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fun in fours

Month: February 2006

Malkin Reconsidered

Friday 10 February 2006

Thud pointed out an interesting piece via email by August Pollak regarding Malkin's "selective memory." Several points taken.

But...there's always one of those...

Pollak writes,

Are the cartoons freedom of speech? Well, yeah. Of course you have the right to print shitty, racist cartoons that serve no purpose but to inflame Arab sentiment and make racist right-wingers feel good about themselves.

"Inflame Arab sentiment?" It's done a great deal more than that.

Yet I can be extremely angry and yet keep my urge for violence in check.

If I piss someone off and get hit, even if I deliberately tried to piss the person off, he's still responsible for his actions. No matter what I said.

Self-control.

Same applies here.

Pollak accuses Malkin of being a racist. I don't really follow Malkin's commentary -- scratch that. I don't follow it at all. Maybe she is a racist. Maybe she isn't. The "right-wing" part of the epithet is true enough.

Still, does that somehow disqualify what the pictures (which she's simply assembled from various web sites) tell us about the reaction of a fairly significant portion of Muslims? Sure, the tag, "No, you go to hell," is a little silly -- but I do think the pictures speak for themselves. Am I saying all Muslims are reacting irrationally violently? No -- I am only privy to what the media presents to me.

Still, while purposely insulting someone is immoral, wanting to behead someone because of it is on quite another level.

Photo by Gage Skidmore

One of the best things about being a teacher

Thursday 09 February 2006

is an unexpected snow day — when you’re fully dressed, ready to head off to work, and you look outside and notice it’s snowy and icy…

I loved them until I got to college, when I realized, “Hey, I pay for this day whether I get an education or not — not good.” (To be fair, only one or two days were classes canceled due to weather as an undergrad.) Now it’s come full circle.

Conversion

Wednesday 08 February 2006

Any surprise

Tuesday 07 February 2006

why such a large percentage of Americans are overweight?

Here are the facts: 11.2 million pounds of potato chips; 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips; 4.3 million pounds of pretzels; 3.8 million pounds of popcorn, and 2.5 million pounds of nuts.

That adds up to 30 million pounds of snacks that Americans will wolf down Super Bowl Sunday, according to research by the Calorie Control Council and the Snack Food Association.

That means the average armchair quarterback will consume 1,200 calories and 50 grams of fat just from snacking -- not counting any meals. (Source)

A Page from Whose Book?

Monday 06 February 2006

Several times it’s been pointed out that journalists in Muslim countries who offend the wrong person can find themselves in jail.

But why be so hard on them about that? They’re just taking a page from Poland’s book:

New York, January 17, 2006 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called the jailing of a Polish journalist for criminal libel an affront to Polish democracy and called on the Polish president to pardon him.

“Poland is now part of democratic Europe and democracies do not jail journalists for criticizing officials,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. “We condemn the jailing of Andrzej Marek and call on President Kaczynski to pardon him immediately. We also call on the Polish authorities to decriminalize libel and leave redress for defamation to the civil courts as in established democracies.”

Marek, editor-in-chief of the weekly _Wiesci Polickie_ in the northwestern town of Police, began a three-month jail term Monday in Szczecin for libeling a Police city official in 2001.

An aide to Kazcynski said the president, who is a lawyer, would examine Marek’s case, The Associated Press said.

Marek said on entering prison that he was innocent “because I told the truth,” and added that he would “wait for clemency until my last day in this prison,” AP and Agence France- Presse reported. (Source)

And it’s not just an isolated incident, if the current administration has its way. Recently, President Kaczynski’s administration stated that journalists who walked out on a multi-party press conference should be punished for showing disrespect.

The whole story makes it even more ridiculous. Recent elections in Poland have left no clear majority, and so there’s still not a coalition government formed. Recently, three of the right wing parties (League of Polish Families, Law and Justice, and Self-Defense — if I hadn’t told you they’re right wing, you’d know it from their names, wouldn’t you?) put their squabbling behind them and decided to work together to create a strong, fascist Poland. (One report in English)

They told no one of their talks, and when they signed their little pact, invited journalists only from one television station: TV Trwam. This is the television version of Radio Maria, an ultra-right-wing, nationalistic, anti-Semitic radio station owned by Jan Rydzyk, a millionaire priest (yes, there’s more than one of those in Poland, if you can believe it). They then invited other, secular journalists in to disclose the information to the public.

Angered that they were left out of the loop, all non-Trwam journalists walked out.

Kaczynski and the others were furious, and threatened to punish the journalists, though they were not clear how they wanted to do that.

Perhaps beheading?

Recommendation

Saturday 04 February 2006

Perhaps the best album I've heard in a long, long time is Gillian Welch's Revival. Simple arrangements, a stunningly beautiful voice, turn-of-the-century lyrics, all add up to one thing:

After looking at the cover of Gillian Welch's debut album, Revival, and listening to the first two cuts, "Orphan Girl" and "Annabelle," you'd be tempted to imagine that Welch somehow stumbled into a time machine after cutting some tunes at the 1927 Bristol, TN, sessions and was transported to a recording studio in Los Angeles in 1996, where T-Bone Burnett was on hand and had the presence of mind to roll tape. (All Music)

Welch is probably more widely know for her work on the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. If you liked that film and the music -- and the film was primarily about the music -- then this will be a welcome addition to your collection.

Stereotyping in Stereo

Friday 03 February 2006

It would be appropriate

Friday 03 February 2006

if the end of our civilization were brought about by blasphemous cartoons. I’m a struggling idealist most of the time, thinking education and knowledge can save the world. But everyone’s misanthropic skepticism would be justified if this silliness spiraled out of control and ended in war – the kind of war we’ve been able to wage now for fifty years.

No, Chicken Little. The sky is not falling. It’s just a pessimistic morning.

Deadly Doodling II

Thursday 02 February 2006