Thursday, April 04, 2002

Mubarak Decries Israeli Policies. Israel's military campaign will not produce security for its people, but will yield only the hatred of 300 million Arabs, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Thursday. [AP World News] That's a meaningless threat, since the Arabs hated all Jews long before the nation of Israel existed. And this illustrates the problem with the Arabs' attempts at diplomacy--they have left themselves nothing to bargain with. Lately every time they open their mouths, they're just insulting the intelligence of their audience. They say, "ease up on Arafat or we'll hate you," but everyone knows they've always hated Israel, since long before anyone had heard of Arafat. They say, "talk peace and we'll stop the suicide bombings," but everyone knows that the suicide bombings started when the Israelis began talking peace. They say, "give us land and we'll stop the violence," but everyone knows that the violence began after Arafat rejected Ehud Barak's offer to surrender over 90% of the land the Palestinians asked for. comment () trackback ()  1:59:44 PM     Bush intervenes in Mid-East crisis. The US President demands Israel and the Palestinians end the current spiral of violence and announces plans for a high-level peace mission. [BBC News: world] This isn't good for Bush, who comes across as being completely hypocritical in the articles I've seen. Sharon would be perfectly justified in replying with a demand that American troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan--although I rather doubt he would make such a demand. The US really doesn't have any business interfering in this conflict. Over the years our government has given a great deal of money to Israel, and helped establish the PLO as the Palestinian's government. I think the best thing to do is withdraw completely from the whole mess. comment () trackback ()  1:50:03 PM     On Bellesiles, Fawning Critics Don't Say Book Was Fraud. Bellesiles received glowing reviews in the New York Times Book Review, the New York Review of Books, the Atlantic Monthly, and many other publications, from reviewers who were often visibly pleased that he was sticking it to the National Rifle Association. As it turns out, the fraud was on Bellesiles' end. At least, that's the conclusion of those who have examined his work -- from journalists, to historians, to law professors -- and found it wanting. Bellesiles turns out to have quoted sources out of context, to have falsely reported data, and to have claimed to have used documents that have not existed since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. One historian familiar with Bellesiles' work called it a case of 'bona fide academic fraud.' Emory University is investigating. [FirearmNews.com] This article goes very well with Norah Vincent's editorial, mentioned below. The author, Glenn Reynolds, is one of the webloggers referred to in Ms. Vincent's piece, and his article discusses the blatant bias of various "old media" publications in reviewing a fraudulant anti-freedom book. comment () trackback ()  1:39:19 PM     Packing.org. Paintball prankster shot in retaliation (Colorado: 121 hits) [Packing.org] Police believe Witherwax and two friends were driving in the 800 block of Oak Street about 8:45 p.m. Monday shooting paintballs from the cab of a pickup truck. They took aim from the truck and shot at two teenagers, believed to be about 15 or 16 years old. One of the teens fired back with a handgun, shooting Witherwax in the head, said police spokeswoman Stacie Oulton. Sounds like this vicious gang of punks tried a drive-by on an armed gang member. Talk about poetic justic! According to the article, the punk who was shot walked into a fire station conscious and alert despite a bullet to the right temple, which tells me that he must have been shot with something like a .22 or .25--not much more effective than his paintball gun. comment () trackback ()  1:28:58 PM     Michael Moore Does Not Take Well to Being Ambushed at Cornell. Moore does not deal well when people turn his own tactics against him. [LeftWatch.Com] During a question and answer session, student Matt Hirsch approached the stage and tried to give Moore a fake check in the amount of $10,000 -- the amount that Moore was paid to give his speech. Hirsch then told the audience that Moore would make more off this speech than most of the underpaid teaching paraprofessionals at Cornell would make in year. "Teaching paraprofessional" sounds like a euphemism for "graduate student." At any rate, it is rather ironic how rich some of the more prominent Socialist entertainers are. comment () trackback ()  1:17:09 PM     New York Times - Editorial Op-Ed: free registration required Latin America's Muzzled Press. Democracy may have spread throughout Latin America, but the widespread curtailment of press freedoms is worrisome. The ability of independent journalists to work without fear of intimidation is a reliable indicator of a democracy's health. That is why the widespread curtailment of press freedoms throughout Latin America is worrisome. Democracy may have spread throughout the region, but it is having difficulties establishing deep roots. The nature of the threat facing the media varies by country, but some alarming generalizations can be drawn. One is that journalists, instead of merely being harassed by lawsuits brought under libel laws overly protective of authority, are being physically intimidated to an extent not seen since the days when military regimes dominated the region. [Privacy Digest] The article misses an important point. When the press is subjected to strong-arm tactics by the government, every knows about it and can use that information to judge both the honesty of the press and the intentions of the government. In some ways I think this is better than the situation we have here, where the press just quietly prints what the government wants. I'd rather have an independent press being strong-armed by the government than a press which pretends to be independent but is actually an unofficial propoganda service for the government. comment () trackback ()  9:18:49 AM     Norah Vincent: "Web logs are infuriating because they are thoughtful alternatives to the self-important New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and their toady satellites, much of whose reporting has become hardly less biased than the bloggers'. Bloggers at least have the honesty to admit their biases up front."  [Scripting News] This reminds me of the days before the web when people would post articles on Usenet. My earliest personal experience with this phenomenon was the Waco siege, when people would laboriously type up what was being reported by the local Waco newspaper and TV reporters and post it to various newsgroups. Those stories contradicted everything the mainstream media was printing (basically just Fed press releases), and didn't appear in the mainstream media until years later. comment () trackback ()  9:04:52 AM

© Copyright 2006 Ken Hagler. Last update: 2/14/2006; 6:49:34 PM.

Email