UnClogger

"Re-coronated"!

2004-11-07T14:10:00.000-08:00

In my last entry, dated October 30, was I really being prescient or just waggish when I suggested that Bush would be back? In all honesty, by 1:30 am on the 3rd I was feeling stunned and confused, so it's all very hard to figure out.

One thing the purple map got me to ponder after I began feeling more composed about the results was the rather remarkable closeness of it all. As Obama rightly put it, "there are no red states and blue states, just the United States" of highly dubious citizens. Just the other day, I overheard this young MIT student say to a friend on her cellphone: "Everyone's giving me shit about not voting, but I really don't know anything about the candidates"

Don't know anything? Where the fuck have you been for the past year, lady? And you're in one of the top 3 schools in the country in liberal Massachusetts?? This drives me crazy.

Now, about Osama. If that were really to happen, it would spook me out...

A "little gift" for the Bushies

2004-10-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

Osama's latest production has caused a bit of a flurry among the Bush team, who called it a little gift"
.

Is it? It is excellent timing, for one thing, coming just after the Al-Qaqaa story broke and 4 days before the election. How's this for a bet? Osama will be "caught" within a month after Bush is re-coronated. Give or take a few weeks.

Perhaps the CIA is still training him.

Bold enough to challenge the God-men!

2004-10-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

An excellent post in the dailyhowler showing Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC challenging basic mantras of the Christian right.

Nuisance Fuisance!

2004-10-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

Bush indicated last night that Kerry's interest in reducing terrorism to the status of a nuisance is "dangerous", but isn't his hyping terror into something to fear worse?

Let me explain. As most sane observers have pointed out, terrorism is generally not the grand vision of some large empire-builders or civilization-gone-wild, which is what Cheney wants us to believe, but the work of a small gang of determined thugs. This is as true of 9/11 as the IRA attacks and the work of Red Army Faction and Irgun . With the right policies and police-action to counter them, the political power of these groups will very likely wane; of course, some idiots will probably persist, but they will be marginalized and rendered no more than a "nuisance."

Speaking of which, we've got over 40,000 deaths a year in the US alone from motor accidents -- that ought to be considered a nuisance of sorts, n'est-ce pas, since we don't pay much attention?

Juan Cole is piqued

2004-06-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, Juan Cole wrote a brilliant polemic against some planned protests by the American Jewish Congress who were evidently trying to associate the wearing of Islamic inscriptions on graduation robes with the endorsement of terrorism. Here is a long section in which Cole describes the shahadah:

The shahadah or confession of faith is a universalist statement. It begins by saying "La ilaha illa Allah." "La" means "no" in Arabic. "Ilah" is god with a small "g", a deity of the sort that is worshipped in polytheistic religions like those of ancient Greece and Babylon. It is a cognate of the ancient Hebrew "eloh," which also means "god." One of the names for God in the oldest parts of the Hebrew Bible is Elohim, which literally means "the Gods." Some scholars believe that the use of this plural is an echo of the process whereby a council of gods in ancient Near Eastern religion gradually become merged into a single figure, the one God.

So "La ilaha" means that there are no gods or small deities of the polytheistic sort. The ancient Arabs worshipped star-goddesses such as al-Lat, al-Uzza, and Manat. These are the equivalents of Venus, Hera and Diana in classical mythology. The Muslim witness to faith denies that such deities exist.

"Illa Allah" means "except for God." So there is no deity except The Deity. This part of the shahadah is a pure expression of monotheism. Monotheism's basic characteristic is its universalism. It asserts that one, single divinity underlies all of Being. This point is why it is wrong to insist on using the word Allah in English rather than God. Allah is not a proper name. It is simply the Arabic word for "the God." A god is ilahun. The God is al-Ilahu. The close proximity of two "L's" in al-Ilah caused them to be elided together so that the word became Allah. But it just means "the God," i.e., "God." Christian Arabic-speakers also use Allah to refer to the God of the Bible.

And, the Koran also identifies Allah or "God" as the God of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Moses, David, John the Baptist and Jesus, as well as of Muhammad. So, "there is no God but God." There is no difference in sentiment between this statement and the phrase, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." (Dt. 6:4).

The other part of the Muslim witness to faith is, "and Muhammad is His Messenger." (Muhammadun rasul Allah [or, transliterating by pronunciation: Muhammadu'rasulu'llah]. The word rasul or messenger is used interchangeably in the Koran with nabi or prophet. The Arabic nabi is cognate to the Hebrew word, which is the same. When Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country," he certainly used the word nabi in his original phrasing. The Koran does not represent Muhammad as the only prophet or recipient of divine revelation. Even the bees receive a form of wahy or revelation from God. God has sent a prophet "to every city," it maintains. Not only are all the biblical figures prophets, but so are John the Baptist and Jesus, and even ancient Arabian prophets are accepted. In India, many Sufi Muslims were perfectly comfortable accepting Krishna and Ram as prophets. Of course, committed Muslims believe that Muhammad is the most recent messenger and the most appropriate one in which to believe, but they don't deny the validity of others such as Moses. And, in traditional Islamic law, it is perfectly all right for human beings to follow other prophets of the one God, whether they be Christians, Jews or members of some other monotheistic religion. This tolerance was implemented for the most part, though there were lapses, and some serious ones. It can be contrasted with medieval Christianity, which often expelled Jews and Muslims or forcibly converted them.

So both elements of the confession of faith in Islam are universalistic. The one God is the God of all being, and Muhammad as prophet exists within a moral universe of many prophets, and comes in a long line of true prophets, with much the same message as they had, concerning the compassion and love of the one God for his creation.

