treasure hunt. For example,
Ageless Beauty by a band from Canadia,
Stars, of their 3rd album,
Set Yourself On Fire. Italian hand kisses. Perfecto.
"They're also keeping their eyes on who's playing paintball. Paintball is mentioned in Canada's only arrest under new anti-terrorism legislation." -
Al-Qaeda said to favour Canadian Recruits, myTelus
Full text of Bill C-36, Canada's Anti-Terrorism Bill (pdf)
I did a brief for the operation in
Fallujah, and here's one for
Matador near the border of Syria, that's much more in depth.
As a refresher of
previous post, May 9, Newsweek reported gitmo interrogators ''had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet." Clever tactic to gain some captive's attention, right? A beating or stress position'd probably be better for that (really, go for a slow burn of a photo of their relatives).
Due to that report, there've been days of violent protest in Afghanistan and outcries elsewhere, showing that Muslims care more about the desecration of a Qur'an than a detainee does. Demonstrations were held in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan - which later turned violent/deadly with 16 dying and 100+ injured - and spread to other parts of Afghanistan (Ghazni province, Badakhshan province, and the city of Gardez) [
map of .af] and in Yemen, Gaza Strip, Pakistan, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
'If proven that this happened, then we will strongly ask the American government to put on trial and punish whoever is the culprit," Afghan President Hamid Karzai said during a press conference. He also said that the inciters of the violence in his country were a foreign element. I've argued that prosecution and trial won't quiet the anger aroused by actions alleged by Newsweek.
The 57-nation
Organization of the Islamic Conference said the report had enraged hundreds of millions of Muslims and ''affirmed that such practices would only inflame and fuel the religious sentiments and provide fanatics and extremists with excuses to disseminate their ideas and justify their acts of violence and terrorism. The Secretary-General also requested the concerned American authorities to bring the culprits to justice, to take measures which would appease the enraged sentiments of the Muslim world" [
full statement, 05/13/2005]
A Pakistani muslim organization, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), is calling for a
worldwide day of protest on May 27 over this incident.
"At the Pentagon, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the rioting in Afghanistan could be related to domestic Afghan politics. A State Department official, who requested anonymity, said the demonstrations in Pakistan were being manipulated by Al-Qaida supporters in retaliation for last week's arrest in Pakistan of Abu Farraj al-Libbi, identified as a senior Al-Qaida leader, along with 10 other suspected terrorists.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday that U.S. officials "share and understand" Muslim concerns. "Disrespect for the holy Qur'an is something that the United States will never tolerate," he told reporters.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week that the military was investigating the allegations that American interrogators desecrated the Qur'an. She said if they "are proven true, we will take appropriate action."
[
Washington Post,
Union Leader / LA Times]
More as it goes down...
Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything,
TOE #21: The Island
Mr. Walker’s phrasing and his stories are engaging, this one’s dreamlike: crackhead stalkers, prescient daughters, crazy professors and cricket-croquet, slum studies, flying poop, and the rituals of prison urine. Are his stories real? The sequence and embellishments make mystery very appealing.
Also, an interesting reflection on how selfishness is the operative element in all relationships – for everyone’s benefit.
A call to the Caruso Island Agency to buy an island closes out this segment.
This morning on the radio I heard some excerpts from a
conversation [NPR "U.S. Soldiers Try to Bridge Cultural, Military Divide in Iraq," Philip Reeves] of a US Soldier speaking to an Iraqi in English, chastising him for ripping a newspaper in his face, presumably as a gesture of defiance. The Iraqi man was speaking back in Arabic. The Soldier paused from his scolding to comment to the recording reporter about how what he's doing is effecting cultural exchange and if they (the military) don't keep up this sort of interaction, neither one of them (the military or the Iraqis) will understand each other. Um, Staff Seargent? They don't understand you and you don't understand them. That's very clear. "We're trying to help you... we're doing the right thing." Props, but it's not that easy.
Then, there's this:
Gitmo: SouthCom Showdown, Newsweek and the resultant
Afghan Protest over Quran Turns Deadly, Washington Post. Apart from the enemy combatant issue (ie not being w/i the scope of the Geneva Convention), doing things like flushing the Quran down the toilet to get a rise from detainees is not only pointless, it has repercussions in the "moderate" muslim sphere. Personally, it makes it harder for me to justify the ends via these means. It makes it even more difficult than it already is to explain my positions on why projection of American intent in a predominantly muslim area of the world is justified. If this is the views muslims are given, it's very easy to see how the American military is incorrect. If the only opposing views muslims are given are bleeding heart, socialist, Canadian NGOs, it's a travesty to an American cause.
When the Abu Ghraib incidents happened, I was of the opinion that prosecution by the military would be an example of how rule of law is implemented - abuses of power are acknowledged and punished within the system. The conclusion would be that there are idiots but that an organized system can do something about it. Additionally, it was mistreatment of individuals which, no matter how many pictures are taken, is a reality of our world.
