I'm sick. Poo! Came down with it on Thursday and suffered through yesterday. Today's been a total wash and I'm afraid I won't be okay to go to mom's for dinner tomorrow. I think Bizarro's coming down with something, too. I guess it's better this weekend then next since I'm supposed to be going to Massachusetts to visit the fam next weekend.
"It feels like a pig shat in my head." -- Withnail from Withnail and I
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Snuffles
Seems the Fall Sickness is in the air. Everyone around me is dropping like flies with this cold and that virus. There have even been cases of Whooping Cough reported in town. Ugh! Bring on the Vitamin C and Zinc!
Teaching is going very well, very well indeed. I went on my first professional shoot in about 4-5 years on Monday and it was fantastic. Good thing, too, because I got the bad news on Monday that I missed the boat on going to Korea this winter as a chaperone for a student group. But there's another group that might be going this summer and one of my colleagues is helping me get in line for that.
I have some other possible, burgeoning news but I'm not sayin' nuthin' until the results are in. I love a good mystery, don't you?
Office hours are almost over for today. I only got 6 hours' sleep last night so I'm going home for a nap. Tonight I'm checking out a new T'ai Chi class. I hope he teaches the same Yang form I know.
That is all.
Teaching is going very well, very well indeed. I went on my first professional shoot in about 4-5 years on Monday and it was fantastic. Good thing, too, because I got the bad news on Monday that I missed the boat on going to Korea this winter as a chaperone for a student group. But there's another group that might be going this summer and one of my colleagues is helping me get in line for that.
I have some other possible, burgeoning news but I'm not sayin' nuthin' until the results are in. I love a good mystery, don't you?
Office hours are almost over for today. I only got 6 hours' sleep last night so I'm going home for a nap. Tonight I'm checking out a new T'ai Chi class. I hope he teaches the same Yang form I know.
That is all.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But?
Yesterday I watched some of the 9/11 memorial programs on T.V. I was appalled at the amount of Bush-bashing that went on. Not that he's not worth bashing now and then, but on that day, our energies should have been about memorializing the heroes and the victims. Politicians on both sides of the aisle spend every day 365 blaming each other. It would have been nice to have one day of rememberance without the politicking. But mid-term elections are around the corner, so what do you expect?
This article rambles on about how the Intelligence Committee has determined that the Bush Administration acted on faulty intel to get us into the Iraq War. The very last sentence of the piece is, in my mind, the most important part, and of course it's buried. It says, "A second part of the report finds that false information from the Iraqi National Congress, an anti-Saddam group led by then-exile Ahmed Chalabi, was used to support key intelligence community assessments on Iraq." (Jim Abrams, Assoc. Press, 9/9/06, retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060909/ap_on_go_co/iraq_report_43 on 9/12/06.)
Clearly, the faulty intel was provided to the U.S. by Saddam's political enemies in his own country. They weren't dumb; they knew that if given a wisp of cause to topple Saddam, Bush would go in guns blazing. He did their dirty work for them, in essence.
Don't get me wrong - Saddam is/was a bastard and I'm sure the world is a better place without him in power. However, that was not supposed to be the reason we went in. That is being used as a post-fcuk up justification on the part of the Bush Administration. The fact that Saddam avoided working with al-Qaida speaks to his huge ego and power-hungry regime, but more importantly, it also tells us that we went after the wrong man.
Osama bin Laden is still out there, five years later.
This article rambles on about how the Intelligence Committee has determined that the Bush Administration acted on faulty intel to get us into the Iraq War. The very last sentence of the piece is, in my mind, the most important part, and of course it's buried. It says, "A second part of the report finds that false information from the Iraqi National Congress, an anti-Saddam group led by then-exile Ahmed Chalabi, was used to support key intelligence community assessments on Iraq." (Jim Abrams, Assoc. Press, 9/9/06, retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060909/ap_on_go_co/iraq_report_43 on 9/12/06.)
Clearly, the faulty intel was provided to the U.S. by Saddam's political enemies in his own country. They weren't dumb; they knew that if given a wisp of cause to topple Saddam, Bush would go in guns blazing. He did their dirty work for them, in essence.
Don't get me wrong - Saddam is/was a bastard and I'm sure the world is a better place without him in power. However, that was not supposed to be the reason we went in. That is being used as a post-fcuk up justification on the part of the Bush Administration. The fact that Saddam avoided working with al-Qaida speaks to his huge ego and power-hungry regime, but more importantly, it also tells us that we went after the wrong man.
Osama bin Laden is still out there, five years later.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Home Sweet Home
I haven't stopped playing this since I first opened the link about 35 minutes ago. I'm drowning in sweet tears and laughter. Next month I will meet him in person and I can't wait a moment longer.
Introducing... Owen Angelo Cambio
Introducing... Owen Angelo Cambio
Sunday, September 03, 2006
What's in a Name?
Opinion/ Commentary on the article cited below.
Bush Zeroes in on Islamic Fascism
Citation: (AFP, Olivier Knox Sat Sep 2, 12:46 PM ET. Retrieved 9/2/06 from News.Yahoo.com)
A while ago I posted a long-winded critique of the use of the term "Islamo-fascist" to discuss terrorists who claim to be on a jihad. I supported the use of the term "fascists" and also suggested that "jihadists" might be a more accurate term than "Islamo-fascist." Well here’s another long-winded extension of that discussion.
In August, the Prez stated that "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation..." He came under fire for that comment from a prominent US Muslim group, which declared it only swelled anti-Muslim sentiments, as well as from Saudi Arabia, where the cabinet declared "terrorism has no religion or nationality." His administration supports the term “Islamic fascists” because "The term succinctly encapsulates that idea rather better than 'the war against radical extremists who have a twisted interpretation of Islam.' It's a shorthand way of saying that."