As for the phrase, "Increase my knowledge, " it is literally "increase me in knowledge and make me one of the virtuous." The phrase is from a pilgrimage prayer: Rabbi zidni 'ilman wa alhiqni bi's-salihin. The salihun or righteous in the Koran are those who do good deeds. At one point the Koran says that Jews, Christians and others who are salih or righteous need have no fear in the afterlife.

Is GOP working for Al Quaida or is it the other way around?

2004-06-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

The 9/11 Commission's report suggests that the attacks were planned far in advance but in post-Iraq, it's Bush who is doing the work for Al Quaeda, while Saudi Arabia already seems to be a lost case as a direct result of American adventurism. Why now, with all this intensity?

More attacks in the past 6 months than in the previous 6 months. Which is the more likely October surprise: Osama's capture or the aversion/eventuality of a massive attack in a U.S. city?

Torture works... no it doesn't... yes it does

2004-06-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

Judging by the typical exchanges we've been having these past few days about the functionality of torture, it would seem that the memos are merely Socratic musings for our President's bed-time reading. Not true. These aren't Sandel-Rawls debates; they're carefully constructed legal briefs about how not to get caught. First, there's a summary dismissal of international law as not being particularly relevant for Americans, epecially the military, and then a detailed analysis of domestic statutes, signiicantly: "nonresident enemy aliens do not enjoy constitutional rights outside the sovereign territory of the United States." (p. 35).

Where are Amy Gutmann, Richard Dworkin and Michael Walzer when you really need them? Enjoying the summer holidays, no doubt. But here's what I googled out by Sheldon Wolin:

"I want to go further and name the emergent political system "inverted totalitarianism." By inverted I mean that while the current system and its operatives share with Nazism the aspiration toward unlimited power and aggressive expansionism, their methods and actions seem upside down. For example, in Weimar Germany, before the Nazis took power, the "streets" were dominated by totalitarian-oriented gangs of toughs, and whatever there was of democracy was confined to the government. In the United States, however, it is the streets where democracy is most alive--while the real danger lies with an increasingly unbridled government. "

Click for more...

Lest we forget

2004-06-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

Someone sent me this as an email:

66 (Unflattering) Things About Ronald Reagan

By David Corn, The Nation
June 6, 2004

Editor's Note: This list of "66 Things to Think about When Flying in to Reagan National Airport" appeared in the Nation on March 2, 1998 after the renaming of Washington National Airport after Ronald Reagan. As Corn says, "the piece remains relevant today – particularly as a cheat sheet for those who dare to point out the Reagan presidency was not all that glorious and was more nightmare in America than morning in America."

The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, recallable nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs, pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits, toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.

Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated schools, disinformation campaigns, "homeless by choice," Manuel Noriega, falling wages, the HUD scandal, air raids on Libya, "constructive engagement" with apartheid South Africa, United States Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers, attacks on OSHA and workplace safety, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals, Nancy's astrologer.

Drug tests, lie detector tests, Fawn Hall, female appointees (8 percent), mining harbors, the S&L scandal, 239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut, Al Haig "in control," silence on AIDS, food-stamp reductions, Debategate, White House shredding, Jonas Savimbi, tax cuts for the rich, "mistakes were made."

Michael Deaver's conviction for influence peddling, Lyn Nofziger's conviction for influence peddling, Caspar Weinberger's five-count indictment, Ed Meese ("You don't have many suspects who are innocent of a crime"), Donald Regan (women don't "understand throw-weights"), education cuts, massacres in El Salvador.

"The bombing begins in five minutes," $640 Pentagon toilet seats, African-American judicial appointees (1.9 percent), Reader's Digest, C.I.A.-sponsored car-bombing in Lebanon (more than eighty civilians killed), 200 officials accused of wrongdoing, William Casey, Iran/contra. "Facts are stupid things," three-by-five cards, the MX missile, Bitburg, S.D.I., Robert Bork, naps, Teflon.

Ph.D (Piled higher and Deeper)

2004-05-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the the mainstream press has reported the "news" that Cheney's office coordinated the Halliburton deal for Iraq. But the media has been quiet about the shocking revelation that Cheney's office was behind the outing of Valerie Plume. Let's hope the grand jury will do the job of getting the publicity up just around the time of the Republican convention in New York.

Meanwhile, in the dirty tricks department, the fraudulent handover of power to an already "outed" CIA operative is in danger of unravelling. And there's more $#!^ hittng the fan in Saudi Arabia.

Dirty Arabs

2004-05-26T08:00:00.001-07:00

Only the blind would refuse to acknowledge that Abu Ghraib is the tip of an iceberg of racist attitudes towards Muslim Arabs in the Western world. Robert Fisk recently asked "since when did Arab become a dirty word?," and undoubtedly knows the answer: at least for a century, if not longer.

But is torture restricted to Arabs and, more generally, to persons of color? In Juan Cole's column today and elsewhere Ken Pope has written eloquently about the depressing psychology of torture and how little we can do about it other than vastly transforming institutions and policy.

Where do we start?

First unclog

2004-05-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

On this dreadful Tuesday morning in late May in Boston, nothing seems more important than getting that first dose of caffeine to clear one's head, especially after George Bush's appalling speech on the future of Iraq .

But it's my first attempt to use the blog as an unclogger and I don't yet know how. Starting at the far end, the day after tomorrow looms largest, and yet I can't think straight about it yet. Much too much has been written on Iraq, but Juan Cole's probably my favorite commentator these days. I have no more to say about that, at least not just yet.

On the region, what more can one say about the Israel army's horrors on people living in that narrow area twice the size of Washington DC?

Tomorrow, I try to start afresh...