A Gen-X View of the Universe.
"The Issue Isn't Pussy, It's Monkey" - from The Right Stuff
Film, Cinema, Movies, TV, Music, Rock
...critics also have neglected the larger lesson thatthere are certain limits to
what military power can accomplish. Forcertain purposes, like the creation
of a
liberal democratic societythat will be a model for others, military
power is a
blunt instrument,destined by its very nature to give rise to
unintended and
unwelcomeconsequences. Rather than “do it better next time,”
a better lesson
is“don’t do it at all.”
The full report is here.
Such A Nice Sentiment Up There...Robert Menard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, told The Associated Press that he was surprised by the “deafening silence” of the Arab press concerning their own freedom.Trust me; more than the cartoons themsleves, the moral indignation the Islamists are expressing is laughable. By shutting up, the moderate Arab press gives the floor to the radical Fund-a-mental(case)-ists.
“The Arab press often complains about the censorship practiced by their own government, and they were the first to set their own limits. They were unanimous in supporting their governments' appeal to punish the Danish newspaper,” said Menard.
“What we are seeing is that many (Muslims) have no idea how democracy works,” he said.
Armed militants angered by a cartoon drawing of the Prophet Muhammad in several European newspapers surrounded the office of the EU Commission in Gaza and searched hotels for foreigners to kidnap in the West Bank, as outrage over the caricatures spread across the Islamic world on Thursday.
Foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers began leaving Gaza as gunmen there threatened to kidnap citizens of France, Norway, Denmark and Germany unless the four governments apologize for the newspaper cartoon. Only several dozen foreigners were believed to be in Gaza. Many others had left in recent months, during a spate of abductions of foreign nationals.
In the West Bank city of Nablus, gunmen entered four hotels to search for foreigners to abduct, and warned hotel owners not to host citizens from several European countries. Gunmen said they also searched two apartments, but found no Europeans. The gunmen said foreigners had three days to leave Nablus on their own.
In Germany, opinion has also largely fell on the side of free speech, although the DJV journalism union was critical of the republication of the cartoons in Germany on Wednesday, saying it violated the country's press codex, a series of guidelines regarding ethics in journalism.To be accurate, you don't see the likes of Fred Nile and his gangs with AK-47s picketing films like 'The Last Temptation of Christ' or art works like the immortal 'Piss Christ'. As deplorable as Fred Nile and his ilk can be, they're not threatening to kill you and your family, or kidnap your fellow unbeliever. I'm not saying they don't want to, but at least they seem to recognise that sort of thing might be 'un-Christian' - not to menttion against the law.
One paragraph of the codex condemns the publication of content that could offend the religious sentiments of a group of people.
On Thursday, however, DJV changed its position, saying that publication in the conservative Die Welt and the left-leaning taz newspapers did not conflict with the ethics code.
"The reproduction was part of the overall mission of journalism," DJV spokesman Hendrik Zörner told DW-WORLD. "It serves to document the debate and should be differentiated from the first publication (of the cartoons) in Denmark."
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble rejected calls for the government to apologize for the publication: "Why should the government apologize for the exercise of press freedom?"
While several publications and officials expressed understanding for Muslim anger, they described the reaction in the Middle East as excessive.
A Bishop of the Protestant Church in Germany, Margot Käßmann, in an editorial in Der Tagesspiegel newspaper, said the response was "absolutely inappropriate and in my opinion, purposefully controlled. Sometimes Christians' feelings are hurt as well, but the answer to that cannot be threats of violence!"
The Indonesian government condemned the cartoons and said it had expressed its concern to Denmark's envoy, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin told a weekly news conference.Islamophobia? That's a new phrase. I must make sure I keep a track of that word. It's as if the Foreign Affairs Minister of Indonesia is trying to characterise Islamists in the same catgory as spiders, heights and homosexuals.
As a democracy, Indonesia welcomed freedom of expression but drew the line at mocking sacred religious symbols, he said.
"I think this is not only about a bilateral issue between Indonesia and Denmark, this is a much more serious issue ... It involves the whole Islamic world vis-a-vis Denmark and vis-a-vis the trend of Islamophobia," Thamrin added.
France's Grand Rabbi Joseph Sitruk said he shared Muslim anger.Well yeah. Because they're looking for a fight, not because they're really offended by blasphemy. I beg to differ with the Grand Rabbi. There's much to be gained by abandoning such outdated modes of thinking as religion. It is indeed the opiate of the masses as evinced by the masses of people turning up around the world to stomp on burning flags. Indeed, if there weren't so many religious hard-liners on both sides, we might have seen true peace in the Middle East by now.