After reading this article I was prompted to reexamine the term “fascist” and assess whether it really is an accurate portrayal of our enemies. Is all this talk of what to call our enemies pointless? Perhaps not. Bear with me.
In truth, I now question whether “fascist” is the most accurate term. Here’s why:
It would seem that the term "fascist" has itself been overused since WWII, generally applied to any form of authoritarian government. It is more accurately defined as a dictatorial, single-party government that denies rights of speech, religion or protest. Fascism has its famous roots in Italy, where it became a formal movement in 1919, and then Benito Mussolini's power base in 1922.
Fascism is a form of government. These extremists are not a government, they are a terrorist organization. Although they seek to carry out an agenda that will wipe all Westerners and non-believers from the face of the earth, they are at present operating under the law. By calling them “fascists,” aren’t we actually handing them a form of legitimacy that they don’t deserve? We’re acknowledging them as a form of government, a form of law, when in reality they are far below any international or domestic laws. They are, simply, terrorists. Fine if you want to remove all references to their religion, but they remain the dregs of the international community: extremist, hate-driven terrorists. Period.
By telling the world that we are fighting fascists, the most evil of all ideologies, Bush hopes to re-sell the war to the public with only a few weeks to the elections. “Fascism” has replaced “Communism” (which is itself an ideology that incorporates fascism) as the thing to be feared most by Americans. And, it is being used to sell a war whose beginnings have been made murky by the media and the Bush Administration.
It is maddening that the Republican party wants to try to hold onto its majority in Congress by scaring the American public into believing that unless we have Republicans at the helm, we will be taken over by fascists. It’s the Red Menace all over again, only this time with Islamic fascists, that is. It’s political maneuvering, and it stinks to high heaven. How about the naked truth, instead: these terrorists want to kill every last one of us and destroy our way of life. We need to work hand-in-hand with the rest of the world to root them out and lock ‘em up. Let’s not give them the legitimacy of calling them fascists. They should remain below the contempt of every civilized human being, and they should be brought to justice as criminals, not as leaders of government.
By tapping into our old fears, which certainly worked like a charm during the Cold War, Bush and his party are attempting to manipulate our feelings to support their agenda. I, personally, resent this, and so should you.
(AFP, Olivier Knox Sat Sep 2, 12:46 PM ET. Retrieved 9/2/06 from News.Yahoo.com)
Bush Zeroes in on Islamic Fascism
Citation: (AFP, Olivier Knox Sat Sep 2, 12:46 PM ET. Retrieved 9/2/06 from News.Yahoo.com)
A while ago I posted a long-winded critique of the use of the term "Islamo-fascist" to discuss terrorists who claim to be on a jihad. I supported the use of the term "fascists" and also suggested that "jihadists" might be a more accurate term than "Islamo-fascist." Well here’s another long-winded extension of that discussion.
In August, the Prez stated that "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation..." He came under fire for that comment from a prominent US Muslim group, which declared it only swelled anti-Muslim sentiments, as well as from Saudi Arabia, where the cabinet declared "terrorism has no religion or nationality." His administration supports the term “Islamic fascists” because "The term succinctly encapsulates that idea rather better than 'the war against radical extremists who have a twisted interpretation of Islam.' It's a shorthand way of saying that."
After reading this article I was prompted to reexamine the term “fascist” and assess whether it really is an accurate portrayal of our enemies. Is all this talk of what to call our enemies pointless? Perhaps not. Bear with me.
In truth, I now question whether “fascist” is the most accurate term. Here’s why:
It would seem that the term "fascist" has itself been overused since WWII, generally applied to any form of authoritarian government. It is more accurately defined as a dictatorial, single-party government that denies rights of speech, religion or protest. Fascism has its famous roots in Italy, where it became a formal movement in 1919, and then Benito Mussolini's power base in 1922.
Fascism is a form of government. These extremists are not a government, they are a terrorist organization. Although they seek to carry out an agenda that will wipe all Westerners and non-believers from the face of the earth, they are at present operating under the law. By calling them “fascists,” aren’t we actually handing them a form of legitimacy that they don’t deserve? We’re acknowledging them as a form of government, a form of law, when in reality they are far below any international or domestic laws. They are, simply, terrorists. Fine if you want to remove all references to their religion, but they remain the dregs of the international community: extremist, hate-driven terrorists. Period.
By telling the world that we are fighting fascists, the most evil of all ideologies, Bush hopes to re-sell the war to the public with only a few weeks to the elections. “Fascism” has replaced “Communism” (which is itself an ideology that incorporates fascism) as the thing to be feared most by Americans. And, it is being used to sell a war whose beginnings have been made murky by the media and the Bush Administration.
It is maddening that the Republican party wants to try to hold onto its majority in Congress by scaring the American public into believing that unless we have Republicans at the helm, we will be taken over by fascists. It’s the Red Menace all over again, only this time with Islamic fascists, that is. It’s political maneuvering, and it stinks to high heaven. How about the naked truth, instead: these terrorists want to kill every last one of us and destroy our way of life. We need to work hand-in-hand with the rest of the world to root them out and lock ‘em up. Let’s not give them the legitimacy of calling them fascists. They should remain below the contempt of every civilized human being, and they should be brought to justice as criminals, not as leaders of government.
By tapping into our old fears, which certainly worked like a charm during the Cold War, Bush and his party are attempting to manipulate our feelings to support their agenda. I, personally, resent this, and so should you.
(AFP, Olivier Knox Sat Sep 2, 12:46 PM ET. Retrieved 9/2/06 from News.Yahoo.com)
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