I don't read any positive effects -- or even positive spin -- of how American organizational constructs are effecting Iraq or Afghanistan. There's a new government in Iraq, sure, yet our own leftists decry it as a puppet government and that trickles down to the Iraqi people. Both the Afghanis and Iraqis are tolerating the US military - where's the external organization promoting the benefits of building a stable state? The military's scope on promoting the US can only be decried as "disinformation." Organizations that promote an appealing version of democracy to the middle east while acknowledging the strides in political change over the years in that region are non existent, leaving as an exercise for the reader to weave some sort of positive effects from scattered reports.
Without some sort of actual external framework to win the peace, there will be no peace and the people supporting the concept will cease to exist.
A report's soon to be issued by
US SouthCom on events at gitmo. For this incident, legal proceedings aren't going to be enough to assuage level headed people. The military or the government's going to have to make some sort of gesture tantamount to a religious apology.
The President made some comment that the events of Abu Ghraib don't reflect the attitude of the American people. That was enough for something that can be conceived as being an isolated incident. To miss this PR opportunity will be tantamount to an overt converse gesture and will fan the flames of the notion that this is just a modern Crusade.
The apology should not be made by
Army Lt. General William G. Boykin who's on record as saying:
- "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." - with regards to a Muslim warlord in Somalia. [Sir, it's the same God.]
- "We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been raised for such a time as this," Boykin said wrt the War on Terror, 2002.
Sunday's a day to catch up on podcasts. Some of these are very old, so don't sue me.
Michael Geoghegan's
review of
The Conversation. Geoghegan's great, he really tries to explain why the movie he's reviewing's fascinating, the nuances and the background that make him so interested in the film. That's extrordinary. His reviews have that dynamic ability to show him seeing the film, so it's a completely earnest and personal perspective. Also listened to his
review of
The Filth and the Fury, a documentary about the Sex Pistols. I don't have any interest in the Sex Pistols, but I really appreciate the summary and the history. There're a few for my Blockbuster queue. (
Blowup,
The Conversation)
Dawn & Drew epsiode #
78. Bad teeth, iPods, Anal sex, and black licorice, what else needs to be said?
I signed up for a 4 week trial of Blockbuster online three days ago and received my first movies yesterday and today. Three days isn't so bad; apparently there's a distribution center in Denver (one of the original 10) so the time to send/recieve should be tolerable. I think I'll be able to anticipate wanting to watch a movie 3 days prior, but I'll keep watch.
I saw I Heart Huckabees with Jack and Amanda yesterday and found it to be a scattered and sophomoric pseudophilosophical (ie, trying to be too smart) plot with an ensemble cast. They used Jason Schwartzman to the proper effect, though. He was exactly the right combination of alternative eager, as per Rushmore. Whee. I watched most of About A Boy tonight (scenes 15-19 of 20 were scratched) and decided that were I 1) rich, 2) in England, and 3) looked like Hugh Grant, that's exactly what my life would be like right now, scratches and all (he finds happiness, but the crucial scenes where he experiences the turn around - flawed!).
Blockbuster, if you're keeping score, you suck since 50% of the movies I've watched (33% of the ones I've received) have been scratched or “unwatchable,” according to your website. (Don't worry, Blockbuster, dear, you've got weeks to make it up to me.) I have American Chai for later on.
I returned Huckabees today, so we'll see how quickly the next one on my list, Talaye Sorkh, arrives. I'm still looking for something that'll rss/xml/export my queue, so I can share it with other people. If anyone comes across something, please let me know.
Movies, I'm starting to think, are like little 2 hour books, but not really - only in the way that they're engrossing. They're, at the very least, a way to soak up an annoying spot of time that's lying about. I've been meaning to catch up on a list of movies I haven't seen, but it's bittersweet - at some point, my list won't overlap with anyones. I suppose it'll be back to venturing outside into movie theaters!
She's on vacation tomorrow until the 16th and it couldn't've come sooner. Except, today, all day, she's been talking and talking and talking. I absolutely loathe listening to music when I work - I like it quiet - since I find it very distracting yet, today, I have earbuds firmly (not firmly enough, really) in my ears attempting to control the constant innundation of loggarhea coming from just over my cube wall. Yes, everyone knows that you're going on vacation, it's for your birthday, you think Oprah's great (dispite what she whispers), your husband coaches volleyball, you've been married 38 years, you love flowers, you love even more giving out advice, and you love even more than that if the advice is about flowers. Shut up, seriously. Work? Do some. If you're going on vacation tomorrow, do not use today as a little launching pad.
I hate working in a cubefarm.
“I've done all I can do, I'm disgusted” - Overheard comment on the state of refridgerator affairs. I'm wondering, who put her in charge of the refridgerator / break area of the 2nd floor of this building, in this state? Poor rest of [Unnamed Federal Agency] who have to deal with her e-mail zingers of frustration.
Yesterday, she went on a loudly whispered rant about how “power corrupts absolutely and all that” with regards to... ready?.. Oprah. Yes, that's right, Oprah: “She's dangerous.” This was a whispered conversation. Fear not, her conspiratorial blaspheme extendes to one Miss Marth Stewart as well. Brought up as an example of unChristian behavior, Stewart is a prime example of what happens vis a vis “Power“ and the subsequent fall. “Oprah, she's just dangerous.”
Someone do a preemptive HarpoLand Security alert before the e-mails start flying!