"We gain nothing by lowering religions, humiliating them and making caricatures of them. It's a lack of honesty and respect," he said. He said freedom of expression "is not a right without limits."
In the Arab world, a Jordanian newspaper, Shihan, took the bold step Thursday of running some of the drawings, saying it wanted to show its readers how offensive the cartoons were but also urging the world's Muslims to "be reasonable." Its editorial noted that Jyllands-Posten had apologized, "but for some reason, nobody in the Muslim world wants to hear the apology."
Opinion in Germany has hardened in favour of editors daring to publish. "It is apparent that the demonstrations are the biggest, and the diplomatic reactions the most vehement, in countries where authoritarian regimes are under domestic pressure from Islamist opposition forces," Boris Kalnoky wrote in Die Welt.Well, I've hardened my position on this from the start so I can't get harder.
The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung went further, calling for the caricatures to be published in as many newspapers as possible. Urging "Europe-wide solidarity", it said: "Religious fundamentalists who do not respect the difference between satire and blasphemy have a problem not only with Denmark, but with the entire western world."
The French tabloid France Soir, which originally said it would not apologise for printing the images, did so but only after its managing director, Jacques Lefranc, was sacked by its owner, Raymond Lakah.
Red Sox fan: Now if we can just get a CF and a SS that's credible, we'll beat the Yankees hands down.Man, how can I ever give up baseball when I can come across humour like that.
Yankee fan: Yes. And if I could just make myself look like Brad Pitt I can bang both Jennifer Anniston AND Angelina Jolie.
WASHINGTON — The future and character of the United States will be largely determined in the next year by getting over its dependency on foreign oil, ongoing turmoil in Iraq, the growing threat from Iran and concerted efforts to take care of America's own, President Bush said Tuesday night during his fifth annual State of the Union address.Gag me with a spoon.
"We will choose to act confidently in pursuing the enemies of freedom or retreat from our duties in the hope of an easier life. We will choose to build our prosperity by leading the world economy — or shut ourselves off from trade and opportunity," the president told a joint session of Congress.
"In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting, yet it ends in danger and decline. The only way to protect our people … the only way to secure the peace … the only way to control our destiny is by our leadership."
In order to get the nation's priorities done and reduce partisan bickering that in recent months has threatened to boil over, Bush said lawmakers and others need to confront issues "in a spirit of good will and respect for one another."
"There is a difference between responsible criticism that aims for success and defeatism that refuses to acknowledge anything but failure. Hindsight alone is not wisdom. And second-guessing is not a strategy," Bush said.
WASHINGTON - Iran is refusing to turn over to U.N. investigators a copy of a black market document it could use to build nuclear weapons, according to a confidential U.N. report Tuesday.The rest of it doesn't get any better.
The document, which Iran received from an international nuclear smuggling ring, describes aspects of fabricating the explosive core of a nuclear bomb. The document is one more piece of evidence supporting concerns that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program in the guise of peaceful nuclear power research.
China and Russia agreed Tuesday to support reporting Iran to the United Nations Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions. The agreement came after talks in London attended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The U.N. report will be provided to the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, who meet Thursday on whether to report Iran to the Security Council. The report was obtained by several news organizations, including Knight Ridder.
The report said that Iranian experts had begun preparations for test-scale uranium enrichment, the process that produces low enriched uranium for power plants and highly enriched uranium for warheads.
Iran remained defiant, showing no signs of accepting demands by the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany to re-freeze uranium enrichment work and meet IAEA demands to reveal all aspects of its nuclear program.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, was quoted on a government-run English language Internet site as warning that a referral to the Security Council would mean "the end of diplomacy."
Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, has said that retaliatory steps could include expelling IAEA inspectors and measures that could drive up world petroleum prices.
Iran insists its program is for peaceful purposes, but admitted in 2002 to concealing the project from IAEA monitoring for 18 years. U.S. and European officials believe the Iranian military is secretly developing nuclear arms under cover of the civilian effort.
The new report was an update on Iran's compliance with the IAEA investigation of its nuclear program. That program is based in part on purchases of know-how and technologies from a Pakistani-led black market network.
One key issue involves a document bought from the network that Iran showed agency experts last year. The document is about requirements for casting and machining depleted and enriched uranium metal into hemispheres.
Hemispheres form the explosive cores of nuclear weapons. They have no application in civilian power plants.
