Question: When Senator John McCain says, "No nation in the world can be attacked incessantly and have it's population killed and intimidated without responding", what is he referring to?
a) the once popular desire to view the Iraq war as a response to 9/11
b) the way in which high profile rapes and murders committed by US service personnel against local citizens in Okinawa have resulted in decades of intense protest against US military bases there
c) the right of Israel to respond to Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza which have resulted in an Israeli civilian's death this year
d) the right of Hamas to respond to Israeli military strikes against Gaza which have killed dozens of civilians this year
e) the intractable nature of the Iraqi insurgency
f) the history of colonialism (Chinese, French, Japanese and Americans) and resistance movements in Vietnam
g) all of the above
e) only the instances in which the United States and Allies are attacked (everyone else can go screw)
You can find the answer here.
-------------
boomp3.com
March 20, 2008
Self Referential Hatred
Now that Obama made discussing race in America the new black (or the new half black maybe?), I thought it would be a good time to dig up an old Daily show clip.
Yes, the shoe's on the other foot now that racists are being oppressed and the freedom to limit the freedoms of others is not being adequately protected. Unfortunately, the argument is only a mild exaggeration of ones I hear every day.
Yes, the shoe's on the other foot now that racists are being oppressed and the freedom to limit the freedoms of others is not being adequately protected. Unfortunately, the argument is only a mild exaggeration of ones I hear every day.
Mos Eisley Spaceport
So, my LLM program has kept me so busy I haven't been able to post very often (not that I was posting before the program). But, I wanted to share my recent visit to Marrkech. This city was absolutely wild. My girlfriend and I actually stayed inside the old city walls, and travelled the endless Souks full of hidden treasure (or junk).
As a review for others, I thought Marrakech was a cross between Mos Eisley Spaceport and Alladin. I even saw one of those little Jawa guys - ie the little guys that shout ou-tini after they capture r2d2. Figured my Bro would get a kick out of the Star Wars comparison. Left - Jawa, Right and below are like the overhead of Mos Eisley.
As a review for others, I thought Marrakech was a cross between Mos Eisley Spaceport and Alladin. I even saw one of those little Jawa guys - ie the little guys that shout ou-tini after they capture r2d2. Figured my Bro would get a kick out of the Star Wars comparison. Left - Jawa, Right and below are like the overhead of Mos Eisley.
March 16, 2008
Iraq War 5th Anniversary
To commemorate the up coming 5th anniversary of the Iraq war, I'm posting a video from one of the most cogent Iraqi speakers that I've come across, Raed Jaffar. Raed is probably most famous for an incident in which JFK airport security forced him to remove a shirt with Arabic writing on it before boarding an airplane. The shirt ironically read "We will not be silenced" in Arabic and English.
If you're a US citizen, you owe it to yourself to listen to what at least one Iraqi has to say about the war. The video's 50 minutes long but it's well worth it.
I would also like to draw people's attention to the Winter Soldier event held by Iraq Veterans Against the War. It just wrapped up today and features the testimony of veterans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are voices that are rarely heard in the mainstream media. Everyone owes it to themselves to hear at least one of these soldiers talk about their experiences.
Logan Laituri
Jon Turner
Jason Lemieux
Also, most cities will have a protest or demonstration of some kind on Thursday, the 20th. If you want to make your opinion known and join with a lot of other people who feel the same way, it should be easy to find when and where a local demonstration will be.
UPDATE:
The Real News has the best coverage of Winter Soldier that I can find.
If you're a US citizen, you owe it to yourself to listen to what at least one Iraqi has to say about the war. The video's 50 minutes long but it's well worth it.
I would also like to draw people's attention to the Winter Soldier event held by Iraq Veterans Against the War. It just wrapped up today and features the testimony of veterans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are voices that are rarely heard in the mainstream media. Everyone owes it to themselves to hear at least one of these soldiers talk about their experiences.
Logan Laituri
Jon Turner
Jason Lemieux
Also, most cities will have a protest or demonstration of some kind on Thursday, the 20th. If you want to make your opinion known and join with a lot of other people who feel the same way, it should be easy to find when and where a local demonstration will be.
UPDATE:
The Real News has the best coverage of Winter Soldier that I can find.
March 14, 2008
Military Intelligence Quote of the Day
I really didn't want to approach the topic from a partisan angle except to the extent that the administration [which was republican] fostered an environment where politics is what drives intelligence rather than intelligence driving policy so people [in the intelligence community] of all political persuasions from left to right recognized that and understood it...We would hear all the time, "this is not in line with administration projections." Well, we're supposed to be creating administration projections with our analysis. We'd hear, "that's too pessimistic."
These quotes are from an interview by Glen Greenwald concerning Rossmiller's book: "Still Broken: A Recruit's Inside Account of Intelligence Failures, from Baghdad to the Pentagon." This is a guy who spend a couple years in Washington and a couple years in Iraq collecting and analyzing military intelligence. The main point of the book is summarized by Rossmiller in this quote from the interview:
"The problems that led to the Iraq weapon's of mass destruction debacle not only aren't improved or fixed but are in fact becoming institutionalized."
- A.J Rossmiller (Former DIA intelligence officer)
These quotes are from an interview by Glen Greenwald concerning Rossmiller's book: "Still Broken: A Recruit's Inside Account of Intelligence Failures, from Baghdad to the Pentagon." This is a guy who spend a couple years in Washington and a couple years in Iraq collecting and analyzing military intelligence. The main point of the book is summarized by Rossmiller in this quote from the interview:
"The problems that led to the Iraq weapon's of mass destruction debacle not only aren't improved or fixed but are in fact becoming institutionalized."
Music Industry Quote of the Day
There's nothing wrong with music. You understand, that it's not a tough time for music. I got tired of guys who were making a ton of money and had offices the size of my entire apartment telling me that it's a really tough time for music. If you go out in whatever city you're in tonight, and you tell [all the] kids lined up at the club to see their favorite band that this is a really tough time for music, they'll look at you like you're mental. You know, there's nothing wrong with music. The only thing that wrong in the music business is that basically the consumers and the fans caught on to the fact that they've kind of been getting a weird deal at $20 per CD for 3 good songs and some fillers.
-Dan Kennedy on Fresh Air 3/13/08
March 6, 2008
Library Misread
I was perusing in the library the other day, when I saw a book that stopped me in my tracks.
That title alone set off a chain reaction in my mind. The subject of white terrorism undermines the popular associations between race and terror (the popular belief that terrorists are brown people and brown people are terrorist). An understanding of the IRA in Ireland, the Red Brigade in Germany and Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber in the United States should help create a more general and accurate picture of the roots of terrorism.
So, I checked out the book and started reading. After getting to the section on religious terrorism in the Middle East, I realized that my initial assessment was incorrect. Turns out, the correct title is simply "Terrorism" and the author is Jonathan R. White. My problem was that I read the spine of the book as "White Terrorism: an introduction" but should be read as "White - Terrorism: an introduction."
"White Terrorism"
That title alone set off a chain reaction in my mind. The subject of white terrorism undermines the popular associations between race and terror (the popular belief that terrorists are brown people and brown people are terrorist). An understanding of the IRA in Ireland, the Red Brigade in Germany and Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber in the United States should help create a more general and accurate picture of the roots of terrorism.
So, I checked out the book and started reading. After getting to the section on religious terrorism in the Middle East, I realized that my initial assessment was incorrect. Turns out, the correct title is simply "Terrorism" and the author is Jonathan R. White. My problem was that I read the spine of the book as "White Terrorism: an introduction" but should be read as "White - Terrorism: an introduction."
March 4, 2008
Spanish League Jazz
Once again, time to revisit the beautiful game. Today, I want to show a clip of highlights from a recent match up between two top notch teams in the Spanish League.
Athletico Madrid 4-Barcelona 2 (01-03-08)
Two things about this clip moved me to write this post. The first thing that you're sure to notice is the music of St. Germain. I found the combination of football and jazz to be shockingly natural. I consider both endeavors to be forms of art with a great deal of room for freedom of expression. Football and jazz also share a tension between individual expression and group cohesion. It makes me wonder if the success of Brazilian jazz and Brazilian football are related?
The second reason for sharing this clip is Ronaldinho's goal at 1:33 (play starts at 1:21). I don't think that I can convey just how difficult it is to do what he does here to someone who's never tried it before. The timing required to make contact with a ball that's speeding along perpendicularly to the direction of a strike is impressive but then to connect with a bicycle kick while being manned and hit the low corner of the goal... Yowsa. He makes it look easy.
Actually, that first shot (at 0:22) by Zambrotta looks deceptively ordinary as well. The combination of power, angle and accuracy that he gets on that is far from ordinary or accidental. If you watch the slow motion replay, you can see exactly how straight and low to ground the ball flies with almost no spin. Like a knuckle ball in baseball, a ball moving without spin can shimmy in the air and is difficult to track.
Athletico Madrid 4-Barcelona 2 (01-03-08)
Two things about this clip moved me to write this post. The first thing that you're sure to notice is the music of St. Germain. I found the combination of football and jazz to be shockingly natural. I consider both endeavors to be forms of art with a great deal of room for freedom of expression. Football and jazz also share a tension between individual expression and group cohesion. It makes me wonder if the success of Brazilian jazz and Brazilian football are related?
The second reason for sharing this clip is Ronaldinho's goal at 1:33 (play starts at 1:21). I don't think that I can convey just how difficult it is to do what he does here to someone who's never tried it before. The timing required to make contact with a ball that's speeding along perpendicularly to the direction of a strike is impressive but then to connect with a bicycle kick while being manned and hit the low corner of the goal... Yowsa. He makes it look easy.
Actually, that first shot (at 0:22) by Zambrotta looks deceptively ordinary as well. The combination of power, angle and accuracy that he gets on that is far from ordinary or accidental. If you watch the slow motion replay, you can see exactly how straight and low to ground the ball flies with almost no spin. Like a knuckle ball in baseball, a ball moving without spin can shimmy in the air and is difficult to track.
March 3, 2008
Good Cop Bad Cop Once Removed
Two of my favorite comics of the last 10 years are both police procedurals set in a super hero world:
Powers by Bendis and Oeming and
Top Ten (and spin-off Smax) by Moore, Ha, and Cannon.
I just recently notice a major parallel between the two. Take a look at two sets of detective partners.
Deena Pilgrim and Christian Walker from Powers
Robyn Slinger and Jeff Smax of Top Ten and Smax
S may be the only person that finds this interesting.
Powers by Bendis and Oeming and
Top Ten (and spin-off Smax) by Moore, Ha, and Cannon.
I just recently notice a major parallel between the two. Take a look at two sets of detective partners.
Deena Pilgrim and Christian Walker from Powers
Robyn Slinger and Jeff Smax of Top Ten and Smax
S may be the only person that finds this interesting